History Nebraska was established in order to document the changes happening across the state in 1878. It’s a mission the organization’s board of trustees carries on today.
So it was appropriate that when the board gathered for its fall quarter meeting at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center on Oct. 18, members got a look at another piece of Nebraska’s ever-growing history.
Bob Bartee, UNMC vice chancellor for external relations and governor-appointed History Nebraska board member, said his fellow members jumped at the chance to visit and dive deeper into the work being done at UNMC.
“What I tried to impress upon the board is that here at UNMC, we are making history,” Bartee said, “but many of the discoveries here are based on scientific work that has preceded our recent discoveries. So there’s a connection to History Nebraska’s mission.”
The board spent the morning at the cancer center discussing the current state of History Nebraska and upcoming business before hearing a lunch presentation on the cancer center and the Healing Arts Program. In the afternoon, Bartee organized a tour that took the group through the research lab of Dalia ElGamal, Ph.D., the Chihuly Sanctuary and Leslie’s Healing Garden.
“I just have the overall sense of a community of care,” board member Marilyn Moore of Lincoln said. Moore said she saw the Cancer Center as a serene, collaborative environment for patients, their families and clinicians.
The board works to build on Nebraska’s history and tell the stories of the state, and member Vickie Schaepler said she hopes others will see and understand the importance of spaces like this in health care.
“When you use art as a way of being able to help people, it’s something that we need to do in the future,” Schaepler from Kearney said of the sanctuary and other pieces around the cancer center. “This building is amazing.”