Mercy Flight

City firefighters have been dispatched to the parking lot of UMMC to set up a landing zone for Mercy Flight.

The nature of the medical call is not known.

Mercy Flight will receive a USDA-backed loan to purchase a new state-of-the-art helicopter to be based in Batavia.

The $3 million loan was announced by Sen. Charles Schumer.

Mercy Flight will purchase a Bell 429 helicopter that will replace two older 1970s-era helicopters in the current fleet.

Genesee County and Mercy Flight recently signed a long-term lease for its facilities at the Genesee County Airport to help Mercy Flight secure the loan.

The new helicopter is expected to be in service in June.

In order to secure a federal grant for a new helicopter, Mercy Flight apparently needs a long-term lease for its facility at the Genesee County Airport.

During Tuesday's Public Service Committee meeting, Legislator Ray Cianfrini said he's concerned that the proposed terms of the lease are not in the county's best interest.

The proposed lease would cap rent increases at 2 percent per year and Cianfrini is concerned that in the future, the county could be losing out on a good deal of potential revenue.

"It just seems to me that 25 years down the road, this could be a pittance compared to what other people are paying for similar space," Cianfrini said. "I don't ever want to lose Mercy Flight. They're a tremendous asset. But as a lawyer, as a legislator and as a taxpayer, I think it's a horrible lease for Genesee County."

David Wozniak, deputy superintendent of county highways, pointed out that Mercy Flight leases additional space for its ambulance service which isn't tied to the hangar lease. Mercy Flight owns its own hangar, and plans to build a new one, and leases the land it sits on. Also, there's no cap on the price of fuel Mercy Flight buys from the county.

The terms of the lease require a mutual agreement to renew every five years, but because of a discrepancy between the lease language and supporting documents provided to legislators, a vote on the lease was tabled and the matter was referred to the Ways and Means Committee.

Ways and Means meets today at 4 o'clock in the Old Courthouse.

(UPDATED 12:48 p.m.)

It's been a year since Mercy EMS was established in Genesee County, and during that time Mercy has responded to 4,767 calls in the county.

During the same period, Mercy Flight has been put in the air for medical missions 92 times. There were 166 requests for the helicopter.

In the prior 12 months in Genesee County there were 151 requests and 83 flights.

"As you can see there was no significant change in air transports," said Mercy VP Margaret Ferrentino in an e-mail response to a question about comparable data. "This data along with results of our internal system wide utilization reviews supports appropriate use of resources."

In a statement, Ferrentino said: "We are extremely proud of the men and women at Mercy EMS; their commitment to the community and their dedication to our mission has been outstanding.

“We value the partnerships that have developed with the hospital and agencies throughout the county. The resulting teamwork allows us to effectively provide critical service to those who live, work or play in Genesee County.”

Mercy employs 51 people and has seven ambulances and three paramedic cars in service in Genesee County. 

When Mercy EMS launched on Sept. 1, 2009, the organization hired 57 people. Of those, 43 are still with Mercy.

From the press release:

“To support our patient care focus, we continue to add equipment assets and strive to provide the best work environment possible for our employees,” said Douglas H. Baker, Mercy Flight’s CEO and founding president.

There has been a car-motorcycle accident in the area of 2687 Judge Road in Alabama.

A Mercy EMS ambulance is responding while a Mercy Flight is in the air and on its way.

UPDATE (12:25): The patient is not being Mercy Flighted, but is on the way to UMMC.

One man is in critical condition today after the car he was riding in collided with a tow truck driven by a Batavia man.

On Monday, 24-year-old Jacob A. Staskiewicz of Batavia-Bethany Townline Road was apparently driving a tow truck on Maxon Road for A.J.'s Tow Service of Attica. Wyoming County Sheriff's deputies say Staskiewicz failed to stop for a sign at the intersection with Route 20A. He drove into the path of a 2008 Buick driven by 49-year-old Michael J. Lauber of Buffalo.

Lauber's backseat passenger, 62-year-old Richard A. Kosha, sustained serious head trauma in the ensuing collision. He was Mercy Flighted to Erie County Medical Center and is in critical condition today.

Lauber and his front-seat passenger, 59-year-old Garrick D. James, were taken by ambulance to ECMC for neck and arm pain.

Jacob Staskiewicz was not injured in the crash. He has been issued a traffic summons for alleged failure to stop at a stop sign.

The investigation into the crash is ongoing.

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A man who has not been identified at this time was transported to an area hospital this morning after reportedly being kicked in the head by a horse.

The accident occurred shortly after 8 a.m. at 8170 North Pembroke Road, the location of D.J. Stables.

There is no further information about the accident available at this time.

Mercy Flight is being dispatched for an unknown medical situation on Drake Street Road in Elba.

Elba Fire has been called in to set up a landing zone in a field off of the intersection of Pekin Road and Drake.

With a patient on board, a Mercy Flight helicopter made an emergency landing at the Buffalo airport yesterday morning.

The Batavia-based crew was taking a patient from Orleans County to ECMC when the helicopter began to show signs of losing power.

Margie Ferrentino, spokeswoman for Mercy Flight, spoke with WBTA this morning and said the pilot decided it would be safer to land at the air field rather than a rooftop in Buffalo.

"If he had to enact emergency procedures, he would have the resources to support him," Ferrentino said (mp3).

