Mazza FIRED. Orgne in receivership
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Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
Mazza probably had a real mental breakdown, cause he now realizes he's gonna become Russ Williams cell mate!
Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)









Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
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Last edited by FL280 on Tue Sep 25, 2012 1:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
Alberta Health Care has too much to loose to allow any negative press at this time. Maybe after the provincial election.FlyGy wrote:I can hear the document shredders over at STARS from here.
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Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
Could've saved all that typing if you'd have said that at your first post.Everyone at Ornge knew this organization was as top heavy as a drunken giraffe and eventually it would come to a head. No one is suprised at the recent events and I'm sure more people will end up on the chopping block before this is all said and done. A few people at the top made it very difficult for the people who actually do the work.
Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
And things continue....
Toronto Star
ORNGE air ambulance design risky to patients, top doctor discovers
Published On Fri Jan 27 2012
An inspection of the interior of the new ORNGE medevac helicopters has found the design seriously impedes paramedics as they try to treatment patients in transit.
An inspection of the interior of the new ORNGE medevac helicopters has found the design seriously impedes paramedics as they try to treatment patients in transit.
Kevin Donovan Staff Reporter
Related
More on The Star's investigation into ORNGE
ORNGE’s top doctor has checked out the medical interior of the air ambulance’s multi-million-dollar helicopters and found a disaster waiting to happen.
Dr. Bruce Sawadsky, in a report written Monday, calls the cramped interior of the brand new AW 139 helicopter a “high risk environment.”
His findings? Tough to do CPR. Hard to prop up a patient who is having difficulty breathing. Takes too long to load and unload a patient. Risky, too. Many equipment malfunctions.
Even though paramedics have been warning the province and ORNGE for more than a year, it took until this week for somebody to act. That came after new ORNGE boss Ron McKerlie discovered that the service’s medical director had never examined the problem.
ORNGE’s mysterious $6.7 million payment
Ontario taxpayers funded the $144 million purchase of the 12 helicopters (10 are flying) and the $7.2 million spent to design and install the medical interiors. The helicopters went into service December, 2010.
Created in 2005, ORNGE is Ontario’s air ambulance service, receiving $150 million a year in taxpayers’ money. Founder and former president Dr. Chris Mazza chose the name because air ambulances are often painted orange. The “A” was dropped in the name as a marketing ploy.
Sawadsky said ORNGE must fix the problems “as quickly as possible.” McKerlie said he takes this issue “incredibly seriously.”
The Star’s ongoing investigation shows that Sawadsky (medical director), Tom Lepine (chief operating officer), Steve Farquhar (vice-president operations) and Rick Potter (chief aviation officer) have been made aware of all of these problems over the past 12 months.
The Star questioned Lepine, Mazza and others on these issues as far back as last summer. Each time, ORNGE has denied any problems.
That changed Monday. McKerlie discovered that longtime medical director Sawadsky had never looked at the air ambulances.
“I was actually surprised that he had not been out to see them and gone on a ride-out (helicopter flight),” said McKerlie.
Sawadsky drove out to the ORNGE base at Toronto Island Airport and then wrote an email to fellow ORNGE executives.
“I spent the day at the Toronto Island base today and for the first six hours received feedback from the paramedics and played with the interior both as a patient and as a care provider in multiple positions, loading and unloading,” Sawadsky wrote.
In his two-page email Sawadsky lists 26 serious items and says about half are of critical importance.
All relate to the Swiss-manufactured Aerolite medical interiors that ORNGE purchased for $600,000 each. The heavy system includes a stretcher on a swivel pedestal and medical gear for treating patients. Aerolite designed it to specifications provided by Mazza, himself a doctor, and other ORNGE executives.
Among the problems: During transport the patient is elevated to the shoulder height of a standing paramedic. “It is virtually impossible to intubate the patient and get above the patient,” Sawadsky wrote, adding that the system to raise and lower the stretcher is subject to “frequent malfunction.”
If a patient is in respiratory distress and must be propped up, his or her head whacks against the chopper ceiling. The hydraulic lift to raise the patient is “too weak” and will not hold its position.
There is a “significant risk” to patients who vomit in flight, Sawadsky wrote. That’s because a device overtop the patient makes it almost impossible to turn a vomiting patient on his side to clear his airway.
Moving patients from a land stretcher to the helicopter stretcher is tricky and dangerous. Sawadsky said the system “poses a significant risk to patient safety.”
Among the numerous examples of ORNGE and the province being warned is a Jan. 14, 2011 incident in which pilots and paramedics on the new helicopter had to struggle to save a patient’s life.
A patient went into cardiac arrest midflight and the paramedics attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation. However, they discovered they could not carry it out because the patient was pushed toward the chopper ceiling in midflight.
“Under tremendous pressure to save the patient’s life” the crew figured out a way to provide the life-saving treatment.
A document describing these problems was sent to ORNGE head office and the provincial health ministry. No action was taken, and last summer when the Star began inquiring about these issues, ORNGE said there were no problems with the medical interior.
Toronto Star
ORNGE air ambulance design risky to patients, top doctor discovers
Published On Fri Jan 27 2012
An inspection of the interior of the new ORNGE medevac helicopters has found the design seriously impedes paramedics as they try to treatment patients in transit.
An inspection of the interior of the new ORNGE medevac helicopters has found the design seriously impedes paramedics as they try to treatment patients in transit.
Kevin Donovan Staff Reporter
Related
More on The Star's investigation into ORNGE
ORNGE’s top doctor has checked out the medical interior of the air ambulance’s multi-million-dollar helicopters and found a disaster waiting to happen.
Dr. Bruce Sawadsky, in a report written Monday, calls the cramped interior of the brand new AW 139 helicopter a “high risk environment.”
