It was the spring of 1975 when I first set foot in the Meyer Children’s Rehabilitation Center at UNMC, now the Munroe-Meyer Institute (MMI). My first clinical rotation in my physical therapy education program at UNMC. The building was only 16 years old at that time, and I remember the excitement and anxiety of being at a center focused on caring for children and families.
I was struck by the passion, devotion and relationships the therapists developed with families. Despite their physical or cognitive challenges, these were children first. How different this place was from my other clinical rotations! This was an environment where the focus of the therapy was to partner with family members to make dreams come true. What a challenge, to work with children and to consider their home and school environment, not just a therapy session, and to deal with the issue of ongoing developmental changes. I was hooked.
See images from the former home of MMI.
In 1975, Children’s Hospital was just across the street from MMI, connected by a tunnel so the therapists could have easy access to children during their inpatient stay and then continue services as an outpatient. Over the decades, therapy techniques changed, but the atmosphere of caring was a constant. As in the new facility today at 6902 Pine St., the original center included an aquatics center, therapy rooms, playground areas and clinic rooms, but with that 1950s ambiance of being more like an institutional hospital of the time. As I retired from UNMC in 2020, the facility was in need of major renovation or replacement. It was time for a change.
It is always bittersweet to see a historic landmark demolished to make way for progress. So many families spent countless hours and in many cases years traveling to 44th and Dewey to receive services from MMI staff. So many students received training to become the future practitioners in their respective fields. The facility served the community well, and it will remain in the memories of all who called it home.
But, phoenix-like, a magnificent, new, state-of-the-art MMI has risen to replace the original facility. The legacy and the mission of MMI continues there, as, on the site of the former building, UNMC moves forward with Project NeXT, a game-changer for the families whom that effort will serve. What a wonderful transition, for the location of the original MMI to serve as a home for a new landmark program. Meanwhile, MMI continues forward in its mission, now entering its second century, in a building that will house just as many advances, innovations and successes. And just as much love.
Wayne, That was a very nice perspective on MMI's history and future. It was great to see the old photos. I hope someone has archived photos of what it looked like before that renovation and addition. It would be nice to have a photographic 'ancestry' of the program in the new building. Perhaps it has already been done.
While the buildings are important to attract good therapists and doctors, it is those people, like you, that embody the heart and soul of MMI. From my fairly extensive contacts with other parents around the country and the world, we have a GEM here that is unbelievably valuable to parents of disabled children and adult children alike. It does give one pause when the thought of moving to warmer climes is posited. What would we do without MMI?
Vicky Vandervort