An artist rendering of the proposed Port Wonder facility. (Special to the American Press)

Acadian Ambulance Service has announced a monetary contribution to the “quality-of-life” lakefront development project Port Wonder.

Mayor Nic Hunte said that upon discovering a funding delta, the city of Lake Charles reached out to corporate partners to fill the gap. “Acadia was one of the companies that made that happen,” he said. “Today wouldn’t be possible without partners.”

Hunter officially announced that Acadian donated $50,000 to the development.

This donation is a symbol of a deepening partnership between the Children’s Museum of Southwest Louisiana and Acadian Ambulance, according to Allyson Montgomery, interim director at The Children’s Museum of SWLA.

“We hope that with this donation to Port Wonder and our growing partnership with Acadian Ambulance that we can also inspire children and teach them what they can be whenever they grow up,” she said. “We hope that we will help you with your workforce development as children age through our Port Wonder system.”

In addition to this announcement, Acadian Ambulance Service Leadership presented an update on their workforce development and community involvement initiatives in SWLA.

The progress that has been made by Acadian Ambulance is due to local partnerships, said Acadian Ambulance Chairman and CEO Richard Zuschlag. “We work as closely as we can with our police juries and our cities,” he said. “I remember these government leaders and what they did to help us through difficult times, and we think it’s a privilege to be able to serve the people.”

“This has been a tremendous partnership,” said Anthony Bartie, Calcasieu Parish Police Jury Vice-President and District 9 Officer. “One thing that I can always say about this area and about what we try to strive for is giving people peace of mind.”

He continued by stating that the presence of Acadian Ambulance brings a sense of security to the area. “Knowing that you guys are here in this community provides us with a great sense of peace of mind that we can pass on to our citizens.”

Hunter spoke on the importance of strong partnerships. “We speak a lot about corporate partners and what that means for communities… Acadian is the example of what it means to be a good partner to the community.”

He referenced the efforts that Acadian has taken to support the SWLA area, and cited their willingness to purchase a building that was a “blight on the community” in December of 2018. “Acadian didn’t have to choose this location. There were probable locations that were easier, but we wanted to see something happen in an area of town that needed a catalyst.”

That building would become the Acadian Southwest Louisiana Area Operations Center. Taylor Richard, Director of the National EMS Academy, said that this center serves as both a place of ambulance operations and a hub for training EMTs and paramedics.

The training programs that Acadian offers are a vital aspect of operations, according to Richard. “We have dealt with a very unique crisis over the past couple of years being in a staffing crisis,” he explained. “We’re really tried to do everything that we can, and this building has really helped to be able to produce more quality GMP trained paramedics.”

He stated that since the institution of the building, over 100 EMTs and paramedics have been trained and dispatched throughout the SWLA area. Due to the success of this training, Acadian has increased their amount of EMT classes from 3 a year to 6.

According to Justin Back, Acadian Ambulance President, graduates of Acandian’s EMT Explorer Program pass their certification tests at a higher rate than the national average. Acadian trained EMTs graduate at a 89% pass rate, while nationally certified EMT’s have a 51% passing rate.

He said Southwest Louisiana is an essential division of Acadian Ambulance. “Southwest Louisiana is a cornerstone of our operations,” he said. “We all believe here in Southwest Louisiana, our future is gonna be a lot bigger than our past.”

The increased focus on SWLA Acadian training programs is a result of a desire to expand local employment. “We have a very heavy bias on recruiting and training and employing local people,” he said. “We want to recruit people locally, we want to educate them for free and we want to employ them.”

Acadian Ambulance is actively seeking new students. “It’s not a sales pitch. It is a cry for help,” said Back. “Please reinforce what we’re doing by helping us put good, talented people into our classrooms.”

The National EMS Academy EMT course is a 12 week, part-time training program. Scholarship opportunities are available. For more information, visit acadianambulance.com/opportunity