Longtime UNMC and Nebraska Medicine employee and volunteer Louisa Brokering died on Jan. 24 at the age of 93.
Louisa joined Nebraska Medicine/UNMC as a social worker in oncology in 1962, and her Spanish language skills soon became an important resource.
Celebrating Louisa
There will be a memorial service at 11 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 8, at Iglesia Cristo Rey, 4440 S. 25th St., featuring a photo display of babies to teens to adults that Louisa followed through the health care system. Lunch will follow.
Flower Nunez, the lead language service associate at Nebraska Medicine, said Brokering — whom she called a strong advocate for immigrants in the Omaha community, the hospital and UNMCP clinics — was the first Spanish language interpreter at The Nebraska Medical Center, and she continued to volunteer her interpreter services even after her retirement in 1986.
“For those of us who have been here for decades, Louisa was an icon,” said John Walburn, M.D., UNMC professor of pediatrics. “She may have been the most staunch advocate for her underserved population that I have been associated with in my nearly 40 years at this institution. To paraphrase the old country song, she was diversity before diversity was cool.”
Linda Lemon, a social worker with the Olson Center for Women’s Health, called Brokering a legendary medical social worker.
“I witnessed the love, compassion and dedication Louisa provided to the Omaha community for over 30 years,” Lemon said. “Louisa provided interpreting services for several years at the UNMC Physicians clinics in South Omaha.”
A stellar interpreter, Brokering always went beyond the call of service, Lemon said. “Louisa deserves to have a street named after her in the South Omaha community. She will be greatly missed, yet never forgotten in the hearts of the people she served with respect and love.”
“A decade after retiring, she continued to accompany new immigrants to UNMC Physicians clinic appointments to help them overcome the systemic barriers experienced when a person comes to a big city and has to navigate through multilevel organizations which, when coupled with language barriers, can be quite overwhelming,” Nunez said.
“Louisa was a very selfless and dedicated social worker, and the first medical interpreter at University Hospital. She will be missed and always remembered,” Nunez said.
Please share your memories of Louisa Brokering in the Comments section below.
As a medical receptionist in the UNMCP float pool, it was a familiar sight to see Louisa in the hallways and arrive in the various departments with a patient family by her side. I remember her big smile when calling out to greet her in these last years. Truly she was a shining example of caring, dedicated service.