If there’s a challenge involved, Matthew Crumpton is up for it. As Northeast Georgia Health System’s Emergency Preparedness manager, Matthew has helped lead our COVID-19 response. But he doesn’t only accept those challenges in his professional life – they come in his personal life, too.
In August 2010, Matthew’s son, Wes, asked to go for a run. Matthew obliged and hasn’t stopped since. August 2, 2020, marked his 10-year “runniversary,” having run well over 22,000 miles.
He didn’t even miss a day during those early meetings with other hospital leaders, as they planned the health system’s attack on the virus.
“We opened up the Incident Command Center on March 13 and started putting into place all of the resources and communication that would get us through our first wave of patients from the community with COVID-19, as well as taking the precautions for our staff,” Matthew said.
Stressful meetings meant long hours, but he wasn’t fazed.
“During the first few weeks of working 18-hour days every day of the week leading Incident Command, it was very difficult to keep the streak alive,” Matthew said. “But getting at least one mile a day allowed me to keep focus on the greater good with all of the processes we were refining.”
He never set out to win awards for running, but he’s racked up plenty of them as he’s completed myriad races – half marathons, full marathons, 50Ks, a 100-miler – and even ran the circumference of the earth from Georgia to Georgia.
He never set out to win awards at work, either, but Matthew was recently recognized by Gov. Brian Kemp for his work leading NGHS’ COVID-19 response. He received the Georgia Commendation Medal, by order of the governor, from the Georgia National Guard for exceptionally meritorious service during the pandemic.
NGHS is honored to have Matthew serving on our staff. He is just one of the incredible people who make this health system what it is.