FORT ATKINSON, Wis. — Braun Industries and ZOLL Medical has given the EMT/Paramedic of the Year Award to Valerie DeFrance, EMT-P.

Most contest nominees feel honored to receive one nomination. This year's recipient of the Braun Industries and ZOLL Medical EMT/Paramedic of the Year Award was nominated five times, from as far away from her home in Hope, Alaska, as Texas and Washington, DC. When the same name appears on that many nominations, the selection committee sits up and takes notice, and Valerie DeFrance, EMT-P, is glad they did.

Since 1999, Valerie has owned and operated a website called the EMS House of DeFrance (www.defrance.org), and since 2000 has operated the Emergency Medical Services Educational Resources website (defrance.org/inst), which is a free online repository of instructional materials and multimedia presentations. She is also publisher of EMSNetwork News (www.emsnetwork.org), a free online site; webmistress for www.emsspeakers.org; and webmistress for the new National EMS Museum Foundation. She is a prolific writer and owner of numerous other specialty EMS websites.

In addition to the websites, Valerie has created a Pediatric Seat Belt Safety Program and a comic book series for children that teaches injury prevention and how to call 9-1-1, and helped develop software to help EMS services track and archive patient databases and statistics. She is a two-time recipient of Alaska's "First Lady Award for Volunteerism," from the governor's wife.

The EMT/Paramedic of the Year Award recognizes:
-- Superior performance of duties;
-- Commitment to education and research; and
-- Innovations in prehospital care and community involvement.