SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Sean Ivens never set out to create a company that would encompass five different aspects of the medical industry. But after 20 years, Advanced Medical Solutions now does that, including medevac contracts for both the GNWT and the Government of Nunavut.

AMS manager of quality and organizational development, Brian Carrier, shows YK Centre MLA Robert Hawkins how to perform an emergency tracheotomy that would require an incision in the neck on the SlimMac adult male dummy simulator. The demonstration took place during AMS' 20th anniversary open house at its Yellowknife office on Utsingi Drive on Thursday. - Karen K. Ho/NNSL photo

"It really was job creation for myself," said Ivens with a laugh, as he spoke to Yellowknifer by phone from his company's administrative office in Edmonton.

The Yellowknife medical company currently has five divisions: medical supplies, training, air ambulances, industrial medical and occupational health.

When he started the company in the spring of 1995, Ivens was a young emergency medical technician who had moved to Yellowknife after serving as a volunteer firefighter in Hay River and taking a trip south for his EMT certification.

At first, Ivens sold first aid kits and taught first aid. But then in 1997, he got a call from an oil company asking to provide ambulance services for industrial sites. He said sure.

"We didn't at the time but we could," he said with a laugh. "I ended up writing a proposal for the company and we got into the ground

ambulance service."

The medical supply part of AMS came after Ivens started a separate wholesale medical supply business, MedEx in 2003. Seven years later, he bought the company out and incorporated it into AMS.

AMS' first medevac contract with the GNWT was in 2007. Ivens said it wasn't an easy acquisition.

"It was more than a new business, there was a huge learning curve," he said. "But we were focused on providing quality and high-level health services to the North. It cost a lot to the company."

That investment paid off. In 2010, AMS took on a contract to provide air ambulance services for the Government of Nunavut and the Kitikmeot region.

The company's latest venture is ACCESS, which stands for Aeromedical Critical Care Emergency Services Specialists.

"ACCESS is a new brand that Air Tindi and AMS have created together," Ivens said. "It represents a formal partnership between the two companies. "

Before this, Air Tindi and AMS had separate contracts for providing air ambulance services.

But after seven years of this procedure, the 2014 request for proposals required one company, which led to the discussions between Air Tindi and AMS about a partnership.

"We decided neither would be the subcontractor, and a partnership meant we would have equal say and ownership in the contract," Ivens said. "It also prevents each company from impacting the others quality and safety."

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony for ACCESS on Thursday, Air Tindi unveiled its newest King Air planes, which Ivens said will increase both the quality of care and the work environment for the medics working inside them.

"They're more reliable and slightly faster which means better response time," he said. "They also came from the factory set up for air ambulance with integrated communication equipment and all cabinetry designed for our services."

Ivens said the company's medical supplies and education divisions have the dual benefit of helping reduce internal costs while also providing sources of revenue.

As for the future, Ivens said AMS is planning to grow in all of its divisions, including working with physicians located abroad as well as expanding its occupational health and education services.

"The $500,000 investment we put into our simulation lab was private funding to support our air ambulance programs," he said. "It's the only one of its type in the North and there's great opportunity there."

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