Students rally to support instructor, fight melanoma
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Wendy Wells, far left, stands with members of the Scottsbluff Nebraska Student Nurses Association and Festival of Hope board members |
The students held a fundraiser for local patients dealing with melanoma. They sold “In the Fight Against Melanoma” Team Wendy T-shirts on behalf of Wells, who has been undergoing treatment/reconstruction from melanoma for the last 19 months.
Wells chose the proceeds to be donated to the Festival of Hope, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help cancer patients with non-medical expenses who live in western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming. The check was presented to LaRita VanBoskirk, Festival of Hope board member, on Nov. 19.
The Asia Pacific Rim Development Program surprised its director, Jialin Zheng, M.D., Tuesday with a party for his 50th birthday. Dr. Zheng’s birthday was actually last month when he was in China on a business trip. Dr. Zheng, left, is shown with Terry Hexum, Ph.D., a retired UNMC professor who mentored Dr. Zheng when he first came to UNMC.
EMPOWER holds drive to support abuse survivors
EMPOWER, a service learning legacy project of the UNMC College of Public Health, is holding a winter drive to collect toiletry items (shampoo, bodywash, toothpaste, feminine hygiene items, deodorant) for those affected by domestic and/or sexual violence in the Omaha community. Boxes will be in the College of Nursing, College of Public Health, College of Pharmacy, Sorrell Center and the Durham Research Center common areas from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.
The organization hopes to collect 500 items by Dec. 11. If the goal is met, there will be free cookies in the Sorrell Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Dec. 14.
MMI physical therapist receives inaugural award
Physical therapist Ann Kruger of the Munroe-Meyer Institute received a Members in Motion Award from the Nebraska Physical Therapy Association.
Kruger is the first NPTA member to receive the new recognition.
She has been a physical therapist for 40 years and has worked at UNMC for approximately 30 years. She has worked the past 25 years serving children with special needs at MMI, where she is an assistive technology professional and a clinical instructor. She is certified by the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America. She also is a guest lecturer at the UNMC Division of Physical Therapy Education and participates in community volunteer projects such as Fun Fitness, All Play Baseball or YMCA Adaptive Swim Programs.