First Responder Awards Honor Excellence, Highlight Mental Health
Reader's note: This article discusses suicide. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. To contact the Crisis Text Line, text HELLO to 741741. More information on crisis hotlines in Massachusetts can be found here.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — First responders gathered at the Proprietor's Lodge last week in advance of EMS Week to celebrate and support their colleagues.
The EMS Awards Banquet, held by the Emergency Medical Services Committee of Berkshire County, included 20 awards for outstanding responses to specific calls over the past year and for excellence in various fields.
Brian Andrews, president of County Ambulance Services and EMSCO, said its mission is to support and uplift the EMS community with compassionate care, critical resources, and "unwavering support" to first responders and their families.
"That mission is built on a simple but powerful principle: caring for our own," he said.
"… EMS is a profession built around caring for others, but those who care for others also need to be cared for. They need support, encouragement, training, resources, recognition, and at times they need to know that this community stands behind them and their families."
Andrews said EMSCO is one of the most active and successful county EMS organizations in Western Mass, and while its members may wear different patches and serve different communities, when the call comes in, they are all connected by the same mission.
The evening included a $1,000 donation from EMSCO member Berkshire Community College Foundation, and County Ambulance paramedic supervisor Austin White requested that his 40 Under 40 donation be sent to the committee.
EMS, police, and fire staff were given awards for their responses to several calls on: May 14, 2025, in Williamstown; May 15, 2025, in Great Barrington; May 28, 2025, in Pittsfield; July 8, 2025, in North Adams; Sept. 14, 2025, in Pittsfield; Jan. 31 in Adams; Feb. 11 in Lenox; Feb. 27 in Hancock, and March 11 in Pittsfield.
Some of the awards were presented by survivors.
Andrews said it's important to reflect on the human side of this work, the impact it has on patients, communities, families, and themselves. He thanked the first responders families for navigating the missed dinners and holidays, late nights, and stress that come with the job.
"Your work has been noticed. Your commitment has made an impact. You represent the very best of EMS in Berkshire County. The awards presented tonight represent more than individual accomplishments. They represent when EMS can be at its best," he added.
"Sometimes that means a life saved, sometimes it means a crisis managed, sometimes it means a patient treated with dignity, a family reassured, or someone made to feel less alone in one of the hardest moments of their life."
Keynote speaker Nicole Ferry, who has nearly three decades of experience in the military, law enforcement, and emergency services, urged attendees not to suffer in silence. She told her story of losing a co-worker to suicide and then almost losing herself to it, and how breaking through silence was life-saving.
Ferry detailed surviving 13 black widow spider bites in boot camp at 18, where raising her hand for medical assistance prevented the worst of outcomes.
Four years ago, her senior special agent and longtime friend died by suicide on duty and in uniform. Ferry realized they had never had an unguarded conversation, which is common in this field, and to this day wonders if having one could have changed the outcome.
She experienced guilt, grief, unanswered questions, nightmares, flashbacks, breakdowns, and was "falling apart," but did not share this with anyone. She booked a 30-day first responder wellness commitment in California and ended up staying 142 days.
She then had to medically retire and became extremely depressed.
"It wasn't the 13 black widow spider bites, it wasn't surviving military sexual trauma, my co-worker's suicide, the 4 1/2 months I spent in a trauma treatment facility, it wasn't going back to work," Ferry said, explaining that her rock bottom came when she was put on an antidepressant that triggered suicidal ideations.
On the third day of medication, she put her child on the school bus for what she intended to be the last time.
Her husband came home unexpectedly, and they instead reached out to Ferry's medical team to find out that she was having a medical reaction to the antidepressant, inducing suicidal ideations and affecting her optic nerve; her vision was blurred during this time.
With help from her medical team, Ferry was able to wean off the medication and finally began to open up. She urged every first responder in the room to have these tough conversations rather than bottling it all up, as she and so many others have.
"I would implore you, as first responders and as family members, to support people, start to talk about what's going on," she said.
"There are so many resources out there that can help you raise this vow of science. We have new people coming into this field every day. Make sure that you are taking care of young people, and you are leading by example. We no longer want to keep this isolation, this belief that we are by ourselves, because we are not."
Individual awards:
- Basic Life Support Provider of the Year: EMT Tyler Colby, Dalton Fire Department
- Advanced Life Support Provider of the Year: paramedic Sean Sommers, County Ambulance Service
- Firefighter of the Year: Daniel Williams, Dalton Fire Department
- EMS Educator of Excellence: Adam O'Neil, Northern Berkshire EMS
- Physician of the Year: Dr. Robert Wenger, Berkshire Medical Center:
- EMS Communications Specialist of the Year: Royanne Hammond, Berkshire Regional Emergency Communications Center
- EMS Agency of the Year: Jiminy Peak Ski Patrol
- Lucy A. Britton Memorial Award: Lt. Col. Thomas Grady, Berkshire County Sheriff's Office
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