"Ambulance, for what city?" Traditional Cache
"Ambulance, for what city?"
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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This cache is located right beside the Ottawa Paramedic Service campus. The campus has 2 buildings. The Operations building and the Communications Building. The Operations building houses the ambulances or "Paramedic Units" and the administration. The Communications building contains the Communications Officers and our Base Hospital. This is a very busy area during buisness hours.
"Ambulance, for what city" was the script that Ambulance Dispatchers were obligated to use by the Province of Ontario. Today it's "Ambulance, what is your emergency?"
History
The Ottawa Paramedic Service came into existence on January 1, 2001 when six separate agencies providing ambulance and paramedic care to the then region of Ottawa-Carleton were amalgamated into one service. St. Lawrence & District Ambulance Services in Nepean (SLDAS), Ottawa Carleton Regional Ambulance Service in Ottawa (OCRAS), Rockland/Orleans in Orleans (ROAS), Carleton Place/Richmond in Richmond, Kanata/Arnprior Ambulance in Kanata and Eastern Medical in Osgoode all became the Ottawa Paramedic Service. In 2003 the city also assumed control of the communications centre which was,at that time, run by a third party for the government of Ontario.
The City of Ottawa has a long and storied history of paramedicine dating back over 115 years with the city and council overseeing ambulances, staffing and training. The first historical reference to ambulances and attendants is in early 1890 and was recorded in city council minutes, referring to standards for cleaning of ambulances. Up until the 1970s the city had a strong and constant involvement in the regulation and oversight of service delivery. From the turn of the century to the 1930s various hospitals, and private firms like the Hulse Brothers operated ambulance services in the city. After the war years and during the 1940s and 50s two competing privately run services emerged as key players in Ottawa, Exclusive and Twin city. During the 1960s the city, once again, took a leadership role and mandated stringent training requirements for personnel and standards for equipment and cleaning which at that time was well beyond most jurisdictions. In the 1970s the Ontario government began a program to centralize, standardize and modernize the communications systems, education requirements and the vehicle fleet throughout Ontario and this included the City of Ottawa.
In the 1980s better ambulances and equipment became the Ministry of Health's priority. In the 1990s, semi-automatic defibrillators and symptom relief medication administration became the norm for paramedic scope of practice. Due primarily to local grass roots efforts (Action Paramedic led by the ACT Foundation),[2] political pressure and a research program called the Ontario Prehospital Advanced Life Support study (OPALS) Ottawa was the first center in Ontario to be selected to introduce fully trained advanced care paramedics (ACP) as part of a Ministry of Health province wide project. As we know them today ACPs have been in Ottawa for 15 years. Various advanced life support (ALS) response programs had been developed and implemented with much less success over the past 40 years throughout Ontario. Until 2001, Ottawa had never had a single agency provide comprehensive ACP paramedic treatment in the community. Prior to then it was typically several services operating under a single communications radio network offering only primary care paramedic (PCP) level of treatment and response.
The Ottawa Paramedic Service is part of a larger city department comprising By-law Services, Corporate Security and Emergency Management and the Fire Service. Like many other models the Paramedic Service and Fire Service are sister agencies within a single department, distinct but culturally separate. A single department overseen by a General Manager with a Paramedic Chief and a Fire Chief each with their mandate serving residents and the community.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Jurer Puevfgznf tvsgf graq gb pbatertngr.