2024 AIR AMBULANCE
STAFF PROFILE
Meet Rob Schembri, a Critical Care Flight Paramedic at Ornge. We had the chance to chat with Rob about his background in different sectors of emergency care, his professional achievements, and the education he received at Ornge.
My name is Rob Schembri. I have been with Ornge since 2006, and I am currently a Critical Care Paramedic working out of the GTA Critical Care Land Ambulance (CCLA) Base.
Iprovide inter-facility and occasional pre-hospital care to the provincial community. In this role, I also regularly provide team support to my Critical Care Paramedic (CCP) partners in their provision of care for critically ill and injured patients.
What positions did you hold before arriving at Ornge?
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH ROB HERE!
I have been a paramedic for 34 years. I have been a Primary Care Paramedic (PCP), an Advanced Care Paramedic (ACP), an ACP instructor with Humber College, and a Lead ACP Preceptor and Tactical Paramedic Operator and Instructor. In 2010 I left full-time EMS to pursue a career in policing. I held several positions in the police service with a strong investigative focus. I retired after 13 years as a Detective Constable from the Intelligence Bureau. During that time, I maintained part-time employment with Ornge.
You have a diverse background in different sectors of emergency care; what are some things you learned in those positions that carried over to your role at Ornge?
The most important thing to me is the ability to work as a member of a highly skilled, dynamic team. Our patient demographic is nowhere near routine, so the ability to integrate treatment plans and logistical solutions, collaborate, communicate, and maintain effective relationships with allied agency staff and family members is paramount.
How is the education offered at Ornge different from other institutions?
Education tends to be as good as the educators presenting the information. We are lucky to have excellent educators at Ornge. The concepts, skills and clinical expectations have been challenging. The support afforded by educational managers
and instructors made this challenge a lot easier than it sounds.
In your opinion, why is Ornge important to Ontario’s healthcare system? What sets Ornge apart from other healthcare infrastructures?
Ornge and the Critical Care Transport Unit offer an intra-hospital level of care that no other EMS system in Ontario offers. The wide scope of practice, coupled with the various transport platforms, ensures that all provincial communities have access to the highest level of care and expedient transport. Critical care transport by Ornge can be facilitated by two paramedics, whereas without Ornge, healthcare facilities would likely need to utilize a nurse, respiratory therapist, physician and transport crew at the very least.
AIR AMBULANCE WEEK
September 9th to 15th is Air Ambulance Week - dedicated to bringing awareness to Air Ambulance staff around the world who work tirelessly to support their communities.
At Ornge, we are celebrating Air Ambulance week by recognizing our amazing staff who go above and beyond to service patients across Ontario. Throughout the week, we will showcase some of our staff who make our operations possible.
Ornge crews complete over 20,000 life-changing transports each year, providing the highest level of care wherever patients may be.
“It’s a great way to acknowledge that paramedics don’t
INSIDE THE OPERATION
If a stakeholder (such as a hospital, nursing station, or Central Ambulance Communication Centre) calls to request Ornge, the Operations Control Centre (OCC) is the first point of contact/ response.
The OCC is responsible for the coordination of all logistical and clinical requirements associated with the safe transport of each patient transported by Ornge; this includes detailed call-taking and cyclical patient information updates, level of care requirements
and patient prioritization/ triage, asset allocation, communications and systemic situational awareness.
The OCC is staffed 24 hours per day, seven days per week. More than 25,000 requests for service are received annually, resulting in over 20,000 patient transports.
OCC staff include Flight Planning and Medical Communication Officers, Transport Medicine Physician(s) and Operations Control Managers.
just belong in a land ambulance,” says Brent Venables, a Flight Paramedic at Ornge. “We can work in a range of different areas so it’s great to see that recognized.”
Anybody can unexpectedly become an Ornge patientand our crews are prepared for you 24/7. Andrew Rafton, a Flight Paramedic at Ornge’s Thunder Bay Base explains why Air Ambulance Week is important to him: “It highlights the hard work of me and my colleagues across the province,” he says. “It also
shows people what we’re capable of, including how we support healthcare in the province.”
At Ornge, we remain committed to providing the highest level of care by overcoming time and distance to reach Ontarians. As we celebrate Air Ambulance Week, we invite you to follow along on our social media as we highlight the incredible people who make a difference in our healthcare system every day.
Communications Officers are responsible for the booking and logistical coordination of all Ornge patient transports, both air and critical care land, while Transport Medicine Physicians provide all clinical oversight, stakeholder consultation, and online
medical control/delegation of controlled medical acts for Ornge paramedics.
Though they are not visible on the frontlines, the OCC is a vital hub for Ornge’s operations.
FAST FACTS
• So far in 2024, fixed-wing transports, including those by Standing Agreement Carriers, have made up nearly half of all Ornge transports.
• The average distance of a fixed-wing transport was 1,762 km in fiscal year 2022/23 - the same as the distance between Toronto and Orlando!
• In fiscal year 2022/23, Ornge completed 455 organ transports through the Trillium Gift of Life Network
• All of Ornge’s 12 Leonardo AW-139 rotor-wing aircraft are equipped with a Powered Aero Loader stretcher systemthe first of any Air Ambulance service to use this enhanced stretcher system
