Athletico Honors Memory of Zach Gregory

Athletico announces the creation of the Zach Gregory Patient Satisfaction Award in honor of Zach Gregory, who died while crossing the finish line of the Chicago 13.1 Marathon last June.

Gregory, who worked as a physical therapist at Athletico’s Skokie facility, made a huge impact on all those who were lucky enough to share this life with him. The award was created to honor Gregory and his commitment to his patients and their satisfaction. It will be awarded annually to the Athletico clinic and clinician who achieves the highest patient satisfaction scores across the company. The scores are generated from measurable patient satisfaction data that Athletico collects from patients using a third-party outcomes system.

For the award ceremony, Gregory’s parents drove from east Indiana to present the awards. The inaugural clinic award was presented to Athletico Schaumburg and the individual award to Brendan Yorke, PT, MHS, OCS. Yorke, who is the facility manager at Athletico’s Bloomingdale facility, was humbled when he learned that he won the clinician award.

“To have the award presented to me by Zach’s parents was quite an emotional moment,” says Yorke, who will celebrate his 14th year as a physical therapist this June. “The creation of the award is a great way to honor Zach and his family and will keep his memory alive and well amongst the Athletico family.”

Yorke also notes that the award serves as a reminder to all Athletico staff about the importance of connecting with patients and differentiating their level of service. A perpetual plaque will be housed at Athletico’s corporate office to signify a place of remembrance and celebration and a commitment to patient care that can be seen for many years to come.

Athletico also made a $10,000 donation in Gregory’s name to Chicago Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation Education Service (CCARES), a Chicago-based non-profit whose mission is to increase survival of sudden cardiac arrest victims in Chicago by increasing bystander CPR through education and awareness training.

In addition to the award and donation, Athletico employees continue to find ways to honor and remember Gregory. The Athletico Skokie facility is home to a beautiful framed picture of him as a permanent memory for the lives he touched during his short career as a physical therapist. Athletico runners ran in the 2011 Chicago Marathon in his honor as that was his ultimate goal, and this June, employees at Athletico Skokie as well as Gregory’s family and friends will be running the Allstate Life Insurance Chicago 13.1 Marathon on June 9 on the South Side in his honor.

Photo Caption: Bruce and Sandra Gregory present Brendan Yorke with the inaugural Zach Gregory Patient Satisfaction Award.