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 Base
Hospital is a hospital that has applied for and been designated
as such by the Ministry of Health & Long Term Care (MOHLTC).
The Base Hospital Program provides medical direction &
medical control, Advanced Life Support (ALS) certification
& training, quality management, leadership, guidance and
advice in the provision of ambulance based pre-hospital emergency
health care within a broad based, mutli-disciplinary community
health services system, in a specified geographical area.
The Base Hospital also functions in an advisory capacity to
the MOHLTC on matters relating to ambulance based pre-hospital
emergency care.
Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre was designated
as a Base Hospital by the Ministry of Health in 1986 (formerly
the McKellar General Hospital). At that time, the Base Hospital
was involved solely with the Ontario Air Ambulance Program.
The program expanded to include Land Ambulance in 1988 with
the advancement of land ambulance paramedic skills level from
Basic Life Support (BLS) to Advanced Life Support (ALS) (such
as, semi-automatic defibrillation). The Base Hospital Program
for land ambulance thrived. The program grew three-fold with
the advancement of skills and operations throughout NW Ontario
and the province. The MOHLTC took over the Air Ambulance portion
of the program in 1990.
Ontario Base Hospitals were realigned in 2008 which realized
a reduction in the number of Base Hospitals from 21 to 6.
Thunder Bay Regional HSC was designated the Host Hospital
for the NW Region and we continue to provide services to land
ambulance in the geographical area between Manitouwadge and
the Manitoba border. Partnerships have been created with Emergency
Physicians and Paramedics in the region, as extensions of
the Base Hospital, to help us to better serve our region.
We serve 4 Designated Delivery Agents (DDA), encompassing
29 land ambulance service stations, and  over
300 paramedics. We provide certification for both the Primary
Care (PCP) and Advanced Care (ACP) level of paramedic, as
defined in the current Ontario Ambulance Act.
This year marks a great achievement for the TBRHSC &
Base Hospital Program partnership. In 2008 TBRHSC will have
been Host of the Base Hospital for Land Ambulance in NW Ontario
for 20 years. It has been our pleasure to be associated with
the organization and we look forward to our continued success.
Elaine Graham
Manager, Base Hospital Program
Phone: (807) 684-6212
Fax: (807) 684-5828
Email: grahame@tbh.net
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