Dan Quick, senator of Nebraska Legislative District 35, which includes Grand Island, visited the medical center the week before Christmas, meeting with university leaders and touring the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center.
Quick spoke with UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D. and Vice Chancellor for External Affairs Bob Bartee before touring the cancer center with director Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D.
Quick, who had visited UNMC prior to his election, said he enjoyed a chance to see the Fred & Pamela Buffet Cancer Center, which he called a great facility.
Quick, who is a longtime member and leader of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said “I’ve done some of this type of work, and for me, it’s like an art in itself.
“This facility is providing jobs and helping the economy now, but it is going to continue to provide jobs in the future,” he said. “Also, it will provide important medical help for cancer patients and others.”
Quick was joined on the tour by his wife, Alice Quick, a nurse, and his daughter, Christy Hurst, who works at HDR, a partner in the project.
“They were very excited to see this,” he said.
Quick called UNMC a huge presence on Nebraska’s health care landscape, and he said the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center would be an important part of that.
“The research they are going to do here will help people across the country,” he said. “This facility is going to help a lot of people.”