Toronto EMS unit #'s

[EJB]

Hullo. I was visiting my ol' stomping grounds in T.O. today for some good deli.
One thing I could never understand about EMS, they use a totally different number system that what is on their rigs.
I know that the last 2 numbers are the unit nu,ber but what does the first number represent?
I.E. I saw 921, 21 would be the unit number and what ever station this rig was at (I think it was 19).
What in this case would the 8 or 9 mean?

 

[heyyou1979]

i think 8 or 9 could be the district # that they service in

 

[EJB]

District?
The only divisions that I know of are:
1/5 NW
2/6 NE
3/7 SW
4/8 SE

 

[polkaroo]

On the vehicles:
8xx = ALS
9xx = BLS

On the radio:
2384 = BLS 984 out of 23 station
ALS add 40 to station number, so 6384 = ALS 884 out of 23 station

However, that has absolutely no bearing after they've been all over the city to cover other areas. Have fun trying to figure out who's where if you're not their dispatcher!

 

[EJB]

On the vehicles:
8xx = ALS
9xx = BLS

Thank you sir.

This is what I was asking about.

As for the stations and responders being all over the place, lol I lived in T.O. for many years and know what to expect.

E

 

[exkalibur]

On the vehicles:
8xx = ALS
9xx = BLS

That isn't necessarily always the case. There are times that scheme doesn't work, but generally speaking it's a good rule of thumb.

 

[SCPD]

8xx units are not necessarily ALS (ACP / CCP) and 9xx units don't have to be BLS (PC)P. It used to be this way for many years, but now it doesn't really make any difference. Throw in the odd 4xx unit and a bunch of 5xx units (BTW, these are non-transport vehicles like supervisors and management) and the whole scheme goes right out the window.

General rule of thumb for transport units:
PCP units drop the first digit of the truck and replace with the station number. 811 or 911 working out of 32 station would have a radio name of 3211.
ACP units drop the first digit of the truck and replace with the station number +40. 811 or 911 working out of 32 station would now have a radio name of 7211.
Occasionally you will also hear a vehicle called by its 3 digit vehicle number - this is also the number that should be used when communicating with other dispatch centres.

 

[pathalogical]

Since this is about EMS...

What are geocodes ? like 1234a5. Can they be de-coded ?

What is an 'oasis' (sp ?) number ? Usually heard on the Base Hospital patch ID.

 

[polkaroo]

Geocodes are used in reference to the EMS mapbook to help them find the location. The first four numbers are the page reference, and the last two are the X-Y coordinates. I believe they CAN be decoded as it's standardized across Ontario as part of a larger GIS.

I have the book, but truthfully, it's much faster just punching in the address into a GPS or Google Maps. There's not too much you're missing out on.

 

[polo_762]

What is an 'oasis' (sp ?) number ? Usually heard on the Base Hospital patch ID.

OACIS is the province-wide network of all hospitals and their beds, updated by staff to give real-time info on which hospitals have which kinds of beds (ie trauma, paediatrics, surgery, medicine, etc etc.) available. I would assume the dispatchers have access, esp if there is a need for a last minute re-direct or patient transfer.

 

[exkalibur]

No. Oasis is the paramedic's employee number, in a manner of speaking. It's issued by the moh and is basically the medic's authority to practice.

 

[exkalibur]

It stands for Ontario Ambulance Service Identification Services. Also, a geocode isn't the same as a map page. An example would be 6464776. It uses the Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system.

 

[pathalogical]

Thanks for the replies.

 

[polo_762]

No. Oasis is the paramedic's employee number, in a manner of speaking. It's issued by the moh and is basically the medic's authority to practice.

My mistake... I know that the one I mentioned exists... figures that the same (sounding) acronym could mean two different things.....