A leadership team from the University of Nebraska Medical Center headed by Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., will visit York and Kearney on Monday, Jan. 23, and Hastings on Tuesday, Jan. 24.
"It’s always educational when we travel across the state," Dr. Gold said. "We are looking forward to some great interaction in all three cities. It’s a perfect opportunity for us to learn what is happening in health care in these communities and to find out how we can better serve their needs."
In York, the team will meet with top administrators and community leaders at York General Hospital, then Dr. Gold will speak at a community lunch for service groups at noon at Chances "R" Restaurant & Lounge. Three members of the UNMC Board of Counselors from York – Margaret Brink, Karen Harris and Amy Holthus – helped arrange the visit to York. The UNMC Board of Counselors includes more than 75 community and business leaders from across the state who advise Dr. Gold on health care issues of importance.
At all his speaking engagements during the trip, Dr. Gold will provide an update on activities taking place at UNMC and its clinical partner, Nebraska Medicine. Some of the topics he will discuss include:
- Construction update on the Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center slated to open in June;
- Update on the iEXCEL (Interprofessional Experiential Center for Enduring Learning) facility, which will transform the way health professionals learn new skills and acquire new knowledge by using simulation and real-life virtual reality scenarios. UNMC hopes to break ground on the project in 2017 with completion in late 2018.
- The latest on UNMC’s work on highly infectious viruses such as Ebola and Zika and how UNMC has been awarded $19.8 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to develop the National Center for Health Security and Biopreparedness.
In Kearney, the UNMC group will go to the Health Science Education Complex on the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus. Dr. Gold will be joined by Juliann Sebastian, Ph.D., dean of the UNMC College of Nursing, Kyle Meyer, Ph.D., dean of the UNMC College of Allied Health Professions, and Bob Bartee, vice chancellor for external affairs.
In an effort to attract and retain more health professionals in rural areas, UNMC and UNK established the Health Science Education Complex in 2015. The complex made it possible for UNMC to offer graduate nursing programs and expand its bachelor’s degree programs. It also made it possible to establish allied health professions programs for the first time outside of Omaha. Those professions include physician assistant, physical therapist, clinical laboratory scientist, radiographer and diagnostic medical sonographer.
UNK Chancellor Doug Kristensen, Ph.D., will participate in the meeting along with Cathrin Carithers, D.N.P., assistant dean of the UNMC College of Nursing-Kearney Division, and Ryan Splittgerber, assistant dean of the UNMC College of Allied Health Professions-Kearney Division.
The next stop will be the annual dinner for the Kearney Chamber of Commerce at the Younes Conference Center at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Convention Center. Dr. Gold will speak at the dinner at approximately 6:30 p.m. Tom Henning, another UNMC Board of Counselors member from Kearney, helped arrange the visit to Kearney.
The UNMC team will then head to Hastings for a 7 a.m. breakfast meeting on Tuesday with the Hastings Rotary Club at Mary Lanning Hospital. Dr. Gold will again be the featured speaker. This meeting was coordinated by Chris Johnson, a UNMC Board of Counselors member in Hastings, and his son, Josh.
Following breakfast, Dr. Gold will head to Mary Lanning Hospital to meet with Eric Barber, hospital CEO, and later with alumni and friends of UNMC.
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