Southwest Chapter of the ESOP Association Present Awards to Acadian

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The Southwest Chapter of the ESOP Association, in which employees are owners through Employee Stock Ownership Plans, presented its Seventh Annual Award for Company of the Year and Best ESOP Committee Acadian Ambulance Service. Regional ESOP Committee Chairman Jim Schranz presented the awards at the association’s seventh annual conference in Dallas. Pictured are (back row) Acadian ESOP Committee Members Justin Cox, Pat Hanks, Mark Conner, Ed Smith, Mike Danzy, and Kent Guidry, (front row) Debby Bowers, Melissa Juneau, Chief Financial Officer David Kelly, Acadian ESOP Committee Chairman Dean Landry, Jennifer Taylor and Schranz.

Contact: W. Keith Simon, VP, PR & Marketing, 1.800.259.3333

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, March 24, 2005

Acadian Ambulance was honored as Company of the Year and Best ESOP Committee for services and accomplishments which included submissions for Employee Owner of the Year, Best ESOP Committee, Best Newsletter and Best Video with emphasis on how ownership enhances their quality of service. Commenting about Acadian’s entries, ESOP Committee Chairman Jim Schranz said, “We considered the breadth of Acadian commitment to employee ownership as evidenced by all these entries in our unanimous decision to select them for Southwest Chapter Company fop the Year. Acadian leaves no stone unturned in its efforts to spread the good news of employee ownership to its employee-owners and the customers and communities they serve.”

“Instead of Company of the Year, the award should be called The Company with the Best Employees,” said Chief Financial Officer David Kelly, who accepted the award for Company of the Year. “It’s all about the employees, and I believe we have the best employees any company could have. Any success we have had or will have in the future is owed to them. Our company mission is to save lives and help people in need, and our employees fulfill this mission every day with an energy level and enthusiasm that is unbelievable,” he said. Kelly accepted the award on behalf of Chairman & CEO Richard Zuschlag who was unable to attend.

Acadian’s ESOP Chairman Dean Landry, a paramedic-dispatcher, accepted the award for Best ESOP Committee and thanked Acadian’s administration, the ESOP committee, the PR & Marketing department and the Acadian Family of employees. “These awards validate that we are moving in the right direction and are a better company because of a program that maximizes human potential by enhancing the self-worth, dignity, and wellbeing of our people. Our ESOP message is clear--it enables our working family to share in the wealth they help create.”

Acadian Ambulance Service ranks among the top 100 employee-owned companies in the U.S., according to a list compiled by the National Center for Employee Ownership. The men and women of Acadian became employee-owners of the largest privately owned ambulance service in the U.S. in 1993, with the adoption of an Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP). Under the plan, 75 percent of the company value in stock is available to employees. The plan involves placing the stock in trust, with those shares acquired by employees redeemable in cash at the time of retirement.

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