Ontario's beleaguered air ambulance service plans to sell two helicopters as it jettisons its profit-making division.
Two ORNGE choppers are now sitting in a warehouse in Pennsylvania, CTV's Queen's Park bureau chief Paul Bliss learned Friday.
The company owns 10 other helicopters which transport patients by air throughout the province.
The move comes as the troubled air ambulance service looks to overhaul its operations following a major shake up earlier this week.
A new board of directors was appointed Wednesday after 18 jobs were slashed and a charity division was shuttered in a bid to reduce costs.
Ian Delaney, chairman of Sherritt International Corp., was appointed chairman of the board on the recommendation of the Liberal government.
The sweeping changes came after the auditor general and the Ministry of Finance both sent audit teams into ORNGE, which receives about $150 million a year from taxpayers to operate a non-profit air medical rescue and transport service. It was recently learned that the chief executive and president of ORNGE was being paid $1.4 million a year.
The ministry's Emergency Health Services Branch is also investigating 13 incidents related to air ambulance transports -- three of which involved deaths.
The winding down of ORNGE's for-profit companies is expected to be completed by next month.
