Members of Broken Bow Senior High School’s National Honor Society were
in Omaha earlier this month to present a $200 check to the University of
Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Health System for two “Recognition
Pathway Bricks” in the Healing Gardens at the UNMC/NHS Lied Transplant
Center. After the students completed a tour of the transplant center last
November, they were inspired to raise money for the Healing Gardens.
“We wanted to show our appreciation to the staff for being able to come
and tour the transplant center,” said Travis Slagle, a senior at Broken
Bow Senior High.
“The facilities really made an impression on us and we wanted to help
out in some way,” said Scott Adams, a senior at Broken Bow Senior High.
The National Honor Society and the Student Council of the school held
a raffle to raise the money for the bricks which will be placed with others
along the pathways of the Healing Gardens. The bricks cost $100 each and
have the name of the school or organization making the donation engraved
on them. Besides the bricks, donors also can purchase “Recognition Wall
Plaques” or “Recognition Benches.”
Slagle and Adams presented the check to Judy Graham, president of the
University Hospital Auxiliary, and Beth Reed, M.D., a UNMC physician who
is one of the four masterminds behind the transplant center and a 1973
graduate of Broken Bow Senior High.
“For high school students from a community 250 miles from Omaha to take
the initiative to raise this money is truly remarkable and very touching,”
Graham said. “The students kept saying how impressed they were with the
transplant center, but we are impressed by them.”
The Healing Gardens, which are adjacent to the Lied Transplant Center,
provide patients and their families a peaceful environment away from the
clinical environment of their treatment. Situated in a courtyard setting,
the gardens are based on the principle that interactions with plants and
landscaping produce psychological and emotional effects that enhance physical
healing.
The garden is designed into three different areas based on smell, sight,
sound, space and texture. The plants will be changed during the year to
reflect the different seasons. One of the gardens features a cascading
water fountain.
A remembrance wall, topped by a portion of the facade from Conkling
Hall on the UNMC campus, will serve as the focal point for the Healing
Gardens. Conkling, which served as home to hundreds of nursing students
for several decades, was torn down in 1995 to allow for construction of
the transplant center. The Healing Gardens will be officially dedicated
in a ceremony on July 16.
The 251,000-square-foot Lied Transplant Center contains 14 levels which
are divided into four components. It is the first facility to combine research,
education and cooperative care in a stand alone building for transplant
patients. With cooperative care, the patient’s care partner–a spouse,
relative or friend– provides many of the patient’s basic care needs.
The 44 cooperative care suites and 44 family guest suites have two beds,
a sitting room and full bath. Designed by patients and medical staff, the
suites offer the comforts and privacy of a hotel in a medical setting.
Other features of the building include a patient care center for transplant
patient treatments and clinics and a patient resource/education center
for families, patients and medical staff providing the latest transplantation
and cancer information as well as access to the Internet. The top four
floors are used for research space devoted primarily to transplantation
and cancer research.
UNMC is the only public academic health science center in the state.
Through its commitment to research, education and patient care, UNMC has
established itself as one of the country’s leading centers for cancer research
and treatment and solid organ transplantation. More than $34 million in
research grants and contracts are awarded to UNMC scientists annually.
In addition, UNMC’s educational programs are responsible for training more
health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution.