Mercy Flight

Mercy Flight announced job openings tonight, thanks to its new ground ambulance service, which is scheduled to start serving Genesee County Sept. 1.

We received the following announcement from Wade Schwab with Mercy Flight at 9 p.m.:

Mercy EMS, a ground ambulance service operated by Mercyflight of Western N.Y.  is seeking qualified individuals to fill numerous job opportunities.

The company will be providing ambulance service to all of Genesee County as of September 1st.

The positions will be EMT's, paramedics, paramedic shift supervisors and dispatchers.

There will be open job fairs at the Mercyflight Batavia base at 4781 E. Saile  Dr. Batavia on Wednesday 07/15 and Thursday 07/16 from 6pm until 8pm and on Saturday 07/18 from 9am until 11am.

Anyone interested in these local job opportunities is welcome to attend one  of the sessions.

We'll need to wait until Monday to talk with officials with Mercy Flight to see how the open hiring and job fairs squares with statements previously indicating the organization was looking to hire many, if not all, of Batavia's ambulance personnel.

Mercy Flight received a donation of $7,115 today from the Don Cummings Memorial Antique & Vintage Snowmobile Show, which was held May 9 in Alexander.

The donation will help defray the $300,000 cost of outfitting Mercy Flight with night goggles. The safety measure is expensive, explain Karen Bridge, community event coordinator in Batavia for Mercy Flight, because the goggles require training and modification to the helicopters' cockpits, as well as the goggles themselves.

The goggles will improve vision at night for pilots, so they can better see power lines, telephone polls and even small hills, Bridge said.

"Last year there were a lot of well publicized crashes all over the U.S., so it's a good thing to have," Bridge said.

This is the third year for the snowmobile show, which was originally known as the Alexander Antique and Vintage Snowmobile Show. The show was founded by Don Cummings, but he died shortly after last year's show. This year the show was renamed in his honor.

Pictured are, starting with the front row, left, Howard Mehne, Rita Mehne, Gail Lindsley, Bruce Lindsley, Doug Cummings, Jason Cummings and Karen Bridge; back row: Juliet Wnek, Jarred Czarnick, Dennis Czarniak, Pete Kemp and Joanne Kemp. Not pictured, John Goodridge, Ray Schumacher and Jay Cummings.

Mercy Flight, which won the nod of the Genesee County Ambulance Task Force, intends to buy the existing city ambulances, according to Vice President and CFO Margie Ferrentino.

City ambulance staff will also be given an opportunity to work for the new service. They will have to go through a pre-employment screening process, but Ferrentino indicated it's Mercy Flight's preference to retain existing staff when possible.

Ferrentino also said this morning that even though the not-for-profit Mercy Flight has not operated street ambulance services before, the leadership and staff of Mercy Flight has hundreds of years of cumulative experience in the ambulance business.

The organization is planning to base two ambulances on North Street and one at the airport.

Here is a four-minute audio interview with Ferrentino.

Ferrentino also supplied two documents outlining the experience of CEO Douglas H. Baker and the rest of the senior staff.

UPDATE: Here's a three-minute audio interview with CEO Doug Baker. Baker says how excited Mercy Flight is to get the opportunity to serve Genesee County with ground ambulance service and notes that there will be local residents on the board of directors. Current Batavia ambulance personnel are their first choice to join the new service. "We hope that all of them will come on board," Baker said.

UPDATE II: Tim Yaeger, coordinator for Emergency Management Services, and head of the task force discusses the Mercy Flight selection in this audio interview. He said he's happy the long process has come to an end. He said Mercy Flight came out on top because the organization clearly understands Genesee County, with its unique needs due to having an urban area and very rural areas.

Last night, I had the privilege of attending a meeting of the Genesee County Legislature. It was not only my first visit, but the first session attended by the 4-H local government interns—check back with us this afternoon to hear more about that and hear their first impressions.

Before the meeting kicked off, I had a few minutes to chat with Legislator Charles Zambito. We talked about the upcoming county budget determinations and the worries over what will happen at the state level, since state funds make up such a huge portion of county funds. Zambito told me that this was not only a worry in Genesee County, but in counties all over the state. A minor budget cut at the state level becomes amplified for the counties, and some services and programs could face extinction if the cuts get severe. Nevertheless, he said, they will do their best to preserve.

