Acadian Companies names employees of the year | Business

Lindsey Leger was recognized as the National EMS Academy 2024 Employee of the Year for Acadiana Companies.

Leger joined Acadian Ambulance in 2017 and worked in ground operations and dispatch before becoming the medic recruiter in the company’s Hub City, Central Louisiana and North Louisiana regions.

National EMS Academy offers entry-level, continuing education and refresher courses for a number of EMS career pathways, including EMTs and paramedics. It is a nationally accredited EMS training facility with locations in Louisiana, Texas and Tennessee.

Paul Chustz, operational control dispatcher with Acadian Air Med, was recognized as the Air Services 2024 Employee of the Year by Acadiana Companies.

Chustz, who has been with Acadian Ambulance since 1994, worked as an EMT, paramedic field supervisor, critical care transport paramedic, National EMS Academy adjunct instructor and Air Med alternate before becoming a dispatcher.

He currently works in Air Med Operational Control and is a certified flight coordinator.

Lori McCoy was recognized as the Acadian Ambulance 2024 Dispatcher of the Year.

McCoy has been with Acadian for nearly 15 years and works out of the Southeast Texas communication center.

Dave Hubbard, a north Louisiana paramedic, was named Acadian Companies Employee Stock Ownership Plan Employee-Owner of the Year.

Hubbard joined Acadian Ambulance in 2005 and has worked in numerous operations areas, including Hub City, North Texas, New Orleans, Northshore and North Louisiana. He has worked as a critical care transport paramedic and quality improvement coordinator.

Hubbard has been a member of Acadian’s ESOP Committee since 2017. As a committee member, he has worked to promote the benefits of joining ESOP to save for retirement and assists eligible employees in setting up their accounts.

Javen Noel, a monitoring team leader with Acadian Total Security, was named Employee of the Year.

Noel joined the company in September 2021. She participates in training new hires.

Alejandra Leyton joined the staff at the Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Public Policy Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette as a research scientist.

Leyton will work on the LA FIRST Causes and Consequences of Criminal Acts legislative report and to generate a substantive report informing evidence-based policy in Louisiana.

She was previously a senior behavioral scientist at Save the Children International and the World Bank. She earned a master’s in public health, health economics from Tulane University and a doctorate in community health and behavioral science from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.