The Monroe-Livingston Regional EMS Council’s awards ceremony, held at the Monroe County Public Safety Training Facility on Monday, concluded with Pittsford Ambulance and several of its staff receiving regional recognition for their commitment to excellence in Emergency Medical Services (EMS).
Paramedic Hannah Mager was recognized as the Region’s Advanced Life Support Provider of the Year for 2025. This award is presented to an Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (AEMT), Critical Care Technician (AEMT-CC), or Paramedic (AEMT-P) for contributions to the community including dedication, responsibility, professional behavior, ingenuity, special skill or insight in the EMS environment. Mager, who joined PVA in September of 2015, has achieved numerous career milestones during her time at PVA, including achieving paramedic certification, rapid-sequence induction credentialing, and more recently certification as a flight paramedic. She is a role model for her colleagues, always striving to learn something new and caring deeply for her patients. Most recently, Paramedic Mager joined the Army National Guard, serving as a combat medic.
Deputy Chief Amanda Martin earned recognition as the Region’s EMS Educator of Excellence for 2025. This award is presented to an individual who through outstanding teaching, educational administration/coordination, publication or research has significantly improved prehospital services at the local, county, regional or state level. Deputy Chief Martin, who joined PVA in September 2021, has several decades of EMS education experience and now leads both staff development and community education programing at PVA. Her role directly impacts the day-to-day patient care, as her role encompasses clinical care and quality improvement initiatives. Deputy Chief Martin has been instrumental in educating hundreds of EMT students in the course of her career, and has been a core part of PVA’s workforce development program that seeks to add over 100 new EMS providers to the local workforce each year.
Chief Jonathan Smith was again presented with the Harriet. C. Weber EMS Leadership Award, namely for his role in securing a $4.4 million dollar American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant for a county-wide EMS workforce development program and his advocacy for EMS at the local, state and federal levels. This award is presented to an individual exhibiting longevity, innovation/dedication, responsibility, executive and management skills in establishing, maintaining, promoting or expanding EMS organizations, agencies, committees at the community and/or state level. Chief Smith, who joined PVA in March of 2016 previously earned this award in 2022. Chief Smith also serves as the Chair of the Monroe County Joint EMS Chief’s Association, which serves to unite the individual EMS organizations in Monroe County around EMS-related issues and advocating for common goals.
Finally, the entire staff were recognized for their outstanding contributions to the community as the Region’s EMS Agency of the Year for 2025. This recognition is provided to any agency which strives for consistency in EMS excellence and exhibits exemplary performance when providing or supporting prehospital emergency medical care. PVA has earned this recognition in 2021 and 2023.
“It’s an honor for our staff to receive this much deserved recognition,” said Chief Smith. “EMTs and Paramedics don’t often seek recognition for the work they do, but it’s important for the communities they serve to know that they are in good hands should they ever need to dial 9-1-1 for an ambulance.”
These EMS awards, and a host of others, are presented each year after careful consideration by the Monroe-Livingston Regional EMS Council’s Public Information, Education & Recruitment (PIER) Committee. The nominations are peer-submitted and peer-reviewed. Each of these awards are submitted to the NYS Department of Health’s Division of State EMS for possible state recognition at their annual conference to be held in Niagara Falls in November.