Acadian Ambulance Medic of the Year celebration

LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – Acadian Ambulance honored its 2024 Paramedic of the Year, Savannah Welch, and EMT of the Year, Samantha Blackwell at the Cajundome on Tuesday.

Savannah represents Acadian's North Louisiana service area. Samantha represents Acadian's South-Central Texas service area. Savannah and Samantha were selected for the top company honors from a field of 32 paramedics and EMTs representing Acadian Ambulance's four-state service area, as well as its Acadian Air Med and Safety Management Systems divisions. More than 1,200 guests were in attendance, comprising Acadian employee-owners; local, state, and national political leaders and business associates.

Savannah Welch tells News 10, “It was a huge honor. I got the call after we had done interviews for that day and the first thing I said was, are you serious? Being honored as a regional paramedic for my area in itself was just a huge reward to me knowing that my colleagues saw me in that light, had that respect, and looked up to me in that way.” 

She adds, “Then being able to come in and compete with the best of the best from every other area, just winning it let me know, really, that I'm exactly where I need to be right now and that this is the field that I was designed to be in, which is very humbling and is a reward in itself to know that I'm doing what I need to be doing. Just being able to represent Acadian as a paramedic for 2024 is a huge honor and I couldn't be more thankful.” 

Welch said she was inspired by her grandmother who was an EMT in her hometown of Columbia. “I got patches of hers and everything, so it’s just kind of a little inspiration to her knowing that she's looking down and seeing what I'm doing and I feel like I’d make her very proud being here today,” said Welch. 

Samantha Blackwell, who shared that the honor was unexpected. “I feel excited! I'm very proud, especially to have my family here with me and my kids, a new experience for them. This is very rewarding,” she said. 

Blackwell is from San Antonio, Texas. She said it's been a few years since someone from the San Antonio region has won overall for the entire company as an EMT of the year. “Everyone in the region is super proud, all my supervisors, and mentors. So that means a lot to me that I've been able to go out there, work hard every day, and show up for my job and get recognized for it. So it's really beautiful,” she said. 

Blackwell highlights the updates in the Life pak monitor defibrillator make work on her job easier to save the lives of those she is serving. 

“We can get better captures of our cardiac readings. Especially, when doing CPR it’s very vital when we’re doing CPR, when we’re doing our rhythm checks, pulse checks to get that rhythm to see if it's shock or not.” 

If you find yourself looking for your next career path as keynote speaker Matthew Kelly highlighted in his speech “want the right things.” 

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