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Amherst supports Every Shift is a Marathon with community support grant

Dr. Janneke Gradstein’s Every Shift is a Marathon has received a $250 community support grant from the Town of Amherst.

“Dr. Gradstein is a fantastic physician and leader for our hospital,” Mayor David Kogon, a retired obstetrician, said recently as he presented her with the grant on behalf of Amherst town council.

“To run a marathon that brought attention to the fantastic job our nurses and other frontline health-care workers, like X-ray and blood collection technicians, security personnel and housekeeping staff, do on every shift, while raising more than $7,500 for the Cumberland Health Care Foundation’s health-care professional recruitment and retention fund shows just how dedicated Dr. Gradstein is to ensuring the health of this region’s citizens.

“The Town of Amherst is happy to have played a small part in the success of her marathon.”

Dr. Gradstein welcomed the grant.

“I am so appreciative of the support this town has shown for our fantastic ER staff,” she said. “The show of support and funds will and have gone a long way to invigorating the spirt of this department, so we can do the best for our community.”

Gradstein ran the 43-kilometre marathon on Feb. 27, 2021, to bring attention to the terrific job health-care workers at the Cumberland Health Care Centre do on a daily basis and to raise money for the Cumberland Health Care Foundation’s health-care professional recruitment and retention fund. She far exceeded her initial goal of $2,100. 

During the run, Gradstein and those who ran with her, like her children, husband, Gisli, and members of the Strider’s Running Club to which she belongs, wore T-shirts supporting the marathon. The town’s community support grant helped cover the cost of purchasing those T-shirts.

The marathon took Gradstein from Tidnish Crossroads through the Town of Amherst before ending at the Cumberland Health Care Centre in Upper Nappan.

Cumberland RCMP members and Amherst police officers also escorted the doctor during her run, while Amherst Chrysler and the Allen Group provided a chase car for the event.