Mark, APSI's South Central Regional Program Director (RPD), is currently APSI's longest-serving employee. In April of 1987, Mark joined the APSI team as a Protective Services Representative (PSR) for the first time. He moved on to a new job in 1990 but returned after a short four months away, In November 1995, Mark was promoted to his current RPD position, where he has been ever since.
in 1999, APSI created the East Central region, which holds our Mt. Vernon and Cambridge offices. For a time, Mark directed this area as well as Columbus and Gallipolis, which he says was challenging at times. Only a few years later, Mark also began working in Southwest Ohio, traveling to Dayton to see clients and staff. During such a significant time of change in APSI's history, programming and staffing discrepancies abounded, making it difficult for staff like Mark to keep up, especially when all documentation was hand-written.
During this time, APSI's Columbus staff worked around the clock, doing rotations for on-call during nights and weekends, and learning a lot about the medical side of the job as they went —responsibilities now designated explicitly to our Medical Specialists. "I think bringing on regional Medical Specialists has been huge," Mark says. "Each region has a Medical Specialists to go to to help them navigate through all the medical issues."
"The biggest [change] was when we sat down to select... the database that we use," Mark says. He was on the committee to select the program, and in August 2012, APSI moved to its current system for documentation. "It made a huge difference as far as medical information," Mark says. "The way we follow up on medical things, being able to go back and look at historical notes... it just made a humongous difference in how we do things. It's clearly working."
In the last five years, Mark feels there has been more emphasis on employee options at APSI, which has been a positive change. "Our leadership is a huge asset," he says, talking about the ability of staff to give input. "You don't find that everywhere."
APSI has also become more well-known, Mark says. "I think our reputation has continued to be excellent through the years, and I think a huge part of that is our rapport with DODD... thanks to our leadership." APSI has made many strides in recent years, but Mark "hope[s] that our fundraising will continue to expand... and explore other funding streams."
"I think APSI will continue on and continue to evolve... I can't imagine there would be a time when we're not around."
Over the years, these changes allowed APSI to create the structure we have today. "APSI's 40th anniversary means that we are a respected force that has a very specific purpose, and we do a very good job at it," Mark says.