Johnson named Cenla Paramedic of Year

Evangeline Parish resident Scott Johnson was recently named Central Louisiana Regional Paramedic of the Year. He was also a finalist for the overall honor.
Scott has been with Acadian Ambulance for nearly 36 years and has worked in ground operations, offshore operations, swing, Acadian on Call and National EMS Academy, and he helped start Mobile Health. He is involved in the ESOP Committee and has represented Acadian Ambulance as the Southwest Chapter ESOP Employee-Owner of the Year.
Johnson is originally from Melville in St. Landry Parish. He started with Acadian Ambulance a month out of high school. He got married two years after that and moved near Grand Prairie and has been there ever since.
Johnson started training his senior year of high school at Belmont Academy when LSU put on an EMT program at Opelousas General. After he finished his night-time EMT class, he had to wait for the next test to come around, which happened every six months. In the meantime he was hired as a driver before he could take the test. Once he took the test, he got his EMT license. This year will be 36 years with Acadian Ambulance.
Johnson said he has always enjoyed his job. “The main thing is the people I serve. These people have all become family. That’s what makes it so good. I’ve become so close to so many people. My patients and their families -- I’ve picked up their grandmothers and then their mothers and now them through the years. This is the way I look at it: these people have supported me by using my services, so I feel an obligation. I treat all my people as family.”
He has also taught in the academy for the last 12 years as an adjunct, and he has taught the first responder classes for the fire department. Johnson said he feels honored with the recognition, but “These are the people who made me: my partners, my company, the fire department and the police department ... all the people who have had my back throughout the years. It’s all team work. All my patients and nursing staff, we’ve all become close too, and the police and firemen ... these are the people who make you shine.”
Johnson has five years left until he can retire. He would like to go back to teaching. He had put teaching aside when his grandchildren came along. Before his grandkids, he was working every day, pulling 168 hours every two weeks for 17 years. Eleven years later, he was working up to 136 hours. When the grandkids came along he stepped back to enjoy being a grandfather.
Johnson will be married 34 years this year to Lisa Fontenot Johnson. They have one son and two grandchildren ages four and 12. He has always had a great relationship with his wife who he considers his best friend. “She’s always been by my side. Without her, it would have made it very difficult.”
Johnson thanks the community, the fire departments and police departments, sheriff’s offices, nursing staff. He also thanks the partners he has had along the way, and he thanks Acadian Ambulance. “They do their best to do what’s right for the parish and the people and us. It’s been a great place to work.”
This isn’t Johnson’s first award. He has also won several awards throughout the years, including Spirit Award and previous Regional Paramedic of the Year.