New outpatient, surgery clinics announced

An artist's rendering of the Lauritzen Outpatient Center.









picture disc.

Bruce Lauritzen, president of Clarkson Regional Health Services
Thanks to support from generous community donors, The Nebraska Medical Center and UNMC are proud to announce plans for a new outpatient center at its midtown campus and at Village Pointe Medical Center.

Construction began this week at the midtown location near the intersection of 41st and Emile Streets. The new facility there will be called the Lauritzen Outpatient Center. A significant part of this new center will be the Fritch Surgery Center, a suite of 10 state-of-the-art operating rooms specifically designed for outpatient procedures. Four of the operating rooms will be dedicated to ophthalmic surgery affiliated with the Truhlsen Eye Institute.

The University Of Nebraska Board of Regents approved the name of the facility in a unanimous vote Friday.









picture disc.

Charles Fritch, M.D., and his wife, Judy

A significant expansion of medical services also is in the works in West Omaha as well. A new outpatient surgery center will be built inside existing space of the UNMC Physicians clinics near 176th and Burke streets. The space was set aside for future growth when the clinics opened in 2010. In addition to the operating rooms, the Village Pointe expansion also will include a significant expansion of clinic space and diagnostic radiology capability.

The Lauritzen Outpatient Center also will house a number of outpatient clinics, which are currently located in different areas around the medical center campus. The building’s top floor, supported by a gift from Ruth and Bill Scott, will house UNMC Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation research laboratories and educational space. It also will include a new center for telemedicine to provide a hub for teaching and outcomes research related to telemedicine and its role in health care.









picture disc.

Ruth and Bill Scott
“Our family’s involvement with this medical center goes back to its founding in 1869,” said Bruce Lauritzen, president of Clarkson Regional Health Services, one of The Nebraska Medical Center’s two parent organizations. “We wanted to improve the health care experience for patients here, and we believe this new center will do that in ways we could only imagine before. It will be a home for extraordinary patient care, education and research. That’s what this medical center is all about.”

The Scotts agree.

Community donors

The new Midtown center is made possible by a number of generous community donors including the lead benefactors, the Lauritzen and Fritch families. The new facilities at Village Pointe Medical Center will by paid for by the clinical enterprise made up of The Nebraska Medical Center, UNMC Physicians and Bellevue Medical Center. No public money is being used to build the center.

“We believe so strongly in UNMC’s leadership and that of Dr. Kevin Garvin and the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation,” said Ruth Scott. “Our family has personally benefited from their expertise, and we want to help ensure this quality of care continues through extraordinary research and education. We also support Dr. Gold’s vision for advancing telemedicine and the tremendous benefits it will bring to Nebraskans across the state.”

“The University of Nebraska Medical Center is a world-class health care delivery organization,” said Charles Fritch, M.D., a graduate of the UNMC College of Medicine and a renowned ophthalmologist who practices in Bakersfield, Calif. “That vision is being successfully carried out by faculty and staff who truly care. Meeting these many needs and challenges with leading edge technology, new and innovative methods as well as ongoing research is a wonderful opportunity. My spouse, Judy, and I and our entire family are pleased to help support this vision.”