Chairwoman Mary Pat Hancock spoke briefly about the recent meeting in Niagara Falls of the New York State Association of Counties. She was pleasantly surprised to see that so many folks could make it up to our neck of the woods. Many of those from downstate, it turned out, had never even been to the falls, let alone past the Hudson.

Hancock also spoke about the Genesee County Career Center, which lists jobs at all skill levels around the county. She mentioned a few last night for jobs such as machinist, office manager and nurse's aide. Right now, the Career Center posts its jobs on the America's Job Exchange site for New York, where you can search and apply for jobs all over the state.

This morning, I spoke with Jeanne Ianita at the Career Center, and we're going to see if The Batavian can host those job listings, as well. We'll let you know if that comes to pass.

As for the business portion of the meeting, all of the resolutions on the agenda were passed, including the approval of $15,000 for Mercy Flight for this past year's service. Mercy Flight has requested $20,000 for 2009.

Sleds of Stafford Snowmobile Club

2nd Annual Vintage Snowmobile and Snow Show
Sunday September 14th, 2008

BW’s Restaurant
11070 Perry Road (in Pavilion)
8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Rain or Shine


·    New Snowmobiles, ATVs, Helmets, Trailers, Accessories, Gear and Much More!!
·    Sleds of Stafford Membership Drive
GENESEE COUNTY DMV WILL BE IN ATTENDANCE FROM 12 NOON TO 3PM, TO RECEIVE & REVIEW SNOWMOBILE REGISTRATIONS.  ONLY CHECKS OR MONEY ORDERS, MADE PAYABLE TO THE "GENESEE COUNTY CLERK" WILL BE ACCEPTED.
·    Used snowmobile & snowmobile equipment corral ($5 per sled or table. Larger quantity of items subject to more )
·    50/50 drawing, Blow up Sled and other raffles and door prizes

Proceeds to help benefit Mercy Flight. $2 Adult admission, kids 12 and under free
Set up and pre-registration for vintage sleds:  8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Judging:  11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. (ballots in by 1:30 p.m.)
$5.00 per sled - $15.00 total for 3 sleds or more

Classes: Antique 1967 & Older (Original & Restored), Race 1973 – 1985, Classic 1968 – 1973 (Original & Restored), Mini (Original & Restored), Classic 1974 – 1985 (Original & Restored), Cutter Combo, Trail Muscle Pre 1973 (Original & Restored), Best of Show, Trail Muscle 1974 & Up (Original & Restored, and President’s Choice

For More Info Contact: Dave 585-734-3361 or email Sledsofstafford@rochester.rr.com
Or visit our website at:  www.sledsofstafford.com/show

Batavia Middle School will get a rock climbing wall. The city School Board approved the purchase of the $55,000 wall at its meeting last night, according to the Daily News. Reporter Joanne Beck writes: "The district can afford the purchase with surplus year-end funds from 2007-08, Business Administrator Scott Rozanski said."

At the same meeting, following the purchase of the rock wall, the board then approved an increase in breakfast and lunch prices at city schools, reported Beck. Breakfast will now be $1.10 at the elementary school and $1.25 at the middle and high schools; lunch will be $1.55 and $1.85, respectively.

Work on the Walnut Street roundabout and street reconstruction will be postponed until next year. City Manager Jason Molino told the Daily News that "the decision was made by contractor CATCO." It was decided to hold off on the project "to minimize disruptions to the normal traffic flow," and meetings will be held in February to "help people understand how best to navigate and use the roundabout."

Mercy Flight and the Batavia Muckdogs will join together for a fundraiser that will grant two lucky raffle winners the chance to ride a helicopter from the airport to Dwyer Stadium and throw out the first pitch of that night's game. A $10 ticket will include admission to the Muckdogs game on August 4, as well as entry into the drawing. "Mercy Flight will get $6 out of every $10 ticket sold." Tickets can be purchased at Dwyer Stadium and at Mercy Flight's base at Genesee County Airport. Winners will be announced at the August 1 Muckdogs game.

Congratulations to Batavia's 11-year-old Little League Baseball all-stars whop took home the District 3 championship last night in the second straight defeat of Oakfield. In its past three games, Batavia has outscored its opponents 34-4. Talk about an offensive powerhouse!

As always, we encourage you to get out and pick up a copy of the Daily News at local newsstands. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.