His findings? Tough to do CPR. Hard to prop up a patient who is having difficulty breathing. Takes too long to load and unload a patient. Risky, too. Many equipment malfunctions.
Even though paramedics have been warning the province and ORNGE for more than a year, it took until this week for somebody to act. That came after new ORNGE boss Ron McKerlie discovered that the service’s medical director had never examined the problem.
ORNGE’s mysterious $6.7 million payment
Ontario taxpayers funded the $144 million purchase of the 12 helicopters (10 are flying) and the $7.2 million spent to design and install the medical interiors. The helicopters went into service December, 2010.
Created in 2005, ORNGE is Ontario’s air ambulance service, receiving $150 million a year in taxpayers’ money. Founder and former president Dr. Chris Mazza chose the name because air ambulances are often painted orange. The “A” was dropped in the name as a marketing ploy.
Sawadsky said ORNGE must fix the problems “as quickly as possible.” McKerlie said he takes this issue “incredibly seriously.”
The Star’s ongoing investigation shows that Sawadsky (medical director), Tom Lepine (chief operating officer), Steve Farquhar (vice-president operations) and Rick Potter (chief aviation officer) have been made aware of all of these problems over the past 12 months.
The Star questioned Lepine, Mazza and others on these issues as far back as last summer. Each time, ORNGE has denied any problems.
That changed Monday. McKerlie discovered that longtime medical director Sawadsky had never looked at the air ambulances.
“I was actually surprised that he had not been out to see them and gone on a ride-out (helicopter flight),” said McKerlie.
Sawadsky drove out to the ORNGE base at Toronto Island Airport and then wrote an email to fellow ORNGE executives.
“I spent the day at the Toronto Island base today and for the first six hours received feedback from the paramedics and played with the interior both as a patient and as a care provider in multiple positions, loading and unloading,” Sawadsky wrote.
In his two-page email Sawadsky lists 26 serious items and says about half are of critical importance.
All relate to the Swiss-manufactured Aerolite medical interiors that ORNGE purchased for $600,000 each. The heavy system includes a stretcher on a swivel pedestal and medical gear for treating patients. Aerolite designed it to specifications provided by Mazza, himself a doctor, and other ORNGE executives.
Among the problems: During transport the patient is elevated to the shoulder height of a standing paramedic. “It is virtually impossible to intubate the patient and get above the patient,” Sawadsky wrote, adding that the system to raise and lower the stretcher is subject to “frequent malfunction.”
If a patient is in respiratory distress and must be propped up, his or her head whacks against the chopper ceiling. The hydraulic lift to raise the patient is “too weak” and will not hold its position.
There is a “significant risk” to patients who vomit in flight, Sawadsky wrote. That’s because a device overtop the patient makes it almost impossible to turn a vomiting patient on his side to clear his airway.
Moving patients from a land stretcher to the helicopter stretcher is tricky and dangerous. Sawadsky said the system “poses a significant risk to patient safety.”
Among the numerous examples of ORNGE and the province being warned is a Jan. 14, 2011 incident in which pilots and paramedics on the new helicopter had to struggle to save a patient’s life.
A patient went into cardiac arrest midflight and the paramedics attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation. However, they discovered they could not carry it out because the patient was pushed toward the chopper ceiling in midflight.
“Under tremendous pressure to save the patient’s life” the crew figured out a way to provide the life-saving treatment.
A document describing these problems was sent to ORNGE head office and the provincial health ministry. No action was taken, and last summer when the Star began inquiring about these issues, ORNGE said there were no problems with the medical interior.
Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
And also today..........
ORNGE’s mysterious $6.7 million payment
Published On Fri Jan 27 2012
Kevin Donovan Staff Reporter
Related
More on The Star's investigation into ORNGE
The single binder of “marketing services” an ORNGE for-profit company did for an Italian helicopter firm is not worth the $6.7 million the ORNGE firm was paid.
That’s the assessment of Ron McKerlie, the able civil servant now running the provincial air ambulance service.
“I agree with (the Star’s) contention that the work performed does not reflect the amount of money that was paid for it,” McKerlie said in an interview.
ORNGE air ambulance design risky to patients, top doctor discovers
What else the ORNGE Peel consulting firm, majority-owned by former president Dr. Chris Mazza, may have done to justify the payment is unclear.
McKerlie, alerted to this by a Star investigation, has passed all related information to the provincial Ministry of Finance, which is now investigating.
In December, the Star published a story showing that a company controlled by ORNGE founder Dr. Chris Mazza had received $6.7 million from AgustaWestland, a helicopter firm based in Italy. Agusta made the payments after ORNGE used provincial funds to purchase 12 AW 139 helicopters for $144 million.
The Star obtained a “marketing services” agreement that stated Agusta, a world leader in helicopter production, was hiring Mazza’s company to drum up business in the medical helicopter field.
The Star has been trying for two months to find out what Mazza’s company, ORNGE Peel (the name was changed to ORNGE Global) did for Agusta.
McKerlie had a single binder of papers on his desk on Thursday and while he is forbidden by ORNGE lawyers to release them, he said the small amount of consulting work does not come close to justifying the whopping payments.
“We have forwarded this to the Ministry of Finance for review,” McKerlie said.
The agreement between Mazza’s company and Agusta prevents McKerlie from publicizing anything related to the agreement. The agreement was signed for ORNGE by Mazza and Maria Renzella, executive vice-president of ORNGE. She and Mazza are both on extended medical leave. ORNGE Peel, which the province recently shut down, was a for-profit company owned by Mazza and other top ORNGE executives.
Kevin Donovan can be reached at 416-312-3503 or kdonovan@thestar.ca
ORNGE’s mysterious $6.7 million payment
Published On Fri Jan 27 2012
Kevin Donovan Staff Reporter
Related
More on The Star's investigation into ORNGE
The single binder of “marketing services” an ORNGE for-profit company did for an Italian helicopter firm is not worth the $6.7 million the ORNGE firm was paid.
