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Out of the Office and Running for Charity
Out of the Office and Running for Charity
NYSDA members tackle the New York City Marathon for health and pet projects.
Kendra Zappia, D.D.S., and Morgan Fryer, D.D.S., of Albany are sisters, partners in practice and running mates. And while it’s not unusual for them to run races together, this year was the first time they teamed up for the New York City Marathon.
That’s 26.2 miles through all five boroughs of New York City, a course the sisters finished in a little over six hours.
“We had a great time along the way, enjoying the spectators and city,” Dr. Zappia related.
The marathon, run on the first Sunday in November (Nov. 5 this year), invites participants to use their outing to raise funds for their favorite charity. Drs. Zappia and Fryer designated the Arthritis Foundation as their beneficiary. Dr. Zappia, who suffers from a form of arthritis known as ankylosing spondylitis, said she put the names of the children and adults she and her sister know who are afflicted by arthritis on her sneakers “to carry them with us.”
Elsewhere on the course, running slightly ahead of Drs. Zappia and Fryer, was Tricia Quartey-Sagaille, D.D.S., of Brooklyn. Running in her second NYC Marathon, Dr. Quartey-Sagaille had two goals: to raise funds for Shoe4Africa, an organization that works to empower African women and children through healthcare, and to bring awareness to the need to strengthen Black maternal health. Dr. Quartey-Sagaille, who gave birth to her first child last October, said Black women are fearful of childbirth because they face a higher risk of complications and death than women of other races.
She also managed to best her time, finishing the course in just under six hours. When she ran the marathon in 2014, she finished in 6 hours and 39 minutes after injuring her knee at mile 10 and having to walk most of the remaining 16 miles.
All three women are active members of NYSDA. Dr. Zappia is president of the Third District Dental Society, chair of the NYSDA Council on Membership and Communications and a delegate to the ADA House. Dr. Fryer is a member of the NYSDA Committee on the New Dentist.
Dr. Quartey-Sagaille is president-elect of the Second District Dental Society, a delegate to the ADA and NYSDA houses, and a member of the NYSDA Council on Dental Practice and NYSDA Support Services.
And all three are dedicated runners. Dr. Quartey-Sagaille grew up doing sports, including track and field, and she has run a dozen or more New York Road Runners races. Drs. Zappia and Fryer run to keep their bodies and minds healthy, Dr. Zappia said, but their outings serve another purpose as well.
“Running,” she said, “actually gives us an outlet for the stress of running a dental office and gives us time to discuss what is going on at the office and how we can make changes to keep improving.”
