Several members of the Penn State community will run 26.2 miles on Monday to help provide healthcare for the Centre County residents who have no medical insurance.
These employees, students and alumni will participate as a team in the 2005 Boston Marathon to raise money for Centre Volunteers in Medicine (CVIM), 251 Easterly Parkway, a clinic that treats people who cannot afford medical services.
The 19 runners on this year's team asked family, friends and businesses to sponsor them by sending a donation to the clinic, said John Domico, assistant director of academic and research computing at Penn State.
Domico said he started the 2005 CVIM Boston Marathon Challenge three years ago because he wanted to contribute to the cause but was frustrated that he didn't have a medical background and couldn't help out directly.
"I decided to come up with a way I could help out financially and create awareness for the clinic," said Domico, who has run eight marathons. "I borrowed the idea from the dance marathon," he added.
The honorary coaches this year are Joe and Sue Paterno and 1980 U.S. Olympic track team member Gregory Fredericks. They will be providing support for the runners.
"The biggest thing about this cause is that there is such a large number of students running," said Fredericks, network administrator at Penn State's Applied Research Lab. "They're willing to do this knowing it benefits the community [even though] they're not going to benefit at all because they are going to graduate and leave. I think that's really admirable."
All of the money the runners raise, which Domico said will exceed the $15,000 raised last year, will go toward CVIM patients' medical bills.
Alison Ventura (graduate-nutrition and human development and family studies), a member of the team, said she is being sponsored by the Nutrition Graduate Student Association as well as her family, her grad school advisor and a couple of her friends.
"I had heard through a friend that there was a group running [the Boston Marathon], and I figured that if I run anyway, I might as well do it for a good cause," Ventura said. "It seemed like a really easy way to help people."
Celeste Newcomb, CVIM executive director, said there are about 11,000 uninsured individuals in Centre County who need medical services.
One of the reasons so many people lack healthcare is that many newly created jobs are part-time positions, so employers don't have to provide health benefits, said Ellen Nagy, University Health Services (UHS) marketing manager.
"You're at risk if you're not insured," Nagy said. "You could lose everything you have because of medical bills, and you run the risk of getting inadequate care."
Stephen Tingley, a UHS physician, said many people have insurance plans through their employers as non-salary benefits, and there is a cost advantage for large companies when they buy insurance for their employees.
"It's kind of like buying in bulk -- a 'Big Lots' philosophy," Tingley said. However, "when an individual person calls an insurance company, they can't offer them more than just themselves. The premium they pay is probably higher than that person would pay if they were part of a group purchasing insurance."
Newcomb said the clinic would not be able to provide their services to the medically uninsured if it weren't for their volunteers.
"The runners are a great extension of our efforts -- every dollar counts," she said.
Domico said he chose the Boston Marathon because it requires runners to pre-qualify by having run a marathon within the year and by meeting a specific time requirement based on age.
"People have to take it quite seriously," Domico said. "A lot of them are recreational runners who run as a form of exercise, but when they decide to run a marathon, they have to change their running to increase their mileage dramatically."
Domico said that at the peak of their training, he and the other team members were running about 70 miles per week. This week, they will be running 12 to 15 miles total.
"Three weeks before the marathon, we begin tapering to replenish the energy in our muscles and to heal the nagging injuries that high mileage will inevitably bring on," Domico said. "It's called the 'marathon taper.' "
Erin Wyble (graduate-education) said that two weeks ago she ran her last long run, which was 20 miles.
"Now I'm just tapering, trying to get enough sleep, and not have too much caffeine," Wyble said.
