Florida Hospital Fish Memorial Hosts 5K for Nurses

ORANGE CITY, Fla., May 18, 2017 In recognition of National Nurses Week, Florida Hospital Fish Memorial hosted the second annual Nurses Run 5K on May 7 for more than 160 runners.

The overall male winner of the race was 52-year-old Elvis Campos from Lake Mary with a time of 21 minutes and 31 seconds. The overall female winner was 33-year-old Viviana Vallejo from Sanford, with a time of 25 minutes and 02 seconds.

The family-friendly event featured a children's race and had complimentary mini-manicures by BoCo Salon and Spa and chair massages by Lechmaier Family Chiropractic.

National Nurses Week began on May 6, Nurse Recognition Day, and lasts until May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, who founded nursing as a modern profession. Nurses Week is an annual celebration that brings attention to nurses who save lives and improve the health of millions of individuals daily.

Wendy Johnson, Florida Hospital Fish Memorial emergency department nurse manager and event organizer, is fairly new to the running world, but had a dream of creating this 5K, not just for her fellow nurses, but for the community as well.

As a nurse, our days at work can be very stressful, and it can be hard to find the time to eat right, she said. Here we are, telling our patients to make healthier choices and lead a healthier life, when many of us aren't even doing it ourselves.

Medical problems, such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes, are common in all Americans and that includes health care providers too.

Generally speaking, many of us in health care are always taking care of others, but then we take horrible care of ourselves, Johnson said. Before I started running, I had really high blood pressure. I didn't want to take medication for it and instead wanted to get my blood pressure down naturally. I didn't have time for a gym, so I started running. The inspiration behind this 5K was to encourage others to join together and begin leading a healthier lifestyle to reduce our risk of developing those serious, chronic conditions that we see far too often in the hospital.

About Florida Hospital Fish Memorial

Florida Hospital Fish Memorial is a member of Adventist Health System, a faith-based health care organization with 45 hospital campuses and 8,200 licensed beds in nine states, serving more than 5 million patients annually. With a mission to extend the healing ministry of Christ, Florida Hospital Fish Memorial has 175-beds and is one of the seven Florida Hospitals in Flagler, Lake and Volusia counties that composes the Florida Hospital Central Florida Division - North Region. As the largest hospital system in the area, the Florida Hospital Central Florida Division - North Region has 1,226 beds and more than 7,800 employees.