Steven Guyle will be honored by Rossville as Marshall of the Tall Corn Festival Parade Aug. 7
TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) -Steven Guyle has served his community for nearly 40 years as not only a paramedic for AMR but as well as an assistant fire chief for Shawnee County.
His journey began in 1977 when he noticed emergency medical services were limited in the town of Rossville.
“All we had was fire suppression equipment working auto accident and we weren’t able to help anybody and there was a couple of us that saw a strong need for our community to expand our scope of practice and venture out to the ems world so we became the first responders out of Rossville as well as the fire department,” he said.
This was the first time Rossville had its very own ambulance.
“What stemmed us to bring it to the Rossville community was there was a couple of calls that we have ran, it was fatalities involved and we couldn’t do anything and we didn’t have the training and the equipment and we unfortunately just watched people die and so we knew there was a big need,” Guyle said.
Throughout his career, he says he witnessed anything and everything--including a tragedy that happened in 2007.
“I just finished a call on the interstate for a rollover semi and the call came out for a capsized canoe in the river, and it was down at the reir and all I was able to do was stand by and wait to see if we can have a rescue, there were actually two people that made it through, they did have life jackets on and we got to treat those two individuals but the school teacher did not make it and there was two of them that didn’t make it and there was four people total in that accident,” he said.
After 35 years of giving the Shawnee County community his all, Guyle decided it was time for a new chapter, he retired from both jobs on July 31st
“I have looked at the calendar and seen how many years I have put in and how many years that I may have left, and of course I have family that has suggested that maybe we should spend a little more time together,” he says.
His two sons, who have looked up to their father strive to follow in his footsteps. As both of his sons, Jason and Michael are volunteer firefighters.
“It is a great honor just to know that there is a great devotion to mankind knowing you have someone that sees that you have made a difference in the community and lives of others,” he said.
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