Horizon Health Announces Trainer for Paris High School

Jordyn Blood is the new athletic trainer at Paris Cooperative High School for the 2018-2019 sports season.

Jordyn is a graduate student at Eastern Illinois University and a licensed, certified athletic trainer in Illinois. She is pursuing a master’s degree in sports administration at EIU. Horizon Health provides funding for Jordyn to be the athletic trainer at Paris high school through a partnership agreement with EIU. Horizon Health also provides two of its own athletic trainers for Chrisman and Tri-County sports.

“I always liked athletics and medicine,” Jordyn said. “If I get athletes back out there feeling 100 percent, that is satisfying to me.”

Jordyn provides athletic trainer services for all sports at Paris high school. This year has been especially engaging for Jordyn due to the success of the Tigers’ varsity football team.

“Coming in I was not a big football buff, but I like it,” she said. “It’s been fun being along for the ride.”

As an athletic trainer, Jordyn attends practices and games. She helps players prevent and recover from injuries, and can administer basic first aid and CPR. To ensure player safety, she performs a baseline concussion screening on all athletes regardless if they play a contact sport or not. The initial screening creates a reference point for determining whether an athlete has suffered a concussion during play.

“I’m really excited to work with everyone,” she said. “It’s nice that the players are aware of what I do, what I can do, and they appreciate it.”

Jordyn was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio. She earned a bachelor’s degree in athletic training at the University of Toledo. In high school, she played basketball – her favorite sport – all four years and ran track as a freshman. Her goal is to become an athletic trainer at the college, Olympic, or professional level.

“Being from a city, I wasn’t sure how I would be received,” she said. “But it’s been great and I love it here. It’s been a blessing.”

In her spare time, Jordyn enjoys cooking, running, reading mystery and science fiction books, and traveling.