Two Sunstar Paramedics team members, Joshua Hoover and Tsambika Aysh, have been recognized by the Pinellas County Board of Commissioners meeting for exemplary service to the community. Hoover was honored as “Paramedic of the Year” and Aysh was named “EMT of the Year” during the Commission meeting on May 5.

“Josh and Tsambika demonstrate a dedication to patient care and community services that should be a model for every EMS professional to provide,” said Mark Postma, chief operating officer of Sunstar Paramedics. “We’re pleased that the Commissioners have chosen to honor them with the awards.”

Hoover, an education coordinator, demonstrates leadership with his team and provides exceptional patient care in responding to each emergency. As one example, he played a large role in the treatment of a young child experiencing cardiac arrest by completing a difficult intubation and assisting hospital staff. He continues to hone his skills as a paramedic by receiving Critical Care Transport training and helping to implement Sunstar’s patient-handling techniques for improved safety.

Aysh, an emergency medical technician, provides compassionate, quality patient care to every Sunstar patient, and considers the impact on an emergency on the patient’s family. Last fall, Aysh and her partner Robin Webb responded to a home where a woman had died. Through the course of their work, Aysh and Webb learned that the woman’s son had a birthday on the following day. They returned on the boy’s birthday to give him a gift to help ease his emotional pain and allow him to feel a bit of normalcy in the wake of losing his mother.

Both Hoover and Aysh are active in the community in their free time. Hoover coaches youth during paintball camps, volunteers with youth soccer leagues in Brandon and Clearwater, and supports the Wounded Warrior Project through Tough Mudder and Mud Titan runs. Aysh focuses her time in the Tarpon Springs community, including volunteering with the Sun Coast Police Benevolent Association to raise funds for Officer Charlie Kondek’s family after he was killed in the line of duty.

In addition, Sunstar has recognized Aysh and Hoover with an internal award, the Sunstar Care Plus Award, for their excellence in patient care, professionalism and efficiency in November 2014 and February 2015. Award winners are nominated by their co-workers and selected by Sunstar’s employee engagement and retention committee.