The University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
have signed a memorandum of agreement to provide a basis of support to
assist in the development of a statewide agromedicine consortium. The consortium
is a grass roots effort to improve the health and safety of Nebraskans
working in the agricultural industry.
The memorandum lists five priorities. They are:
–To increase awareness of farm and ranch safety issues in health-professions
training
–To strengthen collaborative agromedicine research and education efforts
in seeking external funding
–To support the development of a pilot statewide consortium for the
purpose of increasing the awareness and communication of agromedicine issues
–To increase opportunities for Nebraskans residing in rural communities
–To communicate the health and safety needs of our agricultural industry
Our first priority is to improve the health and safety of rural Nebraskans
working in agriculture, said Susanna Von Essen, M.D., associate professor
of internal medicine at UNMC. This truly is a unique opportunity to provide
rural Nebraskans access to health education materials, and to provide farmers
and ranchers a chance to inform health professionals of the issues pertinent
to their industry.
The coordinating divisions for this agreement will be the Rural Health
Education Network at UNMC and the Institute for Agriculture and Natural
Resources at UNL.
Signed by the vice chancellors of academic affairs from UNMC and UNL,
and by the vice president for agriculture and natural resources at UNL,
the memorandum encourages individuals from each institution to promote
a higher level of health awareness across Nebraska.
The idea for the development of a Nebraska Agromedicine Consortium was
fostered by Dr. Von Essen and modeled after the South Carolina Agromedicine
Program, which is a member of the North American Agromedicine Consortium.
Nebraska is the thirteenth state to enter the NAAC.
For more information about the Nebraska Agromedicine Consortium, contact
Roxanna Jokela at (402) 559-8946 or Dr. Von Essen at (402) 559-7397.