Second Lady Karen Pence, Rep. Bacon tour med center

This past Thursday, Second Lady Karen Pence toured UNMC and Nebraska Medicine as part of her visit to Nebraska.

Nebraska 2nd District Congressman Don Bacon and his wife, Angie, joined Mrs. Pence for the Aug. 20 visit to UNMC.

The Second Lady of the United States, Karen Pence, right, with Jeffrey Gold, MD, chancellor of UNMC, standing in the atrium of the Dr. Edwin G. & Dorothy Balbach Davis Global Center with the center’s Sony Infinity Wall behind.

“It was a pleasure to host Mrs. Pence during her visit to UNMC and Nebraska Medicine,” said Jeffrey P. Gold, MD, chancellor of UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). “Given her interest in behavioral health care, particularly for our veterans, and in healing arts, we were proud to share the med center’s extraordinary efforts in these areas, as well as the innovative technology in the Davis Global Center that will transform health care education, training and outcomes.”

The Second Lady has highlighted the importance of addressing veteran suicide prevention and works with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS) program to help elevate suicide prevention efforts in America. During the visit, UNMC experts met with the group to provide an overview of the med center’s traumatic brain injury treatment and suicide prevention programs for veterans.

Mrs. Pence and the Bacons also toured the Dr. Edwin G. & Dorothy Balbach Davis Global Center.

The Second Lady called the cutting-edge technology she viewed during the visit “amazing.”

The group also toured the Healing Arts Program’s Chilhuly Sanctuary at the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center.

Nebraska Medicine CEO James Linder, MD, said, “Nebraska Medicine, UNMC and UNO work closely together to strengthen care on our campus through the Healing Arts Program. We’re happy to be able to demonstrate to Mrs. Pence how the works of art inside the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center add to an environment of healing for our patients on a daily basis.”

Speaking to the press, Rep. Bacon said it was an honor to have the Second Lady visit UNMC.

“We are so proud of UNMC for what it does in so many different areas,” he said.

“It’s a privilege to be here at UNMC today,” Mrs. Pence said. “I was very excited that Congressman Bacon invited us to come here. One of the things we wanted to see was the iEXCEL program — we wanted to see all the cutting-edge technology and all the research advances we’re making with TBI (traumatic brain injury) and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

“The work they’re doing at UNMC is phenomenal.”

While in Omaha, the Second Lady also traveled to Boys Town, where she received an overview of the organization and a tour of the Boys Town Hall of History. Her hosts also discussed the Boys Town National Hotline, which is staffed by specially trained Boys Town counselors who are equipped to answer crisis calls from children experiencing suicidal thoughts.