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Interior Secretary Deb Haaland breaks leg while hiking in national park

Updated July 18, 2022 at 12:36 p.m. EDT|Published July 18, 2022 at 12:32 p.m. EDT
Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) attends a Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing on her nomination to be interior secretary on Feb. 23. (Graeme Jennings/Pool/Reuters)
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Interior Secretary Deb Haaland broke her left leg while hiking Sunday in Shenandoah National Park, the Interior Department said in a statement Monday.

“An evaluation this morning confirmed a break to her left fibula,” the statement said. “She is grateful to Park staff, the U.S. Park Police, and the team at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for their excellent care.”

Haaland, 61, the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary, will resume her schedule virtually Monday afternoon, according to the Interior Department. The department declined to answer additional questions.

It is unclear the severity of Haaland’s injury, where on the fibula the break occurred, or how long it may take for it to heal. The fibula, also called the calf bone, is a long bone that runs next to the larger tibia bone, or shin bone.

Haaland has often spoken of her love of the outdoors, running and hiking. Last year she completed the Boston Marathon, held on Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Her run was a tribute to “missing and murdered Indigenous peoples and their families, the victims of Indian boarding schools, and the promise that our voices are being heard and will have a part in an equitable and just future in this new era,” she wrote in a Boston Globe op-ed then.