please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message a major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject . it may require cleanup to comply with wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view . please discuss further on the talk page . february 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . february 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message the neutrality of this article is disputed . relevant discussion may be found on the talk page . please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met . june 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message acadian ambulance service inc. type private industry ambulance service founded lafayette louisiana 1971 founders richard zuschlag ceo chairman of the board headquarters lafayette louisiana united states key people richard zuschlag ceo chairman of the board services pre hospital medical care owner richard zuschlag and acadian s employee owners number of employees 4 000 parent acadian companies divisions acadian ambulance service acadian air med acadian total security executive aircraft charter services national ems academy safety management syctems website www.acadian.com this section relies largely or entirely upon a single source . relevant discussion may be found on the talk page . please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources . january 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message this section s factual accuracy is disputed . please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced . see the relevant discussion on the talk page . january 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message acadian ambulance is an ambulance service 1 that covers most of the state of louisiana parts of texas and one county in mississippi . in 1995 it was recognized as the largest privately owned ambulance service in the united states . today the company responds to emergency and non emergency calls in louisiana southeast texas central texas north texas and parts of mississippi . headquartered in lafayette louisiana acadian ambulance maintains a fleet of more than 400 ground ambulances as well as eight medical transport helicopters and five fixed wing aircraft that provide aerial transport to medical facilities . in addition to emergency medical services acadian offers an aircraft charter service a personal medical alarm service fire and burglar alarm service industrial medical personnel fire and safety technicians and medical and industrial training as well as billing software . contents 1 history 2 acadian companies 3 legal problems and lawsuits 4 references 5 external links history edit this section relies largely or entirely upon a single source . relevant discussion may be found on the talk page . please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources . january 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message this section s factual accuracy is disputed . please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced . see the relevant discussion on the talk page . january 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message acadian was founded by roland dugas richard zuschlag and richard sturlese in response to funeral homes cessation of providing ambulance services because of new financially burdensome federal guidelines . they decided it was time to create a private ambulance company and took their idea to the lafayette police jury . without the needed funds to get started they decided to hire former vietnam war medics to staff their new company and raise funds through membership subscriptions . on july 21 1971 the police jury authorized acadian ambulance service inc. to be the emergency provider for lafayette parish . to this day acadian uses memberships drives to aid funding of the company . when acadian first started they had just 2 ambulances and 8 medics . roland dugas was the first president . at 12 01 am on september 1 1971 when funeral homes ceased services acadian ambulance service went live with a membership of 8 400 households . over the next year acadian grew to a fleet of 8 ambulances and moved into about 26 000 households . in 1972 acadian expanded service into st. mary and vermilion parishes . they soon put in a model dispatch system of which other companies would follow . in 1973 acadian moved into acadia jefferson davis st. martin and terrebonne parishes along with the city of eunice . membership levels skyrocketed to 70 648 . in 1974 acadian built a new headquarters in lafayette with a state of the art emergency medical dispatch center . the company now had 100 employees including 75 emts as it moved into evangeline and iberia parishes . by 1975 they had 33 ambulances and 80 216 households covered . in 1976 acadian expanded their emt training formalizing it and fully certifying employees through the national registry of emergency medical technicians and the state of louisiana . in 1979 membership reached 100 000 households . this year brought the expansion into assumption parish and an expansion to their telemetry system now including transmissions of ekgs to hospital rooms from almost anywhere in the service area . over the past four decades acadian ambulance continued to grow its service area and now encompasses the majority of parishes in louisiana 33 counties in texas and one county in mississippi . the company also expanded into six distinct divisions with patients clients and customers around the globe . 