Yale Center For EMS Names Branford Dispatcher Telecommunicator Of Year

NEW HAVEN, CT — The voice on the other end of a 911 call must be calm, collected, have myriad skills, and humanity, to do the job well. They're the first, first responder. And an integral player in saving lives.

Branford Fire Department Chief Thomas Mahoney said that all the town's "dispatchers do a great job" but one "stood out for her outstanding, consistent performance."

Tuesday, the Yale New Haven Hospital Center for EMS held its annual EMS Week celebration, including its Responder Recognition Awards ceremony. There, Branford telecommunicator Alyssa Schultz was named the EMS Telecommunicator of the Year.

This award recognizes an EMS Communications Specialist who demonstrates excellence in the performance of communications as a call receiving operator, dispatcher or call taker and provider of pre-arrival patient instructions.

Nominated by Branford Fire Department Capt. Randy Chittenden, it was noted that she, "Demonstrates that and more and couldn’t be more deserving of this award."

The Branford dispatch center is co-managed by the fire and police departments. Both Mahoney and Police Chief Jon Mulhern gave their "full support" for Shultz's nomination.

The Yale New Haven Hospital Center for EMS posted to Facebook about the awards, as part of its annual EMS Week Celebration.

"During this event our local EMS providers are recognized for prehospital cardiac arrest code saves for the previous year. To put this event into perspective, over the past several years the Yale EMS Medical Direction Team headed by Dr. Daniel Jospeh spearheaded a massive system-wide effort to improve out of hospital cardiac arrest survival in our system. This included re-training of pit crew CPR with each of our EMS agencies, and now includes community hands-only-CPR training.

In 2022 our health system had 12 prehospital cardiac arrest survivals. For 2023 we had 41 saves to celebrate!!! Seven of these survivors attended the event who had the chance to not only celebrate their successful recovery but also an opportunity to stand up and shake the hand/hug the providers who gave them a second chance at life!!!

We would like to thank all of our providers who make all of this possible by serving their communities each and everyday. You are truly hero's. If you know of a community that is interested in hosting a hands-only CPR training please let us know, as bystander CPR is a pivotal part in the chain of survival.

We would also like to congratulate our providers who received distinguished awards:

EMT of the Year- David Beaton of the Hamden Fire Department

Paramedic of the Year- Jonathan Mustacchi of the East Haven Fire Department & AMR

EMS Educator of the Year- Devin Bartlett ALS Instructor at YNHH-Center for EMS & Paramedic at AMR-New Haven

PFI of the Year- Matthew Pfeiffer of AMR New Haven

EMS Tele-Communicator of the Year- Alyssa Shultz of the Branford Dispatch Center

Linda Cohens Distinguished Service Award- Eric Breininger of Nelson Ambulance Service

Ricardo Torres Award- Khaliq Marabel of Nelson Ambulance Service

Career Achievement Award- Steven Czenthe of AMR New Haven