By MIKE BUHLER
Staff Writer
JACKSONVILLE, Illinois — Trevor Huffman left Poplar Bluff after graduating from high school in 1990, but he has not forgotten where his roots are.
“Even though I left Poplar Bluff to go to school in St. Louis over 30 years ago, I still say I am from Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and live in Jacksonville, Illinois,” Huffman said. “I don’t stay connected with those in Poplar Bluff like I should and usually just stay at my parents’ farm when I do visit.”
“I am still proud to say I am a Mule. Poplar Bluff will always be a part of me and still feel like when the timing is right, I will eventually move back to the area.”
At Poplar Bluff High School, Huffman was a standout in the classroom and outside of it. In the classroom, Huffman was a Star Graduate and a member of the National Honor Society. On the football field, he earned all-SEMO North Conference and all-district honors at guard for the Poplar Bluff Mules his senior season in 1989. Huffman also was named the team’s outstanding offensive lineman for that season and won the Johnny Piper Memorial Award in 1989.
Huffman is a board-certified sports physical therapist and athletic trainer and currently serves as the Director of Ambulatory Services at Passavant Area Hospital in Jacksonville, which is roughly 90 miles north of downtown St. Louis and 35 miles west of Springfield in west-central Illinois.
Huffman’s journey to Jacksonville began when he majored in physical therapy at Maryville University in St. Louis in the early-to-mid 1990s. After graduating from Maryville, Huffman received his master’s in athletic training from Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. After a brief time of working in southern Illinois, he came to Jacksonville to start a sports medicine outreach program for the local hospital, Passavant Area Hospital, in 1998.
“The program grew to cover 16 area schools and assist two local Division III colleges,” Huffman said. “I was involved in covering games for the local schools as well seeing patients in our rehabilitation department. I enjoyed getting to know the surrounding communities by working with their local schools. We covered games all over the state of Illinois. I also had the opportunity to work the NFL Combine for several years.”
In 2001, Huffman was asked to be the Director of Rehabilitation Services at Passavant.
“It was a hard decision to jump into a more administrative role because I did not want to give up seeing patients,” Huffman said. “At first, I continued covering games, seeing patients and handling the administrative duties. Over the next 18 years, the department grew from nine employees with three departments to 66 employees over seven departments, including three off-site facilities.
“I eventually had to stop seeing patients to handle the administrative duties. My primary role became removing barriers so those that saw the patients could do so to the best of their ability. I missed the one-on-one interaction with the patients, but felt like I was helping 66 different patients at a time instead of just one.”
With Huffman’s move to the administrative side of medicine, and at the suggestion of the hospital’s CEO at the time, he entered an executive MBA program at the University of Missouri. Huffman graduated from this program last year.
“While I was in the program, I was asked to work with additional areas of the hospital,” Huffman said. “In addition to the rehabilitation areas, I get to work with imaging, laboratory, outpatient, wound, infusion and oncology, specialty, pain and psychology clinics.
“We are also busy expanding our student affiliations with local colleges for the ancillary departments. In partnership with SIU School of Medicine in Springfield, we hope to begin hosting our first medical residents this month. It keeps me entertained and is rewarding to expand our service lines so we can improve our ability to meet the healthcare needs of our community.”
Huffman and his wife, Monica, recently celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary. The couple has five children and live on a small farm just outside of Jacksonville.
“Our oldest, Reid, is at the University of Illinois veterinarian program,” Huffman said. “Allyson is graduating from Illinois College next year with (a degree in) elementary education. Kirsten is running cross country and track while studying public health at Lindenwood University. Audrey is going to be a senior, while Adam will be a freshman at Routt Catholic High School (in Jacksonville). They keep me entertained as well.”
Huffman said he enjoys life in Jacksonville, which is very similar to Poplar Bluff.
“Jacksonville is about the same size as Poplar Bluff, but the county is not as populated,” Huffman said. “The town is mostly surrounded by farmland, so people do not spread out like they do in Butler County. We do have some rolling hills and great deer hunting, but I miss the rivers and lakes of Southern Missouri. The Jacksonville community has been great for my kids, just like Poplar Bluff was for me.”
And again, Huffman knows where his roots are.
“The opportunities I was provided in Poplar Bluff allowed me to develop a passion to work on something I was proud to be part of, as well being involved with a great community,” Huffman said. “There is no way to remove Poplar Bluff from being part of me.”