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A Nurse, a Bike, and a Trek Across America

For Dr. Katherine Jeter, embarking on a 3,100-mile bicycle tour across the Unites States wasn’t about the athletic challenge. And it wasn’t about proving that she, at 72 years old, simply could. It was about raising awareness for the Wound, Ostomy, and Continence Nurses Society (WOCN).

Jeter, a member of the society, decided to make the trek to help the WOCN Foundation raise awareness and $200,000 in scholarships to promote her specialty.

Wound, ostomy, and continence nursing encompasses colostomies, bowel and bladder disorders, non-healing wounds, and other related ailments. It also requires nurses become certified. With a growing elderly population in the United States, the demand for WOC nurses is high. Yet, the number of WOC-certified nurses is dwindling as they too retire. To further promote WOC nursing, Jeter will make stops along her journey to speak at small events.

The WomanTours bike ride will see Jeter biking as many as 111 miles in a single day, from March 4 until April 29 of this year. She will spend four days in California, six in Arizona, a whopping 17 in Texas, and so forth until she reaches the East Coast. But the end of that long journey is the beginning of more media engagements to raise awareness for WOC nursing. Those events will probably be a bit more relaxing for Dr. Jeter.