As UNMC Interim Chancellor Dele Davies, MD, stood in line at the lemonade stand, he overhead a young boy holding a cup and two dollars asking for a refill.
“Sorry, we don’t do refills,” the woman behind the counter said.
That’s when Dr. Davies stepped forward and found out the boy was trying to buy a lemonade for his thirsty grandmother but was a few dollars short. So Dr. Davies offered to buy it for him.
Dr. Davies came to Macy, Nebraska, in late August to attend the Umoⁿhoⁿ Tribe’s 220th Annual Hede’wachi, or powwow. Dr. Davies attended at the invitation of Siobhan Wescott, MD, the Dr. Susan and Suzette La Flesche Professor of American Indian Health, and Lisa Spellman, program manager with the Nebraska Health, Education, Advocacy and Leadership across Indigenous and Native Generations (NE-HEALING) Project in the UNMC College of Public Health.
He didn’t come with a schedule for formal meetings. He attended the powwow; he toured the Umoⁿhoⁿ Nation Public School; he met with community leaders.
He also just talked to people.
“We serve a 500-mile-wide campus in Nebraska that extends far beyond our physical campuses,” he said. “We want to go into the communities we serve, listen to know what their needs are and figure out how we can help them meet those needs.
“It is also exciting to see the extraordinary things the community in Macy is doing, particularly the career academy and farm-to-school programs. The energy these programs are generating among students is truly inspiring.”
Said Spellman, “It was a joy watching Dr. Davies’ interact with community members during his visit to Macy. His presence and curiosity about the culture and contemporary issues tribal members face was greatly appreciated.”
Curiosity is key, Dr. Davies agreed.
“Sometimes, these visits translate to new programs,” Dr. Davies said. “Sometimes, they’re more involved in making connections to UNMC resources that can help some communities meet their needs.”
He said he had enjoyed his conversations with community leaders, such as tribal council member Dustin Lovejoy and Jon Pickinpaugh, middle school principal of the Umoⁿhoⁿ Nation Public School. But he especially liked speaking with people as he walked around the powwow grounds.
“If we’re going to really impact people where they’re at, we have to understand the issues that are important to them,” he said. “Because if we’re just sitting in Omaha and trying to figure it out from there, we’re going to get it wrong.”
Later, Dr. Davies accompanied Dr. Wescott to the still-under-renovation Susan LaFlesche Picotte Center in Walthill, along with the center’s executive director, Elizabeth Lovejoy Brown.
Representatives from UNMC and Nebraska Science Festival also attended the event, staffing a booth and doing crafts with the children.
Such UNMC outreach to many Nebraska communities, including visits from leaders, is integral, Dr. Davies said.
“It’s important that we go and hear them,” he said. “It’s only when we know what their needs are that we can actually start to have a positive impact.”