A message from the dean

As dean, it is always a pleasure to travel around the state and connect with our alumni and the Nebraska health care community. It’s an enlightening experience that invariably produces considerable feedback on how the College of Medicine can best meet the health care needs of Nebraska.
 
I recently returned from excursions to Scottsbluff and Kearney. I was joined by professional staff from our alumni relations office, as well as the University of Nebraska Foundation.
 
In Scottsbluff, I met with the director of our Family Medicine rural training track residency program in Scottsbluff, Dr. Kent Lacey, as well as several family medicine residents and one of our medical students who was doing a rotation there. It was wonderful to see how strong and vibrant that program continues to be and the contribution that is it making to rural health care.
 
That evening I was joined by Dr. Julie Sebastian, dean of the UNMC College of Nursing, and Dr. Steve Wengel, assistant vice chancellor for campus wellness for UNMC and UNO, at a reception for UNMC alumni and preceptors located in the area. It was nice to have the opportunity to update them on events at UNMC and to reminisce with the alumni about their time in Omaha.
 
One of the takeaways from the evening was the pride that they have as UNMC College of Medicine graduates and how well their training with us prepared them for their careers. Nevertheless, the highlight of the evening was the brief demonstration of his skills as a magician by Dr. Wengel.
 
During the visit, I also met with the CEO of Regional West Medical Center, John Mentgen.  He expressed his appreciation for our graduates who provide great care to the patients at his facility and to Nebraska Medicine for the telemedicine service in diabetes/endocrinology that was recently initiated.
 
I also spent time with Margo Hartman, executive director of the Community Action Partnership of Western Nebraska Health Center located in Gering and toured its expanding facility. It is a federally qualified health center that provides much needed care to the underserved of much of western Nebraska and surrounding areas.
 
These two visits pointed out one of the biggest challenges faced by the area – recruiting and retaining physicians to meet primary care and specialty service. They depend on the College of Medicine to produce many of these physicians. We will continue to need to work in partnership with other UNMC colleges and local health care and other community leaders to meet their health care provider needs that will continue to grow with the aging of the population of Nebraska. 
 
The College of Medicine has always strived to expose our students and residents to rural medicine through rotations during their training. This rural training greatly enhances their development as physicians. It gives them a first-hand look at the day-to-day life of physicians, and they get to perform many of the clinical duties that come with the job.
 
It can be a life-changing experience. For many of our students and residents, the rural rotations are inspirational. They provide the impetus to make them consider practice in a rural community after they complete their training.
 
Rural hospitals and physician preceptors welcome our students and residents with open arms. They do everything they can to make the rural rotations an enjoyable and worthwhile educational experience. We can’t thank them enough for their tremendous hospitality and contribution to the future success of our trainees.
 
In Kearney, we met with officials at Kearney Regional Medical Center, and the conversation was much the same – they enjoy having medical students and residents do rotations there, and they would embrace having more of them. That evening, I also had the pleasure of meeting with alumni and preceptors from the Kearney area.
 
I also met with Chancellor Doug Kristensen at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. As you know, UNMC enjoys a strong relationship with UNK. In 2015, the Health Sciences Education Complex opened on the UNK campus in an effort to attract more students into nursing and several of the allied health professions. It has been a huge success.
 
Although still in the conceptual stage, there has been some preliminary discussion once again about UNMC developing a regional medical school campus in central Nebraska. It would be a regional campus that would almost certainly extend beyond Kearney to involve other communities such as Hastings, Grand Island, North Platte, McCook and Scottsbluff.
 
It would not be unique. Several states including Kansas and Wisconsin have regional medical school campuses separate from their main campus. Obviously, it would come at a cost and likely would require state and philanthropic support, but it illustrates just how much the College of Medicine is valued. The more medical students who can be exposed to rural medicine, the more likely they will practice in rural communities – it’s the ongoing paradigm that continues to resonate throughout our state.
 
Earlier this month, there was exciting news for our Omaha campus with the announcement that UNMC/Nebraska Medicine leaders are in the early planning and feasibility stage focusing on the construction of a new, state-of-the-art complex on the current location of the Munroe-Meyer Institute. MMI is relocating to the former First Data building on Pine Street, located on the UNO’s Scott Campus.
 
The project is in its infancy, so specific costs and details are still being determined, but the scope of the project would further establish UNMC/Nebraska Medicine as one of the most elite academic medical centers in the world, capable of preparing for and treating the most complex diseases.
 
Buildings in the new complex could include one or more new towers for inpatient and ambulatory care, as well as research and clinical education. Most importantly, it would consolidate care in one location and replace older facilities, some of which are more than 70 years old and continue to be very expensive to maintain and renovate to meet the needs of modern health care.
 
Without question, it will have enormous economic impact for the state. It will take many years to complete, but it will be a game-changer – a complex that will allow the medical center to better meet the health care needs of the state and the region for decades to come.
 
In closing I would like to extend my belated best wishes to all of you during this holiday season and offer my thanks for the incredible work you do every day. It’s a team effort, and we couldn’t do it without you. Here’s to a great year in 2020!
 
Finally, I would like to thank Tom O’Connor, longstanding member of UNMC public relations, for his many years of assistance in constructing this newsletter each month. He has been with the project since the inception of InterCOM eight years ago. This will be his last issue, as Tom will soon be retiring from UNMC. Thanks for all you have done for UNMC and, in particularly, the College of Medicine. I know I speak for all of the members of the college in wishing you all the best in retirement.