An executive at Ascension St. John Medical Center in Tulsa, Okla., ran 46 miles Jan. 13 to honor nurses on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tulsa World reported.
Wyatt Hockmeyer, director of performance improvement at Ascension St. John, ran from Ascension Jane Phillips Medical Center in Bartlesville, Okla., to the Tulsa hospital. The run took him 10 hours.
"It was symbolic," Mr. Hockmeyer, an extreme long-distance runner, told the Tulsa World. "I was thinking about the nurses and the marathon they run every day. What better way to honor the hard work they do on their feet all day?"
The newspaper reported that healthcare workers in Bartlesville and Tulsa also received medals Jan. 13 from the national Medals4Mettle group in recognition of their work.
Jeff Nowlin, CEO of Ascension St. John, praised Mr. Hockmeyer's efforts.
"As Wyatt remarked, our Ascension nurses and caregivers have been running a seeming ultra-marathon for the past year as we've cared for COVID patients and our communities, and it was a wonderful gesture to highlight their selfless dedication to those we serve," Mr. Nowlin said in a statement shared with Becker's.
Read the full Tulsa World report here.