Ferrantino said a replacement chopper was brought into Batavia by yesterday afternoon.

The patient was driven from the Buffalo Airport to ECMC by ground ambulance.

Photo illustration courtesy Mercy Flight.

Mercy Flight held an open house this evening at its headquarters at the county airport.  Above is a picture of its new ground ambulance fleet. Mercy EMS takes over as primary provider for ground ambulance service in Genesee County at midnight.

Mercy Flight will begin preparations at 6 p.m. to take over ground ambulance service by midnight, Tim Yaeger told WBTA today (mp3).

That's when the Batavia Fire Department shuts down its ambulance service and Mercy EMS officially becomes the lead provider in Batavia and Genesee County.

The new service will be staffed with 15 of the former Batavia EMS members and have six emergency vehicles based in Batavia.

Mercy Flight officials have assured people that they will respond to calls in Batavia, even though the City of Batavia has yet to sign a contract with Mercy Flight.

The main point of the contract is that it guarantees response times. City residents will not be without ambulance service in the absence of a contract.

The city is apparently blocked from signing a contract with Mercy Flight because of provisions in the Taylor Law that prevent governments from replacing union workers with contract workers.

The firefighters union has accused the city of an unfair labor practice, an accusation it is apparently agreed to drop in return for some concessions by the city.

City Manager Jason Molino and Union President Greg Ireland have reportedly reached an agreement that will: extend the fire union contract two years; provide a 5-percent pay raise over the additional years; retain four firefighters cross trained as paramedics; give all 36 members of the department a $1,000 bonus; and promise not to eliminate any of the 36 positions during the term of the contract.

The City Council meets at 6 p.m. today to publicly discuss, and possibly vote on, the proposed settlement.

Mercy Flight today received official word from the New York Department of Health that it can operate a ground ambulance service.

The Ambulance Service Certificate, No. 12071, was issued some time today.

County Manager Jay Gsell also said that he's been told by Mercy Flight that 15 of the 16 City of Batavia ambulance personnel who applied for jobs with the new service were hired.

Mercy Flight is scheduled to take over ground ambulance service in Genesee County on Sept. 1.

The name of the driver has not been released yet.  Initial Report

By the end of the summer, city residents will no longer hear the wap-wap-wap of Mercy Flight helicopter blades flying in and out of UMMC, the hospital's spokeswoman Colleen Flynn told WBTA.

Flynn said the heli-pad at the hospital will provide new parking spaces.

She said patients requiring air transport from UMMC to Buffalo or Rochester would first be taken via ground ambulance to the Mercy Flight facility at the Genesee County Airport.

Employees of Mercy Flight's ground ambulance service in Genesee County can expect to be held to high standards, CEO Douglas H. Baker told a gathering of local leaders last night in a meeting the Fire Training Center.

"I'll probably be in Genesee County more than you want to see me," Baker said. "I'll be here nearly every day. I'm going to make sure that this is either done my way, or it's not going to be done at all. We're not going to be embarrassed."

Baker made it clear that Mercy Flight employees will be expected to be professional, compassionate, courteous and enthusiastic. He said while the job is hard at times and enthusiasm can wane, he expects employees to reflect his enthusiasm for the profession.

"When our crews respond, they will be kind and responsive," Baker said. "If they're not, I don't care how good of an EMT they are, they're not going to work for us."

Baker said he expects the level of service in the county to be the same or better under Mercy Flight.

The organization has ordered four new ambulances that are in production now.

While it remains Mercy Flight's goal to retain as many city ambulance service personnel as possible, all potential employees will need to pass a background check and make it through an interview process.

"We're not going to hire somebody just because they're working now," Baker said.

But he also assured leaders that the new service will seem very familiar to them because they will see a lot of familiar faces and many of the same policies and practices that current personnel are using will remain in place.

"In general we will keep doing what you've been doing for all these years, unless you want us to change," Baker said. "We intend not to change, not even the people."

Indicating that Mercy Flight's goal is to be responsive to community concerns, Baker said that if officials aren't happy with anything that Mercy Flight is doing, it's their responsibility to make sure Mercy Flight managers or executives know about the problems so they can be addressed.

Ambulances will be based at UMMC North Street, UMMC Bank Street and at the airport, with another kept on standby. If it proves that that configuration isn't working for the community, and the statistics back up any issues identified, Mercy Flight will move ambulances to new bases as needed. And if necessary, Mercy Flight will add a fourth, or even a fifth crew, if it turns out more resources are needed to meet guaranteed response times.

"I don't want to be making decisions about where the ambulances should be," Baker said. "I want the community to decide where the ambulances should be."

Each municipality is being asked to sign a contract with Mercy Flight, but if officials from a particular town or city don't sign, Mercy Flight will still respond to emergencies in those communities. The only difference is the local leaders will not be able to hold Mercy Flight to guaranteed response times.

"I'm thrilled for an opportunity for a contract," said Town of Batavia Supervisor Greg Post after the meeting.  "I think they carry the greatest degree of professionalism. And I'm pleased there's another step in getting government out of the ambulance business."

Batavia City Councilman Sam Baron also said he feels good about Mercy Flight coming into Batavia. He said city residents can feel confident that the level of ambulance service under Mercy Flight will be just the same as what they've had in the past.

AUDIO: After the meeting, I recorded a separate interview with Mr. Baker.