If you want to be part of a life-saving team here’s your chance to join the crew at Mercy Flight.
“Folks are always asking me you know do you love what you do? How do you do it? Is it something that’s worthwhile? And I say absolutely. I ask that people please give it a chance,” remarked Dan Hankey, crew chief, Mercy Flight in Niagara County. “And I take great pride in knowing there are folks that are still on this earth today because I was there and i was able to help them out.”
Not many people can say they have a job that gives them a chance to save lives every day. But Dan Hankey can. He’s the crew chief for Mercy Flight in Niagara County.
And he’s now looking for more people to join his life-saving team.
Mercy Flight is hiring full and part-time EMT’s, Advanced EMT’S and paramedics positions for their ground crews in Niagara and Genesee counties.
“Currently you need to have current certification in New York State as an Emergency Medical Technician or higher. We ask that you also have a valid driver’s license with a clean driving record and there are some ancillary courses as well, such as your CPR card and some advanced provider courses as well that folks with advanced cards need. We ask that you bring copies as those with as well,” Hankey explained.
There will be a Mercy Flight hiring fair next Saturday, October 12th at the Niagara County Emergency Management site located on Niagara street in Lockport.
“We care about patients - we put our patients first and we also put our providers first,” Hankey stated.
Hankey met with us inside Mercy Flight’s hanger in Cheektowaga. He tells 7 Eyewitness News there's a real shortage of emergency workers and it's getting more difficult to recruit employees.
“It’s hard for us to find people to come into this field for various reason. A lot of it comes with a lot of stress – the job is stressful – some folks find it hard to cope with that,” described Hankey. “All emergency services are hurting – we’re no exception to that.”
But Hankey says they take care of one another and have a stress debriefing program for those who take serious emergency calls.
“We take care of each other – we have a stress debriefing program for folks who take serious, serious calls – we help each other out. We reach out to our crew members to take these types of calls – make sure they’re okay,” Hankey said.
You are encouraged to go to Mercy Flight's webpage to preregister.
