Jacksonville Memorial Hospital Honors Mark Yording for 50 Years of Service

Many Jacksonville Memorial Hospital colleagues will tell you their co-workers are like family. For Mark Yording, a physical therapist at JMH, that's also literally true. Two of his daughters work in his department.

"When I'm at work, I call him 'Mark,'" physical therapist Jessica Lightfoot said of her dad, who celebrated 50 years at JMH in September. "We're in a professional setting - he's my colleague here, not my dad!"

JMH President and CEO Trevor Huffman estimates that Yording has provided direct care to more than a quarter of a million people in and around Jacksonville during his five decades as a therapist. His dedication and passion for his work have also inspired others, including his daughters, to enter the healthcare field.

"When we would go out in the community, all around Jacksonville, people would come up to him and say, 'Look what I can do!' and show him the progress they'd made," Lightfoot recalled. "I remember thinking, as a kid, that he had helped so many people in the community and I wanted to do that too."

"I didn't really think about it until I was a junior in high school and got injured during the softball season," said Jessica's sister, physical therapist Jamie Yording. Physical therapy sessions with her dad helped her get back to playing. "After that, I kept it in the back of my mind as something I might want to do."

His daughters aren't the only current co-workers who saw Mark as a role model for a rehabilitation career.

Todd Thorsen, a senior occupational therapist at JMH, first met Mark in the late 1970s, when Todd was a member of Scout club that met at the hospital to explore healthcare careers. "Mark talked to the group about rehabilitation careers and the role of rehabilitation in healthcare," he said.

Yording is the longest-serving therapist at JMH, and during his fifty years, rehab services at JMH have expanded dramatically. When he began his career at what was then Passavant Area Hospital, he was the only physical therapist on staff. Today, the department has more than 50 colleagues with a range of specialties.

His expertise and dedication have been a constant amid decades of change and growth at JMH.

"Mark is extremely dependable," said Jennifer Hodgerson, manager of Rehabilitation Services. "I have always said that I can set my watch by Mark. He is a constant presence, showing up each day ready to serve his patients and support the team."

Yording's co-workers said that many of his patients have been seeing him for years and request him by name. And while he's often described as quiet, the team said he's quick to make people laugh and put them at ease.

"Mark has been a quiet force who has met our mission for improving lives and building stronger communities through better health for decades," said Huffman, who worked alongside Mark in the rehabilitation department throughout his career. "He has touched countless lives by serving this community for 50 years."