Nebraska Medicine is the most esteemed academic medical center in the region offering exceptional patient care combined with innovative research and education.
This is a great early Christmas present! Steven Garay came here in the middle of Hurricane Harvey. He had cancer, but treatment helped him turn the tide. Today he had his last round of chemo, ringing the "Cancer Be Gong." And boy, did he ring it! Congrats, Steven!
@JJWatt
Our 1st 6 to receive the COVID-19 vaccine!
Brandi Johansen, COVID unit nurse manager
Dan Johnson, MD, critical care anesthesiologist
Martin Gilgenast, phlebotomist
Komi Gbedjeha, resp. therapist
Ross Davidson, MD, UNMC chief pulmonary critical care fellow
Kalen Knight, ER nurse
A big thank you to
@Hawks_Wrestling
's Real Woods who took time to surprise Dylan DeRocher with a birthday call! Dylan, a wrestler from Le Mars, Iowa, is one of Real's biggest fans. Dylan is fighting acute myeloid leukemia at Nebraska Medical Center.
#Hawkeyes
These are some of our nationally known infectious diseases experts who are speaking up in favor of stronger public health measures. Nebraska Medicine fully supports that call.
"We COVID have patients coming into the ER with blood oxygen saturations in the 40s and 50s and even lower than that. Normal is 92 to 100%." Along with nurses, our respiratory therapists are integral to the care of COVID patients. Courtney shares what she's seeing.
Rural hospitals are almost full. Metro hospitals will soon be unable to take transfer patients. What comes next? This shows the COVID-19 case explosion in NE. This is a call for state leaders and for you to take more decisive action to protect our state.
Nebraska Medicine and UNMC providers, staff members, faculty and students kneel in silence for 8 minutes, 46 seconds to recognize the killing of George Floyd and to show their commitment to improving the health and safety of the Black community.
#WhiteCoatsForBlackLives
"It is almost pointless to talk about a second or third wave because we're nowhere near through the first wave of this." - Dr. Jeffrey Gold
"Masks work. It's unequivocal. It's like a seat belt. Please wear a mask when you're out." - Dr. Ali Khan
@KETV
Thank you to the health care workers who are tirelessly caring for COVID-19 patients and others who need medical care for heart attacks, strokes, trauma and other emergency conditions! We asked these staff members what message they wanted to share with all of you.
#NEMEDSTRONG
The relationship our pediatric patients built with
@umichbaseball
extends way beyond the hours the team spent at the hospital. Coach Erik Bakich hung a flag signed by our kids in the dugout before each game. We hope the flag reminds the players how special they are to us!
#GoBlue
Local sewing community: you asked what you can do, and we have a mission for you. Repair damaged scrubs and directly help the Nebraska Medicine teams helping people fight COVID-19. Email linen
@nebraskamed
.com and we will arrange to drop off clean scrubs in need of repair.
"If we run out of beds, if we run out of nurses, respiratory therapists, it's not just for COVID-19. It's for heart attacks, it's for strokes, it's for car accidents."
@DanielWJohnson9
continues to try to sound the alarm about how serious things are in NE.
* You are 46x less likely to be hospitalized if you are vaccinated and boosted.
* It is estimated the vaccines prevented 3,200 hospitalizations and 700 deaths in NE in Dec. of 2021.
* People who are not fully vaccinated in NE are dying at higher rates than fully vaccinated.
What a fantastic greeting for our staff at Bellevue Medical Center today! The daughter of one of our nurses created this beautiful chalk art.
#NEMEDSTRONG
"We found a 50% reduction in the spread of COVID-19 in counties that had a mask mandate compared to those without." A new study done by our neighbors to the south shows masks are effective. We believe a statewide requirement would help do the same here:
This is an incredibly personal account of saying goodbye to her husband and how one nurse's kindness touched her family. Our thanks to Beth McGrath for reminding our staff of the importance of the work they do day in and day out.
The light at the end of the tunnel! We received nearly 3000 doses of the
@pfizer
COVID-19 vaccine this morning and promptly stored them in our ultra-cold freezers. The majority of these will go to our colleagues on the front line, with some also going to area first responders.
