“I am 81 years old,” says Donna Polk, PhD. “I want to retire, but who will carry on the work?”
It’s a good question. Dr. Polk has worked to improve the lives of people for more than 45 years, in both professional and volunteer roles.
From 1985 to 1991, Dr. Polk – who has been a licensed mental health practitioner for 25 years — directed the Counseling Center at the Lincoln Indian Center. During her employment there she developed the Nebraska Department of the Military’s first Employment Assistance Program. Subsequently she was awarded a Nebraska Department of the Military Commendation Medal.
Since 1991, Dr. Polk has been chief executive officer of the Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition. NUIHC’s service area includes Omaha and Lincoln, as well as Sioux City, Iowa. As the NUIHC’s CEO, she and the organization collaborate with the UNMC College of Nursing to have an on-site clinic at the NUICH’s Omaha building.
NUIHC also has established affordable housing with a 44-unit development called The Eagle Heights, across the street from the NUIHC building in Omaha.
Dr. Polk received her doctoral degree in Administration, Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1999. She also holds a BA in University Studies and a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology, both from UNL. She authored “Black Men and Women of Nebraska” in 1981.
When asked how UNMC, as an organization and medical community, can stay in collaboration with their community partners, she said:
“As long as we continue to share the same goals of improving the health of the Native Population, NUIHC will always be a collaborator of UNMC.”