That’s the assessment of Ron McKerlie, the able civil servant now running the provincial air ambulance service.
“I agree with (the Star’s) contention that the work performed does not reflect the amount of money that was paid for it,” McKerlie said in an interview.
ORNGE air ambulance design risky to patients, top doctor discovers
What else the ORNGE Peel consulting firm, majority-owned by former president Dr. Chris Mazza, may have done to justify the payment is unclear.
McKerlie, alerted to this by a Star investigation, has passed all related information to the provincial Ministry of Finance, which is now investigating.
In December, the Star published a story showing that a company controlled by ORNGE founder Dr. Chris Mazza had received $6.7 million from AgustaWestland, a helicopter firm based in Italy. Agusta made the payments after ORNGE used provincial funds to purchase 12 AW 139 helicopters for $144 million.
The Star obtained a “marketing services” agreement that stated Agusta, a world leader in helicopter production, was hiring Mazza’s company to drum up business in the medical helicopter field.
The Star has been trying for two months to find out what Mazza’s company, ORNGE Peel (the name was changed to ORNGE Global) did for Agusta.
McKerlie had a single binder of papers on his desk on Thursday and while he is forbidden by ORNGE lawyers to release them, he said the small amount of consulting work does not come close to justifying the whopping payments.
“We have forwarded this to the Ministry of Finance for review,” McKerlie said.
The agreement between Mazza’s company and Agusta prevents McKerlie from publicizing anything related to the agreement. The agreement was signed for ORNGE by Mazza and Maria Renzella, executive vice-president of ORNGE. She and Mazza are both on extended medical leave. ORNGE Peel, which the province recently shut down, was a for-profit company owned by Mazza and other top ORNGE executives.
Kevin Donovan can be reached at 416-312-3503 or kdonovan@thestar.ca
Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
People see the term "not-for-profit" and think well isn't that sweet. These guys are doing it for the better good and not to make money.
Let's be clear here, people are making GOOD money in these organizations. Especially at the administrative level.
When they need money to pay these people, they go to the government or to donors. Guarenteed income.
They get themselves established in a market, become a monopoly and no one can compete as they have captured the funding sources.
Smart business model. But not holier than thou.
Let's be clear here, people are making GOOD money in these organizations. Especially at the administrative level.
When they need money to pay these people, they go to the government or to donors. Guarenteed income.
They get themselves established in a market, become a monopoly and no one can compete as they have captured the funding sources.
Smart business model. But not holier than thou.
Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
In the Globe today......
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... le2317974/
Ontario air-ambulance service buried call for tenders, interim CEO says
karen howlett
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Jan. 27, 2012 5:49PM EST
Last updated Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012 9:48AM EST
77 comments
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The province’s air ambulance service shut out bidders interested in designing the medical interiors of its new helicopter fleet by publishing a request for competitive tenders where it would not be found, the service’s interim chief says.
Ornge posted the request for expressions of interest in a place that had nothing to do with helicopters or their interiors, documents show. The contract appeared in the “Communications, Photographic, Mapping, Printing and Publications Services” category on MERX, the central website for federal and provincial public tenders.
More related to this story
Ontario dismisses entire board of air ambulance service
Ontario's Ornge air ambulance cuts jobs and youth injury program
Deb Matthews unlikely to be given a pink slip over Ornge controversy
Ron McKerlie, interim chief executive officer of Ornge, acknowledged in an interview on Friday that Ornge didn’t run an open and fair bidding process for the multimillion-dollar contract.
“I’m just learning today it was posted under a category that would have made it difficult for I guess any reasonable person … to find it,” he said.
Ornge ended up with medical interiors that are rife with problems. If the situation cannot be resolved quickly, Mr. McKerlie said, Ornge will put its old fleet of helicopters back into service. In the meantime, he has asked the Canadian aviation company that complained more than two years ago about not having an opportunity to bid on the contract to help retrofit the interiors.
A design flaw places patients too close to the ceiling in the cabin of the helicopter, restricting paramedics attempting to perform life-saving CPR on patients. Mr. McKerlie has logged long hours grappling with the problem since the government asked him to assume the helm of Ornge two and a half weeks ago. The senior bureaucrat said he expects to miss “date night” with his wife every Wednesday for the foreseeable future.
“This is our top priority,” he said. “It’s absolutely critical that we solve this problem.”
Under the leadership of former chief executive officer Chris Mazza – who is on indefinite medical leave and remains on the payroll – Ornge spent $148-million on new helicopters to replace its aging fleet of Sikorsky S-76s. It spent another $5.6-million on custom-designed medical interiors.
The new helicopters were supposed to provide the best possible care for patients and fly longer distances in any weather conditions. But they have not lived up to their billing. The medical interiors are so jam-packed with equipment that the helicopters exceed their maximum allowable weight with a full tank of fuel, according to aviation sources. As a result, they cannot fly with a full tank and can travel only slightly farther than the old fleet, the sources said.
James Mewett, president of Airtech Canada Aviation Services Ltd., the country’s pre-eminent designer of medical interiors, complained to his MPP that his company had no opportunity to compete for the contract. Airtech designed the interiors of the Sikorsky air ambulance helicopters used in Ontario for more than 30 years. It has also designed interiors for air ambulances in other provinces, including British Columbia and Nova Scotia.
“We kept a close eye on MERX for activity,” Mr. Mewett says in his letter dated Aug. 31, 2009, to Liberal MPP Jeff Leal, adding that he missed the opportunity to bid because of the “extremely obscure” place where the request for tenders was filed.
