As Hurricane Katrina swept down on the Gulf region and the power and communication systems went down, the only working radio network belonged Richard Zuschlag and his ambulance company.

Zuschlag, a 1970 Capitol graduate, began positioning his Lafayette, Louisiana-based, ambulance vehicles and medical helicopters days before the disaster struck last fall. The roles of his employees extended far beyond simple emergency response. They bent the rules just to get the job done – babies placed in cardboard boxes because the boxes fit in small helicopter spaces better than bassinets; tractor trailers commandeered to transport hospital patients.

In the aftermath of the hurricane, Zuschlag and Acadian have received commendation from a variety or organizations, media outlets and agencies. Their private business was better equipped to handle a natural disaster better than the federal government, wrote The New York Times.

They described Zuschlag, Acadian Ambulance Service’s president and chief executive officer, as a fanatic for state-of-the-art gear and backup systems. Acadian has 18,500-foot communications towers and a large supply of satellite phones.

“No government planners expected the only working radio network in New Orleans to be run by a private company, but Acadian had the flexibility to take on the job. It also had better equipment than city agencies,” wrote New York Times columnist John Tierney. 

 “Mr. Zuschlag tried alerting city and state officials. But the city and state communications systems were so bad that nothing got done.”

Zuschlag received a bachelor of science in electronics engineering technology from Capitol. After graduating in 1970, he began working for Westinghouse in the Space and Defense Center of Technical Training Operations in Baltimore.

A year later, the company transferred him to Lafayette where he was involved in medical training at Lafayette General Hospital. Realizing the need for a regional ambulance provider, Zuschlag and two friends incorporated Acadian Ambulance Service and began a membership drive. It is now the largest rural ambulance service in the United States with more than 2,000 employees.

Zuschlag, a regular supporter of the college’s annual fund, dared to be different in the face of adversity. His leadership, his vision and his determination to find solutions combined the skills of a modern-day engineer and leader, the same skills taught by Capitol professors  today.

 Calling his company, “The Anti-FEMA,” Inc. magazine named Zuschlag as an honorable mention for its annual Entrepreneur of the Year award. “Much of his success stems from a longstanding paranoia about losing communications,” the magazine stated. “While the bureaucrats bickered over who was authorized to do what, Zuschlag didn't hesitate.”