2024 Dr. Harold Keltz Distinguished Public Health Service Award Winner: David Raizen  
David Raizen, the longtime president of Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps, is the recipient of the Dr. Harold Keltz Distinguished Public Health Service Award.

Mr. Raizen became president in the early 1980s and has served as either president or chairman of the board since that time.  He first joined the ambulance corps in 1977, and has been its driving force for the past 45 years.  Mr. Raizen became an EMT and then a paramedic, and has led and directed every new initiative the ambulance corps has taken on.

Mr. Raizen worked with Scarsdale Village to identify a centrally located empty property at 5 Weaver Street where a new ambulance corps headquarters could be situated. He led a successful fundraising drive that enabled construction without tax dollars of a building with two ambulance bays, sleeping quarters for 10, an oxygen filling station, kitchen, squad room and training center.

SVAC offers a NYS certified EMT class to Scarsdale High School students, along with training classes for professional rescuers and the public, including CPR and Stop the Bleed classes for community groups, individuals and school staff.

Under Mr. Raizen’s direction, SVAC has launched a pilot community paramedicine program, in which paramedics and EMTs make home visits to residents who have recently been discharged from White Plains Hospital.  Paramedics can draw blood for labs, provide fluids and treat patients with pneumonia and diabetes, to help reduce hospital readmissions. This work is being done under the auspices of a new Community Paramedicine state law passed last summer, which allows paramedics to continue providing these services for two years.  SVAC is one of more than 50 agencies participating in the program. The program expands on the work that SVAC paramedics did during the COVID-19 pandemic, under the Governor’s executive order, when they vaccinated and tested thousands of homebound, frail and immunocompromised residents in their homes. In total, SVAC provided more than 22,000 COVID PCR tests and vaccinations to residents of Westchester.

The Dr. Harold Keltz Distinguished Public Health Service Award is presented to an individual or organization exemplifying the highest level of commitment and distinguished public health service to our community. The award is named for Dr. Keltz, a pulmonologist who devoted his career to the compassionate care of Tuberculosis patients in Westchester. As a tribute to his commitment to service, the board named this award for Dr. Keltz after his passing.

 2024 J.R. Tesone Youth Public Health Service Award Winner: Ashley Madden
Ashley Madden is a Pleasantville High School senior who has become a fierce advocate for the prevention, treatment and allocation of resources to help people who have both a mental health challenge and an addiction, known as co-occurring disorders.

In 2019, Ashley learned about the Harris Project, Inc., a Westchester non-profit that provides prevention programming and advocates for improved services for people with co-occurring disorders. She quickly became passionate about helping. Starting in eighth grade, she met with school administrators, scheduled presentations and events and added CODA to the conversation in her middle and high school.

Ashley was a leader at the first Virtual CODA Youth Advocacy Night in October 2020, and delivered testimony to the New York State Office of Mental Health and Office of Addiction Services and Supports at their 2020 listening sessions. She has advocated for increased resources for Co-Occurring Disorders and mental health services with numerous state legislators. During a Virtual CODA Youth Summit in April 2021, Ashley presented on advocacy and education to hundreds of students throughout Westchester and has served as a youth leader for the past several years. Through a science research program at her high school, Ashley researched and wrote a scholarly paper on this topic.

This award honors the memory of J.R. Tesone, a Westchester County Board of Health member who died in 2014.  J.R. Tesone devoted his life to making summers safe and fun for hundreds of children. He found his calling as a camp counselor and later became the dedicated owner and director of Breezemont Day Camp in Armonk.