His complaints fell on deaf ears. Mr. Leal forwarded Mr. Mewett’s letter to then health minister David Caplan, who responded that Ornge is responsible for all aspects the province’s air ambulance operations.
“I have taken the liberty of forwarding your letter and [Mr. Mewett’s] correspondence to Ornge for a response,” Mr. Caplan said in a letter to Mr. Leal.
Mr. Caplan and Mr. Mewett both declined to comment for this story.
The contract was awarded to Aerolite, a Swiss company that has worked on the AgustaWestland 139s that Ornge bought. Ornge officials were also actively involved in customizing the interiors, the sources said.
Mr. McKerlie plans to meet next week with officials from Airtech as well as Aerolite to see if they can suggest ways to fix the problems.
Mr. McKerlie confirmed on Friday that Ornge purchased 12 helicopters from Italy’s AgustaWestland. Ornge had previously disclosed that it bought 10. Two of the helicopters have never been brought to Canada or outfitted as air ambulances, he said. They are up for sale in Pennsylvania.
“They were purchased with the idea of making quick cash,” he said.
Some 20 employees of Ornge were dismissed this week, and Mr. McKerlie hinted on Friday that more heads could roll.
“So many people in this company have been hurt by the actions of a few,” he said. “That’s disturbing to me. People have lost jobs that did nothing wrong, and there may still be people employed who did something wrong and that has to be fixed.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... le2317974/
Ontario air-ambulance service buried call for tenders, interim CEO says
karen howlett
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Jan. 27, 2012 5:49PM EST
Last updated Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012 9:48AM EST
77 comments
Print/License
Decrease text size Increase text size
Click Here
The province’s air ambulance service shut out bidders interested in designing the medical interiors of its new helicopter fleet by publishing a request for competitive tenders where it would not be found, the service’s interim chief says.
Ornge posted the request for expressions of interest in a place that had nothing to do with helicopters or their interiors, documents show. The contract appeared in the “Communications, Photographic, Mapping, Printing and Publications Services” category on MERX, the central website for federal and provincial public tenders.
More related to this story
Ontario dismisses entire board of air ambulance service
Ontario's Ornge air ambulance cuts jobs and youth injury program
Deb Matthews unlikely to be given a pink slip over Ornge controversy
Ron McKerlie, interim chief executive officer of Ornge, acknowledged in an interview on Friday that Ornge didn’t run an open and fair bidding process for the multimillion-dollar contract.
“I’m just learning today it was posted under a category that would have made it difficult for I guess any reasonable person … to find it,” he said.
Ornge ended up with medical interiors that are rife with problems. If the situation cannot be resolved quickly, Mr. McKerlie said, Ornge will put its old fleet of helicopters back into service. In the meantime, he has asked the Canadian aviation company that complained more than two years ago about not having an opportunity to bid on the contract to help retrofit the interiors.
A design flaw places patients too close to the ceiling in the cabin of the helicopter, restricting paramedics attempting to perform life-saving CPR on patients. Mr. McKerlie has logged long hours grappling with the problem since the government asked him to assume the helm of Ornge two and a half weeks ago. The senior bureaucrat said he expects to miss “date night” with his wife every Wednesday for the foreseeable future.
“This is our top priority,” he said. “It’s absolutely critical that we solve this problem.”
Under the leadership of former chief executive officer Chris Mazza – who is on indefinite medical leave and remains on the payroll – Ornge spent $148-million on new helicopters to replace its aging fleet of Sikorsky S-76s. It spent another $5.6-million on custom-designed medical interiors.
The new helicopters were supposed to provide the best possible care for patients and fly longer distances in any weather conditions. But they have not lived up to their billing. The medical interiors are so jam-packed with equipment that the helicopters exceed their maximum allowable weight with a full tank of fuel, according to aviation sources. As a result, they cannot fly with a full tank and can travel only slightly farther than the old fleet, the sources said.
James Mewett, president of Airtech Canada Aviation Services Ltd., the country’s pre-eminent designer of medical interiors, complained to his MPP that his company had no opportunity to compete for the contract. Airtech designed the interiors of the Sikorsky air ambulance helicopters used in Ontario for more than 30 years. It has also designed interiors for air ambulances in other provinces, including British Columbia and Nova Scotia.
“We kept a close eye on MERX for activity,” Mr. Mewett says in his letter dated Aug. 31, 2009, to Liberal MPP Jeff Leal, adding that he missed the opportunity to bid because of the “extremely obscure” place where the request for tenders was filed.
His complaints fell on deaf ears. Mr. Leal forwarded Mr. Mewett’s letter to then health minister David Caplan, who responded that Ornge is responsible for all aspects the province’s air ambulance operations.
“I have taken the liberty of forwarding your letter and [Mr. Mewett’s] correspondence to Ornge for a response,” Mr. Caplan said in a letter to Mr. Leal.
Mr. Caplan and Mr. Mewett both declined to comment for this story.
The contract was awarded to Aerolite, a Swiss company that has worked on the AgustaWestland 139s that Ornge bought. Ornge officials were also actively involved in customizing the interiors, the sources said.
Mr. McKerlie plans to meet next week with officials from Airtech as well as Aerolite to see if they can suggest ways to fix the problems.
Mr. McKerlie confirmed on Friday that Ornge purchased 12 helicopters from Italy’s AgustaWestland. Ornge had previously disclosed that it bought 10. Two of the helicopters have never been brought to Canada or outfitted as air ambulances, he said. They are up for sale in Pennsylvania.
“They were purchased with the idea of making quick cash,” he said.
Some 20 employees of Ornge were dismissed this week, and Mr. McKerlie hinted on Friday that more heads could roll.
“So many people in this company have been hurt by the actions of a few,” he said. “That’s disturbing to me. People have lost jobs that did nothing wrong, and there may still be people employed who did something wrong and that has to be fixed.”
