The current ambulaces at the Elliot Lake Base have the identifyers of: 5281, 5173, 5113.
There is going to be a switch of vehicles in the near future with a brand new ambulance comming to the base and one of the others being moved to another base.
Not sure exactly when or which ambulances will be effected. The FRU is identified as 5357.

Dispatching for ambulance services in Elliot Lake are done from Sault Ste. Marie CACC; however, Sudbury CACC are also using the same channel (known as NOARS 2, ) for dispatching for bases in Massey, Espanola and Manitoulin Island.

The same channel is used south of Sudbury with the same dispatcher.

There are no EMT's in Ontario. In fact that designation will soon be defuct Canada wide.

Ambulances in Ontario are staffed with Paramedics of various levels. At present, all land ambulances between Sudbury and Thunder Bay are staffed with Primary Care Paramedics (PCP).

Sudbury (City), Thunder Bay (city) and a majority of services in Southern Ontario also offer Advanced Care Paramedical services.

The helicopter based in Sudbury, and some fixed wing ambulance services will also have ACPs or Critical Care Paramedics (CCP) or a combination of the two staffing thier aircraft.

Single patient units can be identified by thier unit number.

The second number tells how many full size stretchers the unit can carry.

Hence ambulance 5281 can carry 2 stretchers, and 5113 and 5173 can each carry a single stretcher.

If the second number in the unit number is a 3 as is the case with 5357, that indicates the vehicle is a non pt. carrying vehicle.

The new coding system is actually CTAS (Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale). This is the same system that Nurses in Emergency Departments of Hospitals use to priorize what pt. gets seen by a doctor in what order. Paramedics started using the same sysem when communicating to recieving facilities so as to better communicte pt. condition rather than the priority system which is more of a description of how urgently they are driving to the hospital. CTAS levels range from 1-5 with CTAS level 1 being the most serious, resucitation efforts in progress.

The Priority codes are as follows:
1-Deferrable
2-Scheduled (as when a pt. is being transported via ambulance for testing or a procedure at a different facility.
3-Prompt.
4-Urgent.
5-Obviously Dead. This is not a dispatch code, rather what the Paramedics would communicate back to thier CACC ie. Sault Ste Marie, Pt. here is code 5
6-Transport of Dead
7- No pt. carried
8-Standby location. This is a dispatch only code. Usually to cover an adjacent area whose ambulances are busy.
9- vehicle is out of service.

Typically lights and sirens are only used during priority 4 travel; however, the paramedics have the option of using them during priority 3 as well.

Dispatchers do not communicate a CTAS level when dispatching an ambulance to a call. It is only for the Paramedics who after assessing and beginning treatment of a pt. to decide on a CTAS level. Once in the hospital, an attending nurse will re-assess and re-assign a CTAS level to the pt.

The page is sent out on 149.440 MHz to the Units , then the Units start comms on 150.755 MHzwith Sudbury.