2 acadian companies edit this section relies largely or entirely upon a single source . relevant discussion may be found on the talk page . please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources . january 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message this section s factual accuracy is disputed . please help to ensure that disputed statements are reliably sourced . see the relevant discussion on the talk page . january 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message what started out in 1971 as a small ambulance company in lafayette louisiana has exploded into a multi faceted globally reaching company . today acadian has more than 4 000 employees ranging from nationally registered emergency medical technicians and pilots to health safety and security professional and support staff . the acadian fleet includes more than 400 ground ambulances helicopters and fixed wing aircraft . despite their rapid and vast progress acadian s mission remains the same to improve the lives of their patients customers and employees through their innovative spirit and diversity . an acadian ambulance at the scene of an emergency acadian ambulance service acadian ambulance service began operations in 1971 in response to a sudden crisis . communities around the country found themselves without emergency medical transportation when new federal regulations caused funeral homes to discontinue using their hearses for emergency transport . these regulations went into effect at midnight on september 1 1971 . at 12 01 a.m. acadian ambulance began its louisiana operations with three young co founders two ambulances eight medics and 279 square miles of lafayette parish to cover . air med services surrounding parishes became interested in having acadian ambulance s pre hospital emergency care and soon invitations to serve came pouring in from other areas . louisiana s diverse geography of rich swamps and marshlands and extensive rural areas made navigation in a ground ambulance an often daunting or even impossible task . 3 air med to address the challenge of an expanded population and geographical service area acadian ambulance expanded to include air med services in 1981 which hosted the first medical helicopter based in lafayette la . this allowed acadian ambulance to quickly access onshore and offshore emergency situations . by 1989 air med had also acquired fixed wing aircraft for extended emergency and non emergency air medical transports . air med and executive air charter currently operate several king air aircraft and a lear 45 jet aircraft . 4 executive aircraft charter service eventually the fixed wing fleet of air med would progress into executive aircraft charter service ; since only a handful of air medical flights are scheduled per week the interior of the aircraft can be easily reconfigured and utilized for business or pleasure flights throughout north america . 5 safety management systems at its inception air med was the first aero medical provider in the gulf of mexico with helicopters equipped like a hospital emergency room and flight paramedics . this vastly enhanced the safety of offshore workers and it wasn t long before acadian also began providing contract medics to work shifts on oil installations offshore . the duality of these developments led to partnerships with the oil & gas companies which in turn evolved into safety management systems acadian s health safety environmental medical security and training service company . today sms is one of the largest providers of these services in the industry and caters to an array of industrial safety needs such as safety and regulatory compliance training health and wellness testing and specialized programs and remote paramedics . 6 acadian total security when acadian began in the 1970s emergency communications were primitive at best . within the next 10 years acadian established a nationally respected dispatch center that became recognized as an industry leader in emergency communications . through the use of their state of the art technology communication center and highly trained dispatchers acadian monitoring services was born in 1991 as acadian on call . acadian monitoring services currently offers personal medical alerts mobile monitoring gps tracking and fleet safety services advanced video security services access control security monitoring and telehealth monitoring through three highly sophisticated call centers . in 2014 acadian expanded its security monitoring division and began offering security systems advanced video services and access control systems directly to consumers . 7 national ems academy because most ambulance services were unregulated before 1970 acadian became a pioneer when first training emts . acadian s 700 hour national registry paramedic course was one of the first of its kind offered in louisiana . in house ems education continued over the next three decades as acadian s medical education department trained medics and offered the continuing education hours emts needed to recertify . however along with the growth of the company came a corresponding shortage of paramedics . with this in mind the national ems academy was launched in 2003 through collaboration with south louisiana community college so acadian could educate its own medics . 8 legal problems and lawsuits edit on march 26 1998 us attorney mike skinner announced that acadian ambulance had been found guilty of medicare and medicaid fraud through over billing of the federal programs . acadian was fined 1.9 million to settle the charges . 9 10 while moving gaye cryar from her hospital bed to the stretcher to transfer her to a rehabilitation hospital following a total left hip arthroplastyin june 2000 an acadian ambulance crew dropped the patient causing a re injury and an acute fracture of the acetabulum and dislocation of the hip prosthesis . acadian won summary judgement in the trial court but the louisiana court of appeals third circuit reversed the summary judgment on may 31 2006 saying the increasing complaints after the patient reported a rough transfer from bed to stretcher at women s this evidence is sufficient to raise a