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Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
Doctors running aviation operations. About as logical as having pilots run hospitals.
Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
Just waiting for Ontario to give the whole medevac business back to the private sector. Where it belongs. Government has no right to compete in a business that can be/was handled by the private sector. They have certainly proved they are incompetent/incapable/down right piss poor at running the medevac air ambulance business in Ontario.
Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
This whole thing (or would 'hole' thing be more accurate?) reeks of criminal activity. Take a schwack of public money, money that the providers really didn't seem to care about (what was their cut?) and start mucking about with it, investing it, taking kickbacks, putting other firms out of business meanwhile being completely ignored by the "civil servants" (is there ever a worse misnomer?) who were elected to oversee the public's trust. Thieves, pure and simple. Right now the way that some middle eastern countries chop off body parts for this sort of crime presents a very attractive solution... Mazza on medical leave; I'll bet he's depressed that when he gets out of jail and after having been struck off he'll have to get a real job. How smart can this guy really be if he thought he could get away with it forever? Maybe he can be the first tenant in Harper's new jail system? Perhaps there will be room for all the rest of the thieves and politicians in adjoining cells?
Soon to be announced, whose pockets did the 2 billion gun registry money go into?
Soon to be announced, whose pockets did the 2 billion gun registry money go into?
Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
While I'm on a roll, how much Chinese money ended up in politician's pockets over the tar sand's sales? They huff and puff over Canadian sovereignty over cell phones, potash and airlines yet they don't even mention that the oil sands have been sold out from under us. Keystone was probably a relief for the new Chinese owners because now all their oil can go via Kitimat and then to China.
Edited to add: s.e. or twin? Keep us distracted with details while they loot the treasury (is this the s.e./twin thread? Oh, wait...).
Edited to add: s.e. or twin? Keep us distracted with details while they loot the treasury (is this the s.e./twin thread? Oh, wait...).
Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
Star today...
ORNGE’s travel medical plan targeted ‘elite of the elite’
Published On Sun Jan 29 2012
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Kevin Donovan Staff Reporter
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More on The Star's investigation into ORNGE
Dr. Chris Mazza and other top ORNGE executives were trying to sell international medical insurance to people with $20 million net worth at a time when the publicly funded air ambulance service was struggling at home with critical safety problems.
It started early last year. Paramedics and pilots were filing serious complaints with ORNGE and its provincial masters, saying a poorly designed helicopter interior and improper staffing of air ambulances were making the service unsafe.
But Mazza and fellow executives were far from the home front — sometimes literally — focusing on several get-rich quick schemes, chief among them an international travel insurance plan for the “elite of the elite,” documents show.
Florida, Brazil and Saudi Arabia were all places to which ORNGE executives travelled, trying to drum up international business. Three per cent of the gross revenue from these schemes was to go to Ontario — and the lion’s share to companies they owned. Provincial investigators are trying to see how many public dollars were spent on these schemes.
Documents obtained by the Star dated April 2011 detail the “ORNGE Global Memberships Program.” The Star has not been able to determine if any memberships were sold.
The glossy presentation prepared by ORNGE begins with an idyllic Caribbean scene, a small island and a yacht viewed from the air.
“In one brief second, life can change drastically,” the presentation begins.
The scene then shifts to the Swiss Alps, skiers rocketing down pristine slopes from the top of a mountain. “(ORNGE takes) control to ensure you receive the best medical care you need when you need it the most.”
Promising not the merely best but the “extraordinary,” the ORNGE Global team vowed to sweep in, coordinate medical care and evacuation by an ORNGE aircraft and provide access to the best doctors in the world, no matter where the executive got into trouble.
“Whether going on safari in Tanzania, doing business in Brazil, hosting an intimate gathering on your yacht or relaxing on a remote island, you are free to enjoy yourself without worry,” the presentation says.
If you have an accident or get sick, just one phone call accesses “the latest remote-imaging technology, electronic health records, a top-tiered network of international medical facilities and access to a Rolodex of the world’s leading, highly specialized physicians.”
The price tag for this is a $100,000 one-time membership fee, plus an annual $10,000 membership cost. The executive’s spouse would pay a $5,000 annual fee and each child $2,500. The documents indicate this would be a self-funded insurance policy; there is no indication ORNGE was linked with a large insurance company.
The ORNGE Global documents say it was targeting individuals with a net worth of $20 million or more and companies with key executives whose loss to the business would be catastrophic.
Rates would vary depending on the travel. For instance, there would be higher premiums for Afghanistan than Australia, the documents note.
The presentation invites prospective members of this exclusive “club” to visit the ORNGE head office on Explorer Dr. in Mississauga to get a better understanding of the program.
Insiders say this explains why ORNGE’s $16 million “Crystal Palace” headquarters was so beautifully decked out (custom orange-coloured chairs, fine Italian couches). Paid for with money financed by Ontario taxpayer contributions, the head office was designed by ORNGE executives to impart a feeling of wealth to company investors and travel medical clients.
The building, purchased and renovated in the last two years, replaced not one but two other office buildings ORNGE had leased and renovated since then provincial health minister George Smitherman created the “non-profit” service in 2005.
Each office was nicer than the one before.
Also, ORNGE leased a giant aircraft hangar in Hamilton (the plan was to move the Toronto Island Airport base there), though that plan is now on hold.
ORNGE executives, the Star has found, wanted that base because the proximity to the Hamilton airport meant it could accommodate international customs clearance for the long-range air ambulance jet ORNGE planned to buy for the travel medical program.
While this push for the international expansion of ORNGE was going on, there were troubles at home. Founder Mazza and the top tier of vice-presidents were increasingly distracted by the international push.
Mazza was often away travelling, as were other executives. For one executive’s education pursuits, it was Belgium. For another two executives trying to establish the ORNGE Global base at Mazza’s urging, it was Florida.
