By Steven Mayer
The Bakersfield Californian
Emergency Medical Technician Mariela Acevedo is only 21, but after nearly two years as an EMT with Hall Ambulance, she’s already begun to accumulate a world of experience.
“There was this particular call,” she remembered. “A patient was having an extreme anaphylactic attack, throat swelling up and was unable to breathe.”
The patient had apparently eaten something and had an extreme, life-threatening allergic reaction. Seconds counted.
“It could have been a bad outcome,” Acevedo remembered.
The young emergency medical responder administered an EpiPen to the patient. Immediately, the symptoms began to subside. The patient was breathing again.
“That call was the best part of my day,” she told The Californian in a phone call Monday. “Knowing that I actually helped someone ... it’s very rewarding.”
Acevedo and three of her colleagues were recognized as Stars of Life in Sacramento on Monday for standing out among their peers as the best of the best among some 60,000 EMTs and 20,000 paramedics statewide.
The Hall Ambulance employees nominated for this recognition are among those who were recently honored at the company’s Founder’s Day Awards for their dedication to patient care and other accomplishments, Hall Ambulance said in a news release.
Besides Acevedo, the other Hall honorees are Paramedic Field Supervisor Joe Eastwood and Paramedic Vladimir Dragosavlevich.
While paramedic J’Nise Evans was not able to join her colleagues on the trip to Sacramento , she too received Stars of Life commendations Monday for her performance as a paramedic field training officer.
Dragosavlevich, 28, who earlier this year was named Hall’s Paramedic of the Year, joined Hall Ambulance as an EMT in 2020.
According to the news release, his hard work and dedication earned him a spot in the Hall Ambulance Paramedic Academy .
In a late afternoon interview with The Californian on Monday, Dragosavlevich talked about the “fine line” EMS workers must walk between feeling emotion and empathy for their patients while always maintaining a cool and confident demeanor, even under great stress in sometimes extreme, high-stakes environments.
“Sometimes, the only person standing between them and death is me,” he said.
Finding that line between being human and compartmentalizing your emotions is not a skill found in a manual.
“It’s not something that can be taught,” he said. “It’s just something you learn.”
The day started at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento with a medal breakfast. They then made their way to the Capitol for a group photo with the other honorees representing ambulance companies from across California .
Hall Ambulance’s honorees then met with state Sen. Shannon Grove , who presented them with Senate certificates of recognition in the Capitol Rotunda. Later in the afternoon, the Hall employees were recognized on the floor of the Assembly and Senate for their commitment to serving their respective communities.
The event, hosted by the California Ambulance Association , was scheduled to wrap up Monday’s schedule with a cocktail reception followed by an awards banquet.
The first responders are scheduled to return home and return to work on Tuesday.
There’s no telling what they will encounter as they respond to medical emergencies of every sort.
© 2025 The Bakersfield Californian (Bakersfield, Calif.).
Visit www.bakersfield.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
