The president of ORNGE, Ontario’s air ambulance service, has stepped down.In an internal memo to staff Thursday morning from ORNGE chair Rainer Beltzner, the publicly funded air ambulance agency announced that president and CEO Dr. Chris Mazza has taken an “indefinite medical leave.”
“The board of directors for ORNGE and ORNGE Global met last night and I am writing to inform all staff that Dr. Mazza will be on indefinite medical leave,” the chair said in his memo to ORNGE employees.
In Mazza’s absence, Tom Lepine (a senior executive) will be interim president of the non-profit ORNGE, and an ORNGE vice-president, Maria Renzella, will be interim president and CEO of ORNGE Global, the for-profit entity.
Mazza and the air service have been under fire recently after the Star revealed high salaries were kept secret from the public and that ORNGE’s Thunder Bay helicopter was frequently unavailable for emergency flights.
Earlier this week Mazza gave a town hall speech to ORNGE employees in which he sounded frustrated that the media did not understand he was trying to make the service better. Mazza, who started his career as an emergency room doctor at Sunnybrook Hospital, created ORNGE in 2005 with the province’s blessing.
No reason was given for the medical leave. Mazza has been unavailable for interviews since the Star began its investigation early this summer.
“I ask that everyone respect his privacy and that of his family during this time,” the chair said in the memo.
Original Article
Source: Star
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