The new ambulance that resides in Sheridan that will help serve the north county. Pictured from left are Vice President of Silver Creek Emergency Squad Jeff Griewisch, County Legislator Bob Bankoski of Dunkirk, Silver Creek Mayor Jeff Hornburg, County Executive PJ Wendel and County Legislator Terry Niebel of Sheridan. OBSERVER Photo

SHERIDAN — Chautauqua County has a new used ambulance at their disposal. Located in the town, the ambulance was “purchased” in trade from Silver Creek when the village was able to obtain a new ambulance.

Instead of money, however, the county traded suspending Advanced Life Support costs at $5,000 a year in exchange for six years to pay the ambulance off. “Silver Creek bought a new ambulance and they had three so they in turn sold their old ambulance, which was worth $30,000, to the county,” said County Legislator Bob Bankoski of Dunkirk. “So now there’s one in Mayville and one in Sheridan. They sold it, but there was no money transferred back because they have to pay for the ALS service from the flycar program, which equated to about $5,000 a year. Basically Silver Creek has a $30,000 credit with the county. With the pandemic we didn’t have any money to spend on buying it, so it was a great trade.”

The two ambulances will aid the flycar program which consists of three Tahoes that are loaded up with EMT equipment in them, these service rural area calls that don’t have emergency squads.

“We bought these Tahoes three years ago that are equipped and are stationed throughout the county,” Bankoski said. “There’s one in the south county, one in Lakewood and then one by Chautauqua Institution; they can move them around as needed.”

The key player in this was John Griffith, who was the county Emergency Medical Services coordinator until February. He started the process working with Silver Creek Trustee Marv Cummings nine months ago and saw the trade come to fruition just prior to his retirement.

“Dunkirk and Sheridan were in need of an ambulance. We had an ambulance available, it was for sale and we sat down and negotiated a deal that was palatable for both entities and we moved forward,” Silver Creek Jeff Mayor Hornburg said. “I’m glad that it went to a good home and hopefully they get as much good service out of it as we did.”

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel agreed with Hornburg, citing that it was a big deal for the county.

“There was a need for both departments and this was another example of working together in collaboration with shared services,” Wendel shared. “If someone is able to help another department it speaks volumes to the ability to work together and really provide a service that is needed here in this community.”