Nurse to run Boston Marathon in scrubs to raise money for mental health resources for nurses

Combining her dedication to running and commitment to her profession, Sam Roecker plans to run all 26-plus miles of the Boston Marathon in nursing scrubs. She hopes her endeavor calls attention to the lack of mental health resources available to nurses who have seen the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

PHILADELPHIA - A Philadelphia nurse plans to run the Boston Marathon in her scrubs to raise awareness and money to support the mental wellbeing of pandemic-weary nurses.

Sam Roecker, a nurse at Penn Medicine's Peralman Center, said she has been running since 7th grade. Now 30-years-old, she runs anywhere from 90 to 120 mile every week.

"It's definitely a passion, it's definitely part of my every day life," Roecker said.

Combining her dedication to running and commitment to her profession, Roecker plans to run all 26-plus miles of the Boston Marathon in nursing scrubs. She hopes her endeavor calls attention to the lack of mental health resources available to nurses who have seen the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"A lot of anxiety, a lot of PTSD, there's not really a lot of resources out there," Roecker said. "I kind of saw that gap and was looking for a way to bring some kind of positivity to my co-workers and friends who have been struggling."

Sam Roecker, a nurse at Penn Medicine's Peralman Center, said she plans to run the Boston Marathon in scrubs to raise awareness for mental health resources for pandemic-weary nurses.

With just under 2 weeks until the Boston Marathon, Roecker's fundraising campaign has hit the ground running. In true runner's fashion, she set the fundraising goal to $26.2k - a monetary representation of the length of a marathon.

"I thought maybe this would catch wind and could get big you know, raise a lot of awareness and funds, but I had no idea the support I would get from everyone in my life and beyond."

All the money she raises will go to the American Nurses Foundation and its wellbeing initiatives. She plans to let the fundraising campaign go until the end of May.