During the recent Chenango County Board of Supervisors meeting, officials congratulated the Chenango County Emergency team for a job well done. Chairman of Board of Supervisors and Town of Pitcher Supervisor Jeffrey Blanchard, Deputy EMS Coordinator for the Chenango County James Dean, Director of the Chenango County Office of Emergency Services and chief Fire Coordinator Matthew Beckwith, and Town of Sherburne Supervisor Charlie Mastro. (Photo by Kelli Miller)

NORWICH — The Chenango County Office of Emergency Services (EMS) worked non-stop over three years to establish a county-wide ambulance service for the purpose of assisting EMS agencies throughout the County and to provide additional essential emergency medical services.

With the support of the Board of Supervisors, Chenango County Fire Coordinator/Director of Emergency Management, Matthew Beckwith and Emergency Medical Services Coordinator, James Dean, began writing a multi-step program to produce a sustainable county-wide EMS System.

Beckwith said they worked with other county agencies to identify the areas of decreased EMS response availability, severely increased EMS response times and training deficiencies across the County.

He said they established a foundation of alternative education models to improve recruitment and retention of EMS providers, implemented two Basic Life Support ambulances and two Advanced Life Support vehicles to operate Countywide.

During the October Chenango County Board of Supervisors meeting, Officials recognized the accomplishments, dedication and hard work and congratulated the Chenango County EMS team for a job well done.