Mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High 82F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

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Mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High 82F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 59F. Winds light and variable.

Essex native, Troy Armstrong, was honored as the Kansas EMS Association's Administrator of the year at the 2022 KEMSA Conference in Mulvane, Kansas Saturday.

Essex native, Troy Armstrong, was honored as the Kansas EMS Association's Administrator of the year at the 2022 KEMSA Conference in Mulvane, Kansas Saturday.

(Mulvane, KS) -- A KMAland native is this year's recipient of a major honor for emergency medical professionals in Kansas.

Troy Armstrong was named the 2022 Kansas EMS Association’s Administrator of the Year. Armstrong received the award Saturday at the KEMSA Conference and Expo in Mulvane. Currently serving as EMS director in Anderson County, Kansas, Armstrong says he was nominated for the award in June, but was unsure of his chances against other professionals--some of whom came from larger areas.

"So, that nomination process actually came from a former EMS director in Anderson County," said Armstrong. "And, one of my employees felt that I met the criteria to be nominated. They sent that in, and then that nomination is actually graded by a set of peer EMS professionals outside the state of Kansas that have no affiliation with any of the nominees. Then, they score those, and I ended up being the awardee for the EMS director of the year, the KEMSA 2022 award. So, I'm very humbled and honored to receive that."

A 2004 Essex High School graduate, Armstrong previously worked with Essex Police, Essex Fire and Rescue, Shenandoah Medical Center's Ambulance Service, and as a dispatcher with Shenandoah Police. After serving as emergency management director in Johnson County, Missouri, Armstrong spent a year as an ambulance service administrator in Oregon before returning to the Midwest. Armstrong says his experience in Essex and Shenandoah provided his core education for emergency medical work.

"I kind of learned not only that formal certification kind of thing," he said, "but really how a small town public safety professional should operate, knowing that, you know, not every patient's the same, not every situation's the same, and really, the true of what we're doing is for the patients in our community. I think that community instillment that I got from Essex, Shenandoah and Page County is what kind of guided me, and made me successful in my career."

During his career, Armstrong has been deployed in several hurricane and disaster relief efforts, including the 2019 Jefferson City tornado. Throughout all his deployments, Armstong says the biggest lesson he learned was compassion. He cites a post-hurricane relief effort in Georgia as an example.

"We were doing 'hot shot teams,'" said Armstrong. "We went and checked on an elderly female in a home to see if she had any medical needs, and this woman had been without power for three to four days--hot Georgia weather, muggy, medical conditions, no oxygen through her concentrator. Her battery had run dead. But, all she cared about was if we had ate. All she cared about was giving us some fruit and some goodies that she still had available. That really touched me, because I felt like she was the one in need, we were there to help her, and all she was concerned about was our wellbeing."

Armstrong was among emergency officials dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic--an event he says not only strained resources, but also canceled numerous EMT training classes--causing a shortage of paramedics across the state and region.

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