Empress Deputy Chief of Operations Joe Bilotto was recently presented with the Harriet C. Weber EMS Leadership Award at the Dutchess County EMS Council Awards in Millbrook on May 14.
“Joe has been working with Empress Emergency Medical Services out of Poughkeepsie for years and has been with various agencies in the Hudson Valley throughout his entire career. … These decades of service have landed him in a position to help advance EMS in our region in a unique way,” said the Dutchess County EMS Council in a Facebook post.
The Harriet C. Weber EMS Leadership Award recognizes longevity, innovation/dedication, responsibility, as well as executive and management skills in establishing, maintaining, promoting or expanding EMS organizations, agencies and committees at the community and/or state level.
Harriet C. Weber is credited with founding modern emergency medical services in Ulster County in the 1950s and became a champion for volunteer medical squads. She died in 2001 at age 85. She was Ulster’s first certified medical emergency technician instructor and later became an instructor for the American Red Cross’ advance first aid and emergency care course, in addition to cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
