For the past three months, UNMC and Nebraska Medicine have been a key resource for the rest of the world in dealing with the Ebola epidemic.
We have treated three patients and launched two free online Ebola education courses. We have established ourselves as world experts in Ebola…a model for other centers to emulate. It has truly been a remarkable time for our medical center.
Amid all the activity surrounding Ebola, however, other important happenings at the medical center have perhaps not received the attention that they deserve.
One such example is the clinical and academic affiliation agreement between UNMC and Nebraska Medicine with Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital that was signed on Nov. 13. This agreement will become effective in a couple years when Madonna opens its new facility in Village Pointe.
It will lead to the creation of an academic physical medicine and rehabilitation unit in the College of Medicine, as well as a new residency program to train future physicians in this specialty. The upper Midwest is lacking in such training programs.
Madonna also will be a potential training site for residents and fellows in other specialty areas, as well as students from throughout UNMC. For Madonna, which has operated an outstanding rehabilitation hospital in Lincoln for many years, it will provide their new West Omaha facility with an outstanding medical staff as Nebraska Medicine physicians from multiple disciplines will provide staff the hospital. There also is a tremendous potential for research collaboration.
Omaha is currently underserved in physical medicine and rehabilitation services, and this new partnership should go a long way toward meeting the growing rehabilitation needs of our community and state. Thus, this agreement is expected to have significant implications for generations of Nebraskans to come.
On another note, we officially broke ground on the Lauritzen Outpatient Center & Fritch Surgery Center this month. With medical care increasingly being conducted in the outpatient setting, this facility will be a major addition to our campus.
The Lauritzen Outpatient Center will feature outpatient clinics in a variety of surgical disciplines, a clinical laboratory and an outpatient pharmacy. The Fritch Surgery Center will include state-of-the-art operating rooms for ambulatory surgery that will meet the current and future needs of the department of ophthalmology in the nearby Truhlsen Eye Institute and the other surgical disciplines on campus.
I can’t thank Bruce Lauritzen and Dr. Charles Fritch, a renowned ophthalmologist and UNMC alumnus, enough for their incredible generosity and support of this project.
In addition, I want to salute Ruth and Bill Scott for once again providing their support to a transforming UNMC project. The Scotts’ gift provides funding for a fourth floor of the building. This floor will include an orthopaedic surgery academic center and a new center for telehealth – two programs that will greatly enhance the educational experience of our students and residents and better prepare them for the new challenges in the changing world of health care.
Finally, before closing I wanted to make you aware that we recently learned that our site visit for the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) will be April 26-29, 2015. This visit will be used by the LCME to determine whether we have addressed the shortcomings that were identified in the accreditation visit that took a place a little over a year ago.
You will recall that an action plan was prepared to accomplish this and that action plan was accepted by the LCME last month. Many faculty, students and staff have been working hard to address the concerns identified by the LCME, and we look forward to the site visit in spring.
I am confident that we will be well prepared and that the visit will go well. After the LCME team completes its visit in April, it will submit a report to the LCME board, which will be reviewed by the LCME board in June. We are hopeful that by next summer we will once again have full accreditation without warning status.
As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, I want to extend my gratitude to all of you for your hard work and commitment throughout the year. It is greatly appreciated. My best wishes to you and your families as we enter the holiday season.