Ornge

Ornge (pronounced Orange), formerly Ontario Air Ambulance Corporation and Ontario Air Ambulance Service, is a Canadian not-for-profit corporation and registered charity that provides air ambulance and associated ground transportation services for the province of Ontario, under the direction of the province's Ministry of Health. The provision of ambulance services in Ontario is governed by the Ambulance Act, which states that the Minister of Health "has the duty and the power" to make sure Ontario is serviced by a "balanced and integrated system of ambulance services and communication services used in dispatching ambulances." Its headquarters are in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

The name Ornge is not an acronym, but is based on the orange colour of the organization's aircraft and land ambulances. According to the organization, "The 'a' was removed from the name, partly to make people stop and take a second look, and also so that it could be trademarked."

As of 2024, Ornge has the largest air ambulance and critical care land ambulance fleet in Canada, and employs more than 700 people, including paramedics, pilots, and aviation specialists. It serves more than 14 million people over one million square kilometres of land, deploying from 14 bases across Ontario as well as its Mississauga, Ontario, Canada headquarters. Ornge is responsible for approximately 20,000 patient-related transports per year. It also contracts some of its non-urgent patient transport service in Northern Ontario to private air carriers.

History

Prior to Ornge, the air ambulance program was established in 1977 to serve remote areas, primarily in Northern Ontario, that are inaccessible to land ambulances or that land ambulances would take too long to reach. Ontario was the first Canadian province to provide a helicopter-based air ambulance system to transport critically ill patients to hospital. Air ambulances are also used to transport medical teams and organs for transplant.