We keep using data to communicate COVID risk, trends and to ask people to take precautions. As the US peaks, perhaps it is time to share our personal experiences. So to my fellow COVID warriors, what experiences left an imprint on you?
These are just two of the staff members on the front lines of our COVID-19 response. We would like to thank all the doctors, nurses, medical assistants and our entire team for jumping into action to serve our patients.
Read more about them here:
This is Karlee. The first ever pediatric patient in Nebraska to receive CAR-T cell therapy. Her cells were modified to fight her cancer. This acute lymphoblastic lymphoma warrior is heading home, almost exactly one month after the treatment. What a way to spend her first Easter!
Susan Kvols was a nurse her entire life. But as her life came to an end, the Nebraska Nurse Honor Guard wanted to make sure she wasn't alone as she made the journey to become an organ donor. Nebraska Medicine staff joined the tribute to Susan during this touching honor walk.
This was the response James Linder, MD, Nebraska Medicine CEO, gave during an interview with CNBC today when asked if any of our medical workers have seen side effects from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
You can watch the full interview here:
The first full day of COVID-19 vaccinations for our front line health care workers: doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, patient care techs, emergency department staff & more! The excitement was unreal.
#Igottheshot
#CovidVaccine
#NEMEDSTRONG
Holding the hand of a patient as they pass away. Having to separate a newborn baby from their parents. Realizing how difficult it is to cry in PPE. Our COVID-19 heroes share very personal stories:
Critical care anesthesiologist Dr. Dan Johnson shared his warning for what was coming at the beginning of the pandemic. Now, here is his updated message to family and loved ones from his Facebook page. Please read.
"There is only ONE way to prevent this. And it's not difficult. It's doing the right thing."
In about a minute, Dr. Andre Kalil, one of our nation's foremost infectious diseases specialists, explains what we ALL need to do to avoid a second shutdown because of COVID-19.
More than 1,500 of you have come forward and offered to help. That is enough volunteers to handle this task. We will let you know if we have any other needs where the community can assist.
We can't thank you enough!
Local sewing community: you asked what you can do, and we have a mission for you. Repair damaged scrubs and directly help the Nebraska Medicine teams helping people fight COVID-19. Email linen
@nebraskamed
.com and we will arrange to drop off clean scrubs in need of repair.
"Our hospitals across the state from Scottsbluff to Omaha are at their limit." Former Huskers head football coach Tom Osborne is sharing this important message about vaccination.
@UNMC_GCHS
@unmc
@UNMC_ID
David Haile had always wanted to be a police officer, but health conditions always stood in his way. He was so sick recently, his sister thought she was going to lose him. Today,
@OmahaPolice
Chief Todd Schmaderer stopped by to brighten his day and say congrats on his recovery!
The CDC has approved our protocol to decontaminate and reuse N95 masks using UV light. Many hospitals around the country are adopting this procedure to stretch the thin supply of masks. Great story by
@JoeChiodo
of
@KCTV5
in Kansas City about how it works.
"We believe in the people of this state."
This letter started with just three signatures, but quickly spread among Nebraska Medicine and
@unmc
staff. More than 2,000 doctors, nurses and other health care workers have signed. Here's what they're asking:
On this
#InternationalWomensDay
, we want to recognize the nurse leaders of the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit & National Quarantine Unit. They have been working tirelessly to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.
This is
#SeriousMedicineExtraordinaryCare
Kyleigh Gall knows what it feels like to spend
#Christmas
in the hospital. Last December, the cross country runner was at Nebraska Medicine receiving treatment for
#cancer
. This year, Kyleigh wanted to give back and made blankets for our pediatric patients. THANK YOU!
We want to take a moment to recognize our respiratory therapists. Across the nation and right here in Omaha, this job is of utmost importance as they care for COVID-19 patients who need ventilators.
Thank you RTs, for everything you do!
#NEMEDSTRONG
Analogy: If a hemophiliac is stabbed, the cause of death is acute blood loss, but hemophilia is an underlying condition contributing to the death. With COVID, conditions like diabetes or obesity heighten the risk, but COVID is still the primary cause.