Former ORNGE executive Luis Nava was hired to design an executive compensation program. That led to the whopping salaries for ORNGE brass, the highest being the $1.4 million annual pay package for Mazza.
Amid this flurry of international activity, ORNGE’s newly purchased fleet of AW 139 helicopters was each installed with a $600,000 medical interior that paramedics repeatedly told ORNGE brass was unsafe.
It was only last week, a year after they went into service, that an ORNGE official (new boss Ron McKerlie) said he will get the interiors fixed.
Also over the past year, ORNGE began a policy of “downstaffing” air ambulance bases, putting paramedics with less training on aircraft (they are cheaper), providing just one paramedic (ministry rules say two paramedics with a high level of training are needed on an air ambulance to transport critical patients), and not calling in a replacement paramedic when someone booked off sick.
Paramedics and their union complained to ORNGE and the provincial health ministry numerous times last year but nothing was done, documents reveal.
In a recent interview, ORNGE chief operating officer Tom Lepine said he is looking into the matter and hopes more paramedics with the highest training (called “critical-care paramedics”) will be on air ambulances in the future.
Transporting ill patients (70 per cent of ORNGE’s work is moving patients between hospitals) is tricky. Those on board the aircraft need to have proper training in case the patient’s condition deteriorates.
With this downstaffing, doctors and nurses have had to accompany patients on air ambulance transfers, medical officials have told the Star. ORNGE’s airplanes typically don’t fly the doctor or nurse back; they must take a commercial flight and then bill ORNGE for it.
Paramedics, pilots and doctors who work for ORNGE say the international ventures, since closed by the province, caused the $150-million-a-year air ambulance service to run into trouble.
In the meantime, the ORNGE Global Memberships program was promising “luxury, exclusive, club-like” protection for “entrepreneurs, risk-takers and innovators.”
ORNGE’s travel medical plan targeted ‘elite of the elite’
Published On Sun Jan 29 2012
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Kevin Donovan Staff Reporter
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More on The Star's investigation into ORNGE
Dr. Chris Mazza and other top ORNGE executives were trying to sell international medical insurance to people with $20 million net worth at a time when the publicly funded air ambulance service was struggling at home with critical safety problems.
It started early last year. Paramedics and pilots were filing serious complaints with ORNGE and its provincial masters, saying a poorly designed helicopter interior and improper staffing of air ambulances were making the service unsafe.
But Mazza and fellow executives were far from the home front — sometimes literally — focusing on several get-rich quick schemes, chief among them an international travel insurance plan for the “elite of the elite,” documents show.
Florida, Brazil and Saudi Arabia were all places to which ORNGE executives travelled, trying to drum up international business. Three per cent of the gross revenue from these schemes was to go to Ontario — and the lion’s share to companies they owned. Provincial investigators are trying to see how many public dollars were spent on these schemes.
Documents obtained by the Star dated April 2011 detail the “ORNGE Global Memberships Program.” The Star has not been able to determine if any memberships were sold.
The glossy presentation prepared by ORNGE begins with an idyllic Caribbean scene, a small island and a yacht viewed from the air.
“In one brief second, life can change drastically,” the presentation begins.
The scene then shifts to the Swiss Alps, skiers rocketing down pristine slopes from the top of a mountain. “(ORNGE takes) control to ensure you receive the best medical care you need when you need it the most.”
Promising not the merely best but the “extraordinary,” the ORNGE Global team vowed to sweep in, coordinate medical care and evacuation by an ORNGE aircraft and provide access to the best doctors in the world, no matter where the executive got into trouble.
“Whether going on safari in Tanzania, doing business in Brazil, hosting an intimate gathering on your yacht or relaxing on a remote island, you are free to enjoy yourself without worry,” the presentation says.
If you have an accident or get sick, just one phone call accesses “the latest remote-imaging technology, electronic health records, a top-tiered network of international medical facilities and access to a Rolodex of the world’s leading, highly specialized physicians.”
The price tag for this is a $100,000 one-time membership fee, plus an annual $10,000 membership cost. The executive’s spouse would pay a $5,000 annual fee and each child $2,500. The documents indicate this would be a self-funded insurance policy; there is no indication ORNGE was linked with a large insurance company.
The ORNGE Global documents say it was targeting individuals with a net worth of $20 million or more and companies with key executives whose loss to the business would be catastrophic.
Rates would vary depending on the travel. For instance, there would be higher premiums for Afghanistan than Australia, the documents note.
The presentation invites prospective members of this exclusive “club” to visit the ORNGE head office on Explorer Dr. in Mississauga to get a better understanding of the program.
Insiders say this explains why ORNGE’s $16 million “Crystal Palace” headquarters was so beautifully decked out (custom orange-coloured chairs, fine Italian couches). Paid for with money financed by Ontario taxpayer contributions, the head office was designed by ORNGE executives to impart a feeling of wealth to company investors and travel medical clients.
The building, purchased and renovated in the last two years, replaced not one but two other office buildings ORNGE had leased and renovated since then provincial health minister George Smitherman created the “non-profit” service in 2005.
Each office was nicer than the one before.
Also, ORNGE leased a giant aircraft hangar in Hamilton (the plan was to move the Toronto Island Airport base there), though that plan is now on hold.
ORNGE executives, the Star has found, wanted that base because the proximity to the Hamilton airport meant it could accommodate international customs clearance for the long-range air ambulance jet ORNGE planned to buy for the travel medical program.
While this push for the international expansion of ORNGE was going on, there were troubles at home. Founder Mazza and the top tier of vice-presidents were increasingly distracted by the international push.
Mazza was often away travelling, as were other executives. For one executive’s education pursuits, it was Belgium. For another two executives trying to establish the ORNGE Global base at Mazza’s urging, it was Florida.
