NAEMT is pleased to announce that Will Chapleau, EMT-P, RN, TNS is the 2012 recipient of the prestigious Rocco V. Morando Lifetime Achievement Award. This award is generously sponsored by the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) and was presented last night to Chapleau at the NAEMT General Membership Meeting.

Will Chapleau has been leading the cause for quality EMS education nationwide and across the globe for many years. He has served as Chair of NAEMT's Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) Committee for the past 16 years, taking the program to new heights in using evidence-based, critical thinking to treat multi-system trauma. Because of his work, PHTLS is now offered to EMS practitioners in more than 55 countries.

Chapleau is Director of Performance Improvement and the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) Program Manager for the American College of Surgeons, Chicago. He has been a paramedic for 36 years and a trauma nurse specialist for 23 years. He has worked in the field as a firefighter paramedic and finished his 20-year fire department career as Chief of the Chicago Heights Fire department. Chapleau also has worked in emergency and critical care nursing.

An EMS educator for 28 years, Chapleau has published four EMS textbooks and contributed to numerous other texts, including ATLS, PHTLS and ATCN. He also has written frequently for EMS and trauma journals and has lectured on EMS and trauma topics in more than 50 countries.

In addition, he has served on the Board of Directors of NAEMT, the National Association of EMS Educators, and the Society of Trauma Nurses, and currently serves on the Board of Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Illinois.

The Rocco V. Morando Lifetime Achievement Award is NAEMT's most prestigious award, and is named after one of the founding members of NAEMT.