Employees say farewell to ITS Building

Employees of UNMC and the Child Saving Institute fill the room for Friday’s tribute and farewell reception.

For 24 years, the Computing Services building was home to Yvette Holly and her staff.

Years earlier, it was home to hundreds of orphans and children.

On Friday, former tenants of the building – the Child Saving Institute (CSI) and UNMC’s Information Technology Services – gathered to say goodbye to the 80-year-old building that is scheduled for demolition this fall.

“It will be a little sad (to see it go),” said Holly, assistant vice chancellor for Information Science and Technology. “We accomplished so much in this building and had a lot of teamwork and friendship. But, the plans for this site show how the campus evolves and gets better.”

“Today, we celebrate not only the bright future of this property, but its historic past,” said UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D.

Steve Pera of ITS looks at historical photos from the Child Saving Institute, which occupied the building until 1975.

From 1911 until 1975, CSI provided a variety of services in the brick building, including an orphanage and adoption service. CSI also trained nurses specializing in pediatrics and provided a home for unwed mothers. “As a neighbor to the CSI from 1911 to 1975, UNMC doctors and medical students supplied not only routine care for the children, but also performed surgeries to correct birth defects,” Dr. Maurer said.

In addition to surgeries, UNMC physicians also researched infant care and nutrition. In the 1912 annual report of the CSI, it was reported that Dr. J.P. Lord performed the famous “Lorenz operation” to correct a congenital hip condition on a little girl, Mabel. While Dr. Lorenz had received $30,000 for performing the operation on another little girl in Chicago, Dr. Lord’s donated his services to CSI.

The building, built with the help of a $25,000 pledge from Joslyn Art Museum founder George Joslyn, was acquired by UNMC in 1975.

Pat Araujo of ITS remembers the child-sized toilets in the buliding when UNMC acquired it in 1975.

“Now, this site will enter a new era – one in which the physicians of tomorrow will be educated in a state-of-the-art facility,” Dr. Maurer said.

The site will become the first true home for the UNMC College of Medicine. The Center for Health Science Education will replace obsolete and insufficient facilities with state-of-the-art classrooms and class laboratories, including clinical simulation rooms, many small-group instruction rooms, several amphitheaters and a campus events center.

Thirty years ago, however, the building served as UNMC’s first administration center. Business and Finance administrators Del Lee and Keith Swarts were among the first to occupy the building after UNMC bought it in 1975. “Del and I kind of haunted the halls here,” Swarts said, remembering the many bathtubs and child-sized toilets. “There are a lot of memories.”

Eventually, the building became the home to Information Technology Services, which recently completed its move to another location on campus.

“It’s kind of like a second home,” said UNMC fiscal technician Marla Hopson, who worked in the building for the past 21 1/2 years. “This building has a lot of character history.”

“It will be sad to see it being torn down,” said ITS coordinator Pat Araujo, who remembers the child-sized drinking fountains that lined the halls. “I’ve spent a lot of years here.”

Past – The former Child Saving Institute

Present – Home to Information Technology Services

Tammy Stalzer, post-adoption specialist at CSI, attended Friday’s tribute and farewell ceremony in honor of all the adopted children she works with who once lived in the building. “Everybody talks of the stairwell,” she said. “I felt like I owed it to them to be here today.”

For historical purposes, part of the historic stairwell, old radiators and light fixtures will be returned to CSI before demolition, officials said.

Todd Landry, president and CEO of the Child Saving Institute, said the value instilled in the building – do what’s best for kids – lives on at CSI’s current location at 115 S. 46th St. “We continue to meet our mission of responding to the cry of the child.”

Donna Tubach Davis, retired CEO of the Child Saving Institute, agreed. “As I entered the building I believe I still heard that echo of the cry of the child,” she said.