U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska visited UNMC on Friday, Oct. 25, to meet with university leadership and receive updates on issues and federal and military partnerships involving the med center.
Sen. Fischer met with University of Nebraska President Jeffrey P. Gold, MD, UNMC Interim Chancellor H. Dele Davies, MD, and Chris Kratochvil, MD, UNMC’s vice chancellor for external relations. The senator toured the Dr. Edwin G. & Dorothy Balbach Davis Global Center, which opened at UNMC in early 2020 through the assistance of $19.8 million in federal funding.
The senator heard updates on:
- UNMC’s Project NExT and the first phase of the project – the $2.19 billion Project Health.
- Rural workforce issues in nursing from UNMC College of Nursing Dean Lepaine Sharp-McHenry, DNP.
- The C-STARS (Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills) Omaha program that is a collaboration among UNMC, Nebraska Medicine and the Air Force Research Laboratory’s School of Aerospace Medicine.
- UNMC’s ISTARI system – the modular, disposable, negative pressure isolation patient care system for high-risk infections.
At the Davis Global Center, Sen. Fischer also received a tour of the national Training, Simulation and Quarantine Center, which houses the 20-bed National Quarantine Unit and the six-bed National Biocontainment Training Center.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response funded the center with a $19.8 million grant.
Sen. Fischer said the visit was impressive, crediting the “capabilities that are here in Nebraska and here at the medical center.”
The senator said it’s extremely important for the U.S. Department of Defense to know that its collaborations with UNMC will “meet a number of needs for our military,” and she also cited the use for civilians, as needed.
Her message to the UNMC community: “Nice work.”
“It’s obviously well planned,” Sen. Fischer said, “taking advantage of all sorts of new technology, new capabilities. And the training is impressive.”