Mark Hankin’s family has been affected by a pandemic, but it wasn’t COVID-19. As the Erwinna, PA, resident explains, the Spanish Flu prompted his grandparents to move from Philadelphia to Montgomery County, where they became tenant farmers.
Eventually, his father realized it was more lucrative to “plant” concrete than to grow crops, and an enduring real estate and development business was born. A century later, Hankin and his children, Alexander and Danielle, work together in Hankin Management Company, which he founded in 1973.
For three generations, the Hankins have been managing marquee developments, including owning and running the George Washington Motor Lodge chain (which eventually merged with Days Inn) and the Willow Grove Park amusement park and Willow Grove Bowling Lanes, then the largest single-floor facility of its kind (now the Willow Grove Park Mall). Today, Hankin Management Company continues to be active as builders, developers and managers of industrial and office properties in the Philadelphia metro area.
Hankin, 71, first became a patient of Jefferson Hospital about 30 years ago when he underwent cardiac bypass surgery with Bernard Segal, MD, Director Emeritus of Cardiology. Since then, he has received care for a number of conditions – most recently, a blockage in his carotid artery.
“I was in an arbitration for four days,” he recalls. ”When I was on the stand for a day, the left side of my face and my left arm went numb.”
He went to see his cardiologist at Jefferson, John D. Ogilby, MD, who believed Hankin’s carotid artery was 45 to 50 percent blocked and referred him to vascular surgeon Paul J. DiMuzio, MD, FACS. During the procedure, Dr. DiMuzio found that the carotid artery was almost completely clogged with blood clots that did not show up in the diagnostic imagery. The clots were removed and Hankin has enjoyed a full recovery.
To show their appreciation, Hankin and his wife, Helene, donated to the Department of Vascular Surgery in honor of Dr. DiMuzio and to the Department of Cardiology in honor of Drs. David Ogilby and Bernard Segal.
He says his most recent experience is typical of his decades of care at Jefferson: “They’re attentive and caring and really do an excellent job. The fact that you get personal attention from such a large institution is unusual, and the people there are just remarkable.”
To learn more about how you can make an impact at Jefferson, please contact Katharine Geary at 215-519-8092 or Katharine.Geary@jefferson.edu.
Recommended Citation
(2020)
"30-Year Jefferson Patient Honors Vascular Surgeon,"
Jefferson Surgical Solutions: Vol. 15:
Iss.
1, Article 7.
Available at:
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/jss/vol15/iss1/7