The Armstrong Story

April 19, 2023

Armstrong Family Story

Why choose SRMC? Most people don’t think about and realize all that Sidney Regional Medical Center has to offer, from the variety of providers available to see here at home, to the quality of care you will receive while seeing one of our providers here. The same was true for the Armstrong family until they learned firsthand what SRMC has to offer our community. They, like a lot of people, spent time traveling for all of their healthcare needs.

Recently the Armstrong Family started seeing Dr. Popovich for their son Riggs’s well-child visits. Emma, the mother, was impressed when she saw Dr. Popovich get down on the floor and play with her son while he was completing his health evaluation. This added a personal touch that you aren’t likely to see in bigger hospitals. Because of this experience and the fact that Dr. Popovich was very thorough with his evaluation, the family moved all of Riggs’s care to SRMC.

Shortly after moving all of Riggs’s care to SRMC, the Armstrong family was faced with an incident that brought them into the ER for Riggs. In the ER Nate, a Physician’s Assistant, made an initial assessment of Riggs and made the decision to call Dr. Popovich. Tim Bassett, a Paramedic who was already in the ER when the Armstrong Family came in, stepped in to help where he could. Tim comforted and reassured Riggs and the entire Armstrong family that everything was going to be okay while Nate and Dr. Popovich discussed the situation. Together, Nate and Dr. Popovich made the decision to have Riggs life flighted to Denver. Riggs was loaded into the helicopter with the help of Nate and Tim and was flown to Denver very quickly. This decision by Nate and Dr. Popovich saved Riggs’s life.

Since the major incident occurred where Riggs was flown to Denver, Riggs has had some recurring episodes. Through the resources SRMC has available, Dr. Popovich has been able to work with the Armstrong family and stabilize Riggs when these episodes have reoccurred, via steroids and other resources.

While Riggs is still recovering from the traumatic events that occurred, the Armstrong family is thankful for the care these two providers, with the help of the paramedics, rendered and the services provided for this area by Sidney Regional Medical Center.