Local Woman to Use
Boston Marathon as Hospital Fundraiser

Peggy Voorhees, of Kennedyville, packs a lot into her life and now she is squeezing in fund raising activities. She hopes to use her ability as a runner to purchase an oxygen analyzer for the Chester River Hospital Center. April 19th will find Peggy on the starting line of the Boston Marathon along with 15,000 other athletes who hope to complete the 26.2-mile course. She is seeking sponsors willing to pledge a fee for every mile she runs or make a flat donation to the Hospital’s Foundation.

Voorhees is up before sunrise weekday mornings to run four to ten miles before seeing her two sons, Jake and Sam, off to school and then heading to school or work herself. Tuesdays and Thursdays she travels to Chesapeake College where she is earning credits beyond her Associate Degree to be eligible for acceptance into a bachelor program in business management. On the three remaining days, she works as office manger for Nancy Centofante, M.D.

On Sundays she joins three other runners (the quartet calls themselves ‘Team Voorhees’) for an extended run of 20 miles. Team members include Ron Dierker of Rock Hall, Ken Kerr of Salisbury and Bill Maisel from Chestertown. Voorhees’ weekly mileage peaks at nearly 50 miles. One day a week is a day off with no training!

Team Voorhees members qualified for the Boston Marathon with their finishing times in the Marine Corps Marathon in October 1997 and The Jersey Shore McMarathon in April of 1998. She is a frequent participant and winner in local runs.

Voorhees became involved in running as a member and co-captain of the Kent County High School’s track team in the mid-seventies. She continued to run during college and in 1982 helped co-found the Betterton-Still Pond Tree Run, a family-oriented, fun-filled event designed to celebrate Arbor Day. She still finds time to return to the high school to help her former coach, Dennis Herrmann, with timing at the spring regional track meet.

"Since graduation from college twenty years ago, I have worked in the medical field," noted Voorhees. "After qualifying for the Boston marathon I decided to use my love of running as a way to help the community and how better than to help the Hospital." She chose purchasing an oxygen analyzer to be her goal. This device measures the concentration of oxygen being given to patients on a ventilator; they are used frequently with post operative surgery patients or individuals with chronic lung problems.

Donors may sign a pledge sheet at the Hospital’s switchboard or Foundation office or by contacting Voorhees at (410) 778-9458 or (410) 348-5749. Donations may also be mailed to the Foundation office at Chester River Hospital Center, 100 Brown Street, Chestertown, MD, 21620. Checks should be payable to Chester River Hospital Center Foundation.

How will she fare at the marathon? Voorhees notes her best time is three hours, twenty-seven minutes to cover a marathon’s distance and that world class female runners should finish it in about two and half-hours. Her main concern is ‘Heartbreak Hill,’ the steepest part of the course, which is located near the twenty-two mile marker. It is not terrain easily found on the shore to be part of a practice run. But Voorhees will finish the race with the same determination that helps her keep the assorted parts of her life running smoothly.

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