@KellyCawcuttMD
explains:
"Our capacity for assisting patients who need oxygen or mechanical ventilation is remarkable. But not limitless." Respiratory care coordinator Frank Freihaut has been with Nebraska Medicine for decades. He's never seen anything like this.
These are the biggest smiles we've seen on our kids' faces in a long time! Nickelodeon and YouTube star
@itsjojosiwa
stopped by and took photos with them and signed autographs! Thanks JoJo, for brightening the lives of everyone you met today!
Great mask use and distancing! The Westside HS football team listens to
@hewlett_angela
,
@Prof_Lowe
and Dr. Ken Bayles about COVID-19 and how it's transmitted. They learned the best ways to keep themselves, families, teachers & coaches safe.
@Westside66
"Over the last month we have admitted more people to our COVID ICU beds than any time since December 2020. Almost every single one of these patients is either unvaccinated or immunocompromised." Between seeing patients in our COVID ICU, our Dr. Dan Johnson recorded this message.
“We can prepare over and over for a wave of patients, but we can’t prepare for a tsunami.”
@edyong209
with
@TheAtlantic
is one of the best medical reporters there is. We thank him for letting our providers share their reality. We hope it will save lives.
The Nebraska Hospital Association and the
@NebMedAssn
, along with its member hospitals and physicians, are committed to doing more to prevent violent incidents both inside health care facilities and in our communities.
Our emergency preparedness team installed a surge tent outside the emergency department today. It's not a necessity at this time, but putting it up now allows for additional bed capacity and helps us be ready for a potential influx of patients seeking emergency services.
COVID hospitalizations continue to rise. Our staff is tired – both physically and emotionally. This is an accurate depiction of what things are like for our COVID ICU staff. Please get tested if you have symptoms and please consider getting vaccinated.
Join us in applauding the Omaha City Council for extending the city's mask mandate until February 23, 2021. We need bold action to turn around the current trends!
@OWHnews
coverage:
This is an issue our providers aren't going to let up on. We believe it's that important. And it's why three of our doctors wrote this valuable essay for the Omaha World-Herald:
#PleaseWearAMask
@OWHnews
Fight like a queen!
Congrats to Maureen Grace, who marked her final radiation treatment by bringing tiaras for Dr. Nathan Bennion and the rest of her care team. COVID-19 hasn’t stopped cancer and it won’t stop the health care workers and patients who bravely take it on each day.
We are incredibly honored to be on this list of the top ten most trusted health system brands in America. The list includes familiar names like Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic and Massachusetts General. Thank you for putting us on this list! Read more here:
Because of the unprecedented demand for health care and the severity of the omicron variant, Nebraska Medicine has enacted its Crisis Standards of Care plan. Here is what that means for the community:
A letter through the eyes of Max, a nine-year-old boy whose dad is a doctor at Nebraska Medicine and treating patients with COVID-19.
@unmc
@UNMC_ID
#NeMedStrong
What happens after someone is admitted to the hospital with a severe case of COVID-19? This is the progression that many patients make, as seen through the eyes of
@slthomps12
.
Thanks to
@creightonmsoc
for making a surprise visit this afternoon to pediatric patient (and soccer super fan) Mason Ogle. Mason will be pulling for them on the field, and they'll root for Mason as he fights osteosarcoma. Good sports all around!
"The vaccine made by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech now carries the strongest endorsement from the Food and Drug Administration, which has never before had so much evidence to judge a shot's safety."
@OWHnews
"We do not have to choose between the total shutdown of society and letting the virus run unchecked through the population."
An important joint message about the scientific truth of herd immunity from Nebraska's hospitals and public health agencies:
Last night as I was walking into my shift at Nebraska Medicine with other nurses and care techs, cars were driving by honking and clapping cheering us on as we go into work. It was one of the most surreal experiences I have ever felt. Thank you Omaha for your support..thank you!
We can't continue on this course. More cases = more hospitalizations = more deaths. Please do your part to avoid large gatherings, wear a mask and all the things we've been sharing with you over the course of the pandemic. 😷😷😷
"I cannot imagine a higher compliment than being among the top health systems that people trust.” Our CEO, James Linder, MD, explains why being on the list of the most trusted health system brands in America is such an honor: