The Saratoga County EMS Council today announced recipients of the 2024 Saratoga County EMS Awards. An awards ceremony was held on September 12, 2024, at the Saratoga County Public Safety Building in Ballston Spa during a meeting of the Council.
Awards are provided to emergency services personnel and agencies who show individual or team accomplishments or heroism above and beyond the ordinary call of duty.
2024 Agency of the Year: Saratoga Springs Fire Department
While many fire departments begrudgingly do EMS and often find it a distraction from fire operations, Saratoga Springs Fire Department has, since they became involved in EMS in 2012, been passionate about patient care. They are frequently recognized for their exceptional prehospital care, community outreach, and the respect, kindness and compassion their firefighters demonstrate on every response. Saratoga Springs is also a good EMS neighbor, last year increasing their staffing to reduce reliance on mutual aid and repay the favors their neighboring services had provided. Despite having a community hospital in the center of their City, SSFD never hesitates to travel 45 minutes south for patients they believe might need care at a tertiary specialty care hospital.
Their community outreach efforts have resulted in double the national average of bystander AED use. Their excellence in patient care resulted in a 60% Utstein Cardiac Arrest Survival Rate in 2023 compared to the national 32.8% survival rate, far exceeding any other service in Saratoga County. For their selfless service and continued dedication to the highest level of EMS service to their community, Saratoga Springs Fire Department is recognized as the EMS Agency of the Year.
2024 Advanced Life Support Provider of the Year: Scott McNeff
On February 2nd, 2024, Malta-Stillwater Paramedic Scott McNeff responded to a report of a subject through the ice on Round Lake. Arriving first on scene, McNeff and his ambulance partner recognized that the local ice fisherman who had fallen through a weak area in the ice some 30 minutes earlier was in trouble and not likely to stay above the surface for much longer. With years of ice rescue experience as a Rescue Squad Lieutenant in the City of Troy, McNeff made a calculated risk-benefit decision. With ice cracking underneath him, he skillfully crawled out to the victim, threw the man a rope and secured him until the arrival others who assisted in completing the rescue. Subsequently arriving rescuers from the Round Lake Fire Department and DEC assisted McNeff with pulling the victim to safety. Presenting with a core body temperature of 94 degrees F, the victim was warmed and transported, and able to make a complete recovery. For his quick thinking, rescue skill set, and willingness to take a calculated personal risk in order to save a life, Scott McNeff is awarded the Advanced Life Support Provider of the Year.
2024 Harriet C. Weber EMS Leadership Award: Michael Prezioso
Using his skills as a clinical psychologist and EMT, coupled with his connections as the Saratoga County Mental Health Commissioner, Michael Prezioso facilitated consolidation of multiple police, fire, and EMS single agency peer support teams into a single, county-wide peer support team beginning in the fall of 2021. The PST today numbers nearly 100 individuals from public safety agencies across the County, all trained and certified in one-to-one support as well as group support sessions. Prezioso coordinates the team, facilitates regular International Critical Incident Stress Foundation training programs that add 25-30 members annually to the team. Annually, the PST assists several hundred emergency responders, conducting dozens of group debriefings, daily individual meetings, periodic behavioral health consultations, and referrals to mental health professionals when needed. The Peer Support Team has become an essential part of emergency services health and wellness in Saratoga County and, through the efforts of Dr. Michael Prezioso, a model for other Counties in New York State.
His advocacy for responder mental health and wellness, community addiction and recovery services, and developing responder behavioral health skills have greatly enhanced morale, retention, and overall happiness in Saratoga public safety agencies. For his unwavering dedication to EMS, Michael Prezioso is awarded the Harriet C. Weber EMS Leadership Award.
2024 EMS Agency of the Year: Saratoga Springs Fire Department
2024 Advanced Life Support Provider of the Year: Scott McNeff
2024 Harriet C. Weber EMS Leadership Award: Michael Prezioso