Albany Tech announces Tracie “Rusty” Naylor-Griffin awarded prestigious 2023 Georgia EMS Educator of the Year Award
ALBANY, Ga. – Albany Technical College (ATC) celebrates as one of their own instructors has been honored with the distinguished EMS Instructor of the Year Award.
ATC proudly announces Tracie “Rusty” Naylor-Griffin as the recipient of the 2023 Georgia EMS Educator of the Year award.
This prestigious accolade recognizes her remarkable dedication and significant contributions to EMS education across local, regional, and statewide levels.
This award underscores the rigorous nomination criteria, which encompasses the nominee’s commitment to excellence in EMS education, community engagement, and leadership.
“I’m truly deeply honored that I was elected. I have always had an inherent desire to help people? And, I like the action. It’s never the same call twice. So, it’s very dynamic. Whenever we are called to the scene, our job is to create calm in total chaos in less than 5 seconds. So, I love doing that. I love helping people. And, now in my career, I love teaching people how to do that,” said Tracie “Rusty” Naylor-Griffin, Paramedicine Program Chair, ATC.
“Rusty” began her EMS journey in September of 1991 as a frontline EMT with Dougherty County EMS.
In 1992, she pursued her Paramedicine Certification at Darton College.
Since then, “Rusty” has consistently served Dougherty County, Worth County, and Lee County, demonstrating unwavering commitment to her community.
“Rusty” discusses her approach to customizing her teaching methods to accommodate a diverse spectrum of students.
“We have a term we use here frequently, “excellence always,” and from day one of orientation, we tell our students when they walk in the building, whenever they put on the uniform, they do their best every single time. Do we always hit that high bar of excellence? No, but we stop, we regroup, we adjust, and then we try again. I make a personal commitment to my students and we get to know each other and I figure out where their weaknesses are, where their strong points are, and help them grow and help them build to be the best EMS professional they can be. We all bring different things to the table. We all enter the classroom with different backgrounds, different histories, and we all at the end of it, come together to promote the profession, to make the profession better,” she said.
“Rusty” further encourages individuals with an interest in EMS to consider enrollment in the program offered at Albany Tech.
“If you’re interested in being an EMT or a Paramedic, please give me a call. Please contact Albany Technical College. We have grant funding. We have scholarship money available so that it would be little to no out-of-pocket expense. And we would love to have you on our program,” she said.
De’Andra Jacobs reporting.
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