Hamilton – Ontario Patient Transfer (OPT), is pleased to announce that they will now be servicing the Ottawa region for non-emergency medical transfer (ambulance service for patients who need medical transport who are deemed to be in a stable condition). OPT who also owns Travois Medical Transfer announced today that they are suspending operations under the Travois banner. This new contract affecting 8 regional hospitals will no longer be using the Travois Company that has served them for 4 years.
The original contract was awarded to Travois in 2006 and performance while challenging at times has received numerous accolades for service. Travois was launched specifically to service the Ottawa market. At the time it represented a partnership of two ambulance companies, one of which no longer exists. “It was a difficult business decision that we felt had to be made to focus our attentions on our core business”, explained Rick Vankleef, President of Ontario Patient Transfer. “To maintain the organization would mean a duplication of many aspects of our business model and due to the health care industry trimming costs everywhere we feel the pinch on our end and have to follow in step to reduce operating expenses”. Ontario Patient Transfer will have two satellite offices to better service the area; one located in Ottawa and the other in Winchester a midpoint that allow staging of crews to make transfers from other area long-term care centres and hospitals.
Travois will be winding down service through the month of May. All employees are being given notice, effective immediately, of layoff due to the company’s winding down but will have the opportunity to apply to Ontario Patient Transfer as it services over 55 regional hospitals and nearly 200 long-term care centres. General Manager of Ontario Patient Transfer, Phil Coburn added, “there is no good time to have to let people go but the good news is that we have a lot of job openings all over the province and we hope to absorb many of the job losses in these posted positions. We continue to need the best people in the industry to meet our mandate to be the best in the business”.
Hospitals, patients and long-term care centres are urged to maintain business as usual. Qualified ambulance attendants are urged to make application through Ontario Patient Transfer’s website which can be viewed at www.opt-med.com.
Ontario Patient Transfer is a wholly Canadian owned Transportation Company specializing in non-emergency patient transport. Currently the company services 55 Ontario regional hospitals and nearly 200 long-term care facilities. It employees nearly 500 people directly with expansion plans for the Hamilton/Niagara area, Peterborough /Northumberland/Victoria and the GTA.
For more information please contact: Phil Coburn, General Manager, Ontario Patient Transfer: PhilC@opt-med.com 1-866-527-9191 X 8220