Acadian Ambulance EMT Martyna Trahan has been named EMT of the Year for Acadian’s southwest Louisiana service area.

Trahan was recognized for the regional honors earlier this month at Acadian Ambulance’s Medics of the Year event in Lafayette, where she was also a finalist for top honors among the company’s four-state service area.

Trahan is a native of Carlyss and joined Acadian Ambulance in early 2020. In her two years working with the company, her supervisors say she has established herself as a courteous, compassionate and professional patient care provider.

“Many of Trahan’s colleagues nominated her for the honor. She has proven herself to be comfortable, proficient and competent in all of her EMT responsibilities. Her attention to detail and willingness to do the right thing are two of her strongest attributes,” Operations Manager John Dubose stated.

Trahan said choosing a job as a first responder was never a question in her mind, as she observed both her parents working in the field as she grew up.

“My mom and dad have been in the first responder world my entire life, so I knew I’d work somewhere that had lights and sirens involved,” she said.

A few months after beginning her career, Trahan accomplished a personal goal for herself by working on Acadian’s unit number 406, the same unit that once belonged to family friend and personal mentor, Mark Fontaine.

Trahan said she has many memories of Fontaine running calls with her parents and always in unit 406, and when she got the call that there was an opening on that unit she said she jumped at the chance to be on it.

“I instantly went back to the days of being little and looking up to Mark and wanting to be like him and my parents,” she said.

In the midst of the excitement of being a first responder, Trahan said her love for the work truly comes when she meets the people that she has helped – even if they don’t recognize her.

“I get a really peaceful feeling when I see a patient in public and they are living their best life after they went through a life-threatening experience in the back of my ambulance. They don’t remember me or even notice me, but I see them grocery shopping, working, and living life to the fullest and it makes me so happy knowing that they were able to make it back home to their families,” she stated.

The day-to-day work of an EMT can be demanding, but Trahan credits her colleagues with her success and professional growth.

“I absolutely love my coworkers. We are all different ages, from different areas, have different personalities and have our own personal situations to deal with, but we always come together as a team when we have our uniforms on. Some of us have even become lifelong friends outside of work. I wouldn’t have made it this far if it wasn’t for my ‘Acadian family’ helping me, teaching me and loving me,” Trahan stated.