10 Questions with Adam and Colleen Pierce
The husband-and-wife ER nurses and longtime Falmouth Road Race volunteers offer a behind-the-scenes look at the medical operation that helps keep thousands of runners safe each year.
Before most runners arrive at the starting line at the Falmouth Road Race, Adam and Colleen Pierce have already been up for hours, organizing medical supplies, stocking ice tubs and preparing dozens of volunteers for race day.
The husband-and-wife team serves as co-captains of the Mariner’s Point Medical Tent, located at the 6½-mile mark at the base of the final hill leading to the finish of the iconic 7-mile race.
Emergency center nurses at Cape Cod Hospital and Falmouth Hospital, respectively, Adam and Colleen work opposite schedules, with Adam on the day shift and Colleen on nights. As co-captains of the medical tent, they serve in triage and charge nurse roles, helping evaluate patients, educate volunteers on protocols, coordinate with ambulance teams and the emergency center regarding transports, and ensure standards are met throughout the day.
On Sunday, Aug. 16, Adam and Colleen will once again don their bright red medical volunteer T-shirts at the 54th annual Falmouth Road Race, ready to help whenever they're needed. This year’s race will start an hour earlier, at 8 a.m., in an effort to reduce heat-related challenges and improve the flow of runners through the finish area.
We recently caught up with the longtime volunteers to talk about their history with the race, what goes on behind the scenes and what keeps them coming back year after year.
1. How long have you been involved with the Falmouth Road Race, and how did you first get involved?
Colleen Pierce, an emergency center nurse at Falmouth Hospital
Colleen: Since starting nursing school in 1995. I was invited by my sister, Regina Reed, who volunteered for nearly four decades and was the captain of the Mariner’s Point Medical Tent.
Adam: Colleen invited me to volunteer in 1997. At the time, Regina looked at me and said, “You look healthy. You look like you could lift somebody. Why don’t you come assist runners who need medical attention?” recalls Adam. I started on a stretcher team retrieving patients from along the course, then moved into the tent after becoming an EMT and later a nurse.
2. What is something most runners don’t realize about what happens behind the scenes?
Colleen: The race may only last a few hours, but planning begins the day after the previous years race ends. There are countless volunteers and committees working behind the scenes year-round to make sure the event is safe and successful for runners, spectators and the community.
Adam: During race weekend, we attend the medical symposium, coordinate supplies with Falmouth Hospital and make sure all of the medical tents have what they need.
On race day, we’re up before dawn. We grab bagels, coffee and our volunteer T-shirts. We set up stretchers and the recovery area, organize supplies, stock coolers, prepare ice tubs and review protocols with the team. There are about 250 medical volunteers involved across the race, and everyone has a specific role to make sure we’re ready when runners start arriving.
3. What kind of medical situations do you and your team typically see during the race?
Adam Pierce, a Cape Cod Hospital emergency room nurse.
Adam: Mostly exertional heat stroke, but we can see anything and everything. In the past, we've treated strokes, seizures, cardiac emergencies, orthopedic injuries and allergic reactions. We treat everyone at the race, both runners and spectators. If it’s hot and humid, you’re going to see even the most seasoned runners go down.
4. Does every runner who comes through the tent go into the ice tub?
Adam: A majority of the people we see do. The first thing that happens when they come in is that we check their temperature. If their temperature is 104 degrees or higher, we put them in the ice tub to cool them down quickly, take them out once they reach 103 degrees, then monitor their recovery and document. Each patient can require four or five people to care for them. It takes a village. The hotter and more humid it is, the more patients we’ll see.
Colleen: Last year, we had two extra ice tubs that we had to put into service because so many runners were coming through the tent.
5. How has the medical operation evolved over the years as the race has grown?
Adam: We have a lot more eyes on the course and improved communication. We have also fine-tuned our approach to treating heat-related illnesses. Since 2013, our partnership with the Korey Stringer Institute at the University of Connecticut has helped establish evidence-based protocols for exertional heat stroke. We’ve also expanded communications through amateur radio operators stationed along the course and increased our mobile medical teams to improve response times and help transport patients to the appropriate medical tent.
6. Do you volunteer with a lot of Cape Cod Healthcare employees?
Colleen: It’s a mix. There are Cape Cod Healthcare employees, but we also have volunteers who come from Vermont, New Hampshire, Maryland, Connecticut and New York. Some used to live here and they come back every year for the race. For anyone considering volunteering, we'd say just do it. You’ll meet new people, learn new skills and have an immediate positive impact on the people you’re helping.
7. How did you two first meet?
Adam: We met through a mutual friend. Colleen was in nursing school in Boston. A friend invited me up to visit and we all went out together. I called her the next day. We went on our first date about a week later.
8. You both work in emergency care and volunteer together at the race. What is it like working side by side?
Adam: We have been working side by side for years at Mariner's Point. We complement each other professionally.
9. Have either of you ever wanted to run the Falmouth Road Race?
Colleen: I thought about it before I turned 50, but no, I’m not a runner. I’d probably be speed walking my way through it.
Adam: No (he laughs).
10. You have volunteered with the race for 30 years. What keeps you coming back year after year?
Colleen: The camaraderie and the ability to make an immediate positive impact on somebody's life.
Adam: Knowing that I’m part of a team that helps set the standards for medical care for events worldwide.
