A career paramedic was named Howard County's Employee of the Year on Sept. 19 for his work training would-be paramedics and emergency management technicians in life-saving procedures.

Lt. Joe Ross, 35, of the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services, was selected for his work at the James N. Robey Public Training Center in Marriottsville.

Quanita Kareem, a member of the 12-person committee that decided on the award, said the committee chose Ross out of 14 candidates because his work directly affected the public.

"It's good when a person can branch out into the community and not only work with co-workers," Kareem said.

Ross said he was humbled by the award.

"My face went red," he said. "I was honored, truly honored, especially to be among all those awesome employees," he said.

Ross began his career as a volunteer firefighter in Anne Arundel County before joining the U.S. Navy in 1995. In the Navy, Ross worked as a corpsman performing medical duties. He left the Navy in 1999 and joined the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services as a paramedic in 2000.

"I like helping others, and you get to see, treating patients, that you've made a difference, an immediate difference," he said. "I'm really good with my hands, and I have a lot of compassion."

Ross began training medics in 2005 and now teaches two classes. In the EMT class, Ross teaches advanced life support techniques, including how to use a defibrillator and an intravenous drip. In the higher level paramedic class, he teaches how to perform an advanced assessment of a patient in the field.

As a paramedic, he said, "you're actually the doctor's ears, eyes and hands out in the field."

Since 2005, Ross and his fellow instructors have trained more than 150 emergency management technicians and paramedics, he said.

Ross credited others in his training group for their support, especially "the vision and Zen philosophy" of department Acting Deputy Chief John Jerome.

Despite being a trainer now, Ross said his work still directly affects the public.

"It's the same thing I did when I was out in the field being a paramedic," he said. "Instead of one person making a difference, I have now trained multiple people making a difference," he said.

Ross will be honored along with other award-winning county employees at a banquet Oct. 28 at 4:30 p.m. at Ten Oaks Ballroom, 5000 Signal Bell Lane, in Clarksville. Tickets are $20. For more information, call Diane Wilson in the county executive's office at 410-313-2013.

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