Denise Polgar will become Ornge’s first Patient Advocate, a newly created position unique in the field of air ambulance and medical transport, and will begin this role on September 4th, 2012.

As Patient Advocate, Ms. Polgar will support and comfort patients and families, as well as work to resolve their concerns about patient care and service. She will provide information and assist patients in accessing Ornge’s patient complaints and patient relations processes. Ms. Polgar will also advocate for operational improvements based on lessons learned from the patient complaints process, to ensure that Ornge is guided by the principles of its new Patient Declaration of Values, which can be found at www.ornge.ca/patients/.

“Medical transport away from home can be a stressful experience. Patients can take comfort that they will have such an experienced and qualified Patient Advocate working on their behalf to help make this process more comfortable,” said Ron McKerlie, Interim President and CEO of Ornge. “I am happy to welcome Denise Polgar to our organization and appreciate her commitment to the patients we serve.”

Ms. Polgar brings to Ornge extensive experience in both emergency services and the hospital setting. She began her career as a paramedic, spending nearly a decade with Brant County Ambulance. Since then, she has worked as an ambulance dispatcher and trainer, a program developer and coordinator for emergency telecommunications, and most recently, as an injury prevention specialist and educator for London Health Sciences Centre. Ms. Polgar has a strong understanding of the healthcare sector and has collaborated with a variety of hospitals and community agencies to implement positive and measureable change.

This appointment is one of a number of new measures being implemented at Ornge as a result of the amended Performance Agreement with the Government of Ontario

Ornge, a not-for-profit organization, coordinates all aspects of Ontario’s air ambulance system, the critical care land transport program, paediatric transport program and the authorization of air and land ambulance transfers between hospitals.