Former ORNGE executive Luis Nava was hired to design an executive compensation program. That led to the whopping salaries for ORNGE brass, the highest being the $1.4 million annual pay package for Mazza.
Amid this flurry of international activity, ORNGE’s newly purchased fleet of AW 139 helicopters was each installed with a $600,000 medical interior that paramedics repeatedly told ORNGE brass was unsafe.
It was only last week, a year after they went into service, that an ORNGE official (new boss Ron McKerlie) said he will get the interiors fixed.
Also over the past year, ORNGE began a policy of “downstaffing” air ambulance bases, putting paramedics with less training on aircraft (they are cheaper), providing just one paramedic (ministry rules say two paramedics with a high level of training are needed on an air ambulance to transport critical patients), and not calling in a replacement paramedic when someone booked off sick.
Paramedics and their union complained to ORNGE and the provincial health ministry numerous times last year but nothing was done, documents reveal.
In a recent interview, ORNGE chief operating officer Tom Lepine said he is looking into the matter and hopes more paramedics with the highest training (called “critical-care paramedics”) will be on air ambulances in the future.
Transporting ill patients (70 per cent of ORNGE’s work is moving patients between hospitals) is tricky. Those on board the aircraft need to have proper training in case the patient’s condition deteriorates.
With this downstaffing, doctors and nurses have had to accompany patients on air ambulance transfers, medical officials have told the Star. ORNGE’s airplanes typically don’t fly the doctor or nurse back; they must take a commercial flight and then bill ORNGE for it.
Paramedics, pilots and doctors who work for ORNGE say the international ventures, since closed by the province, caused the $150-million-a-year air ambulance service to run into trouble.
In the meantime, the ORNGE Global Memberships program was promising “luxury, exclusive, club-like” protection for “entrepreneurs, risk-takers and innovators.”
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Interesting, I kind of wonder. If it would have worked out and they started bringing in enough money, I suspect they would have become heros.
It's still crooked because they used so much public money to start up and should have been giving back more than 3%. However, if the 3% was large enough everyone would be overlooking that because of the revinue being brought in from outside the province in addition to some amount of Tax that would be paid both Provicially and Federally.Three per cent of the gross revenue from these schemes was to go to Ontario — and the lion’s share to companies they owned.
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Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
It'd be interesting to see the mission statement of ORNGE, and the job descriptions of the big bosses. I'd imagine that they are something along the lines of: "To provide timely and cost-effective emergency medical transport for Ontarians" and "facilitate the smooth running of a Provincial air ambulance system." I'm sure that there's little or no mention of international medevac coverage or of selling medevac helicopters, or any of the other pies that the management team seem to have their fingers in.
It's really too bad - greed and hubris rolled into one. The Greeks were writing tragedies about this mixture 2500 years ago...
I'll bet that Mazza and his team sat back in their Rosedale mansions and wondered what the 99% were complaining about 6 months ago.
I wonder if anyone will see the inside of a jail cell because of this?
It's really too bad - greed and hubris rolled into one. The Greeks were writing tragedies about this mixture 2500 years ago...
I'll bet that Mazza and his team sat back in their Rosedale mansions and wondered what the 99% were complaining about 6 months ago.
I wonder if anyone will see the inside of a jail cell because of this?
Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
You asked...
http://www.ornge.ca/AboutOrnge/Pages/Mi ... alues.aspx
From the above link:
Ornge Mission
Patient care with innovative transport medicine.
Ornge Vision
Propelling life with innovation.
Ornge Values
Compassion
Demonstrated identification with both patient care and service, and with colleagues and fellow workers for their personal and professional lives, throughout all levels of the organization.
Collaboration
Working together internally and externally to deliver on the promise.
Innovation
Steadfast commitment to advancing the frontiers of transport medicine.
http://www.ornge.ca/AboutOrnge/Pages/Mi ... alues.aspx
From the above link:
Ornge Mission
Patient care with innovative transport medicine.
Ornge Vision
Propelling life with innovation.
Ornge Values
Compassion
Demonstrated identification with both patient care and service, and with colleagues and fellow workers for their personal and professional lives, throughout all levels of the organization.
Collaboration
Working together internally and externally to deliver on the promise.
Innovation
Steadfast commitment to advancing the frontiers of transport medicine.
Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
And in the Globe today: CHL may be back!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nat ... le2320080/
Helicopter design flaws delay transfer of bases to Ontario air ambulance service
karen howlett
Globe and Mail Update
Published Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 5:58PM EST
Last updated Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 6:07PM EST
3 comments
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Ontario’s air ambulance service will not assume responsibility for flight operations at the province’s two largest transport medicine bases next month, because of design problems with its helicopters that compromise the safety of patients.
Ron McKerlie, interim chief executive officer of Ornge, said on Friday that he is postponing the changeover, so that everyone can focus on resolving problems that place patients too close to the ceiling in the cabin.
More related to this story
Ontario air-ambulance service buried call for tenders, interim CEO says
Ontario dismisses entire board of air ambulance service
Ontario's Ornge air ambulance cuts jobs and youth injury program
The Globe and Mail has reported that the Ontario Health Ministry is investigating whether the design flaws, which restrict paramedics from performing life-saving CPR, played a role in two deaths.
“This is our top priority,” Mr. McKerlie said in an interview. “It’s absolutely critical that we solve this problem.”
Ornge was to take over operating the province’s air ambulance base in Sudbury on Feb. 7 and in Toronto on Feb. 29. Ornge took over the other two bases in London and Ottawa earlier this month.
The four bases have been operated by Canadian Helicopters Ltd., the primary provider of air ambulance service in Ontario since the beginning of the program in 1977. But in October, 2010, Ornge notified Canadian Helicopter that it planned to terminate the contract, effective March 31, 2012, and take over the bases.
