I’m running for the uninsured
2010 CVIM Marathoners for Medicine team with homorary coaches Joe and Sue Paterno and Greg Fredericks
Please indulge me in a rare post that has nothing to do with libraries, but everything to do with communities.
On April 19th, I will join a group of local runners in running the Boston Marathon to raise money for Centre Volunteers in Medicine, Centre County’s free medical and dental clinic. This is the fourth year I am doing this, and it is by far the hardest year.
I got lost on a snowshoeing trip at the beginning of February and ended up with 6 frostbitten toes. I am very fortunate that frostbite was the worst of it, and that I was able to keep all of my toes. I am unbelievably fortunate that I am able to run 26.2 miles so soon after this injury. (At least, I think I can…)
I couldn’t run for a month, but I am back out there and will be at the start line in Hopkinton on April 19. I was able to recover so well because I wasn’t worried about going to the doctor — I had good health insurance. I went first to my family doctor, then to the emergency room, and then to a wound care specialist. (Apparently frostbite is not that common, even here in central Pennsylvania!) This experience made me think about the kinds of choices people make when they don’t have insurance. What if I had to choose between treating my toes and paying the heating bill?
Thanks to Centre Volunteers in Medicine, people in Centre County do not have to make that choice. Please consider supporting CVIM with a donation – any amount helps and every cent goes to CVIM.
You can donate online through CVIM’s website.
On race day, track my progress on the Boston Marathon website and send kind thoughts to my toes! I’ll be wearing bib # 15042.
Oh, and this is a little bit library-related: the Boston Marathon finishes in front of the Boston Public Library. The marathon I ran to qualify for Boston, the Richmond Marathon, starts in front of the Virginia Commonwealth Library.
