SAS: I'll state some obvious background first.
The Ornge operation runs as an ambulance with a rotor, not an emergency service per se. Just as an ambulance may be rushing to the scene of an accident it may also be tasked with routinely shuttling patients between hospitals.
Because of the massive geographic area covered, many taskings to remote areas/communities were to take a patient from a land ambulance (that responded to the initial call) to allow that asset to return to active service rather than being held up for hours traveling to the nearest [appropriate] medical facility. The government has created a wonderful infrastructure of helipads along highways, in remote communities, and hospital pads to aid this way of doing business. A helicopter may be used in lieu of a plane to avoid an ambulance ride at each end to get to and from the airports.
Most Patient Transfers can wait for daylight....
In the days when I was there, a busy base will likely spend the day shift responding to 'emergency' or scene calls and the quieter night shift conducting transfers. The Ministry of Health dispatch had land, rotary, and airplane assets at their disposal and may launch more than one asset to a critical accident/emergency or pick and choose an asset as they saw fit.
They prioritized their calls and the helicopter could be retasked to a higher priority call mid flight. The crew was never informed of patient details prior to accepting a call. We would be given a location of pickup and destination and then decided if the flight was feasible.
I'll add that, in my opinion, NVFR and IFR helicopter operations were not dangerous in themselves. Rather, they had different risks to be managed and deserved respect.