This has been a lucrative business for Canadian Helicopter and one of its cornerstone contracts. In 2010 alone, the company said the contract generated $34-million in revenue. It provides flight operations, maintenance and related support for Ornge’s helicopter fleet.
The McGuinty government created Ornge in 2006 to co-ordinate all aspects of the province’s air ambulance services. But the insiders of Ornge had ambitions to get into the business themselves of not just dispatching commercial air ambulance operators to accident scenes but of competing against these carriers.
Mr. McKerlie said he is also considering reversing the decision made by Ornge’s insiders to cancel the contract, which would also see the bases in London and Ottawa switched back to Canadian Helicopter’s control.
While Mr. McKerlie, deputy minister of government services, spends his days trying to resolve design problems with Ornge’s new helicopters, a team of forensic accountants from the Finance Ministry is poring over the books.
The publicly funded Ornge has set up a series of private for-profit entities and purchased its own fleet of airplanes and helicopters. Mr. McKerlie confirmed on Friday that Ornge purchased 12 helicopters from Italy’s AgustaWestland for $148-million. Ornge had previously disclosed that it bought 10 helicopters. Two of the helicopters have never been brought to Canada or outfitted as air ambulances, he said. They are up for sale in Pennsylvania.
“They were purchased with the idea of making quick cash,” he said.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nat ... le2320080/
Helicopter design flaws delay transfer of bases to Ontario air ambulance service
karen howlett
Globe and Mail Update
Published Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 5:58PM EST
Last updated Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 6:07PM EST
3 comments
Print/License
Decrease text size Increase text size
Click here to find out more!
Ontario’s air ambulance service will not assume responsibility for flight operations at the province’s two largest transport medicine bases next month, because of design problems with its helicopters that compromise the safety of patients.
Ron McKerlie, interim chief executive officer of Ornge, said on Friday that he is postponing the changeover, so that everyone can focus on resolving problems that place patients too close to the ceiling in the cabin.
More related to this story
Ontario air-ambulance service buried call for tenders, interim CEO says
Ontario dismisses entire board of air ambulance service
Ontario's Ornge air ambulance cuts jobs and youth injury program
The Globe and Mail has reported that the Ontario Health Ministry is investigating whether the design flaws, which restrict paramedics from performing life-saving CPR, played a role in two deaths.
“This is our top priority,” Mr. McKerlie said in an interview. “It’s absolutely critical that we solve this problem.”
Ornge was to take over operating the province’s air ambulance base in Sudbury on Feb. 7 and in Toronto on Feb. 29. Ornge took over the other two bases in London and Ottawa earlier this month.
The four bases have been operated by Canadian Helicopters Ltd., the primary provider of air ambulance service in Ontario since the beginning of the program in 1977. But in October, 2010, Ornge notified Canadian Helicopter that it planned to terminate the contract, effective March 31, 2012, and take over the bases.
This has been a lucrative business for Canadian Helicopter and one of its cornerstone contracts. In 2010 alone, the company said the contract generated $34-million in revenue. It provides flight operations, maintenance and related support for Ornge’s helicopter fleet.
The McGuinty government created Ornge in 2006 to co-ordinate all aspects of the province’s air ambulance services. But the insiders of Ornge had ambitions to get into the business themselves of not just dispatching commercial air ambulance operators to accident scenes but of competing against these carriers.
Mr. McKerlie said he is also considering reversing the decision made by Ornge’s insiders to cancel the contract, which would also see the bases in London and Ottawa switched back to Canadian Helicopter’s control.
While Mr. McKerlie, deputy minister of government services, spends his days trying to resolve design problems with Ornge’s new helicopters, a team of forensic accountants from the Finance Ministry is poring over the books.
The publicly funded Ornge has set up a series of private for-profit entities and purchased its own fleet of airplanes and helicopters. Mr. McKerlie confirmed on Friday that Ornge purchased 12 helicopters from Italy’s AgustaWestland for $148-million. Ornge had previously disclosed that it bought 10 helicopters. Two of the helicopters have never been brought to Canada or outfitted as air ambulances, he said. They are up for sale in Pennsylvania.
“They were purchased with the idea of making quick cash,” he said.
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Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
TAKE NOTE I W BIRD DOG

You know it's over for the corrupt pricks that ran Ornge when you notice like I just did that all those ridiculous billboards have finally all been removed.

You know it's over for the corrupt pricks that ran Ornge when you notice like I just did that all those ridiculous billboards have finally all been removed.
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Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
I got one better.
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Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
Unbelievable...actually no...not surprising.
The "brass" as they call it should be turned loose into a crowd of taxpayers who are having trouble making ends meet with Mazza at the front of the line. See what happens
What the heck, throw Smitherman and McGuinty in there too. I think we can all agree that the justice system won't even come close to dishing out what they deserve.
The "brass" as they call it should be turned loose into a crowd of taxpayers who are having trouble making ends meet with Mazza at the front of the line. See what happens

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Re: Ornge-The truth is emerging (finally)
$100 says Mazza sues the province for wrongful dismissal, yada yada yada, and wins a crap-load. 

Mazza FIRED. Orgne in receivership
http://www.thestar.com/article/1125487- ... fired?bn=1
Fired with NO severance package. Rare even for CEO'S leaving on bad terms.
Also fired was the COO.
Fired with NO severance package. Rare even for CEO'S leaving on bad terms.
Also fired was the COO.
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Re: Mazza FIRED. Orgne in receivership
How could it not affect the operation of the air ambulance service?An ORNGE spokesman said the bankruptcy does not affect the operation of the provincial air ambulance service.
Re: Mazza FIRED. Orgne in receivership
When are the public going to see some legal justice here? Not once has the question "why" been brought up in any of this mess.