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UNMC researchers Joe Vetro, Ph.D., right, and Linda Wilkie talk about UNMC’s economic impact on the state in the spring radio ads, which begin running on stations around Nebraska today. |
The theme of these commercials is “Securing Nebraska’s Future.” The goal is to showcase examples of how UNMC is securing the state’s future in three areas: protecting Nebraskan’s safety at home, protecting the safety of our nation’s soldiers overseas and growing the state’s economy.
“We take pride in the work that our researchers are doing in the area of biopreparedness. It’s work that can help keep soldiers safe on overseas battlefields,” said Sandy Goetzinger-Comer, director of Public Affairs. “This work is funded by the Department of Defense and involves projects ranging from developing masks that offer better protection from infectious materials to work aimed at improving speedy identification of biological agents.”
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In the Spring radio ads, Scottsbluff firefighter Troy Shoemaker speaks about the benefits of a sampling pack that enables first responders to safely collect a sample of a potentially dangerous substance and send it to UNMC and the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory for identification. |
Jolene Smith from Faith Regional Health Services in Norfolk is also featured in the ads. She talks about the benefits of STAT Pack, a computerized emergency response system that gives hospital laboratories across the state a quick way to send digital images of suspicious organisms to UNMC for identification.
STATPack is a collaborative effort of the students and faculty at the University of Nebraska at Omaha College of Information Science & Technology (IS&T) at The Peter Kiewit Institute, UNMC and The Nebraska Public Health Laboratory.
To illustrate how UNMC helps grow Nebraska’s economy, commercials highlighted the results of a recent independent study, which showed that UNMC and The Nebraska Medical Center have a total impact on the state of $1.5 billion and support 17,000 jobs statewide.
UNMC graduates Timothy Davis, D.D.S., from Cozad, and Jill Noerrlinger, Pharm.D., from Beatrice help illustrate the tremendous economic impact that UNMC health professionals have on rural communities. Each dentist practicing in a rural community adds $1.2 million to that community’s economy.
Two UNMC employees help demonstrate the success UNMC’s research enterprise has had in creating highly-skilled and attractive jobs. Joe Vetro, Ph.D., assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy and the Center for Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine, and Linda Wilkie, laboratory manager for flow cytometry research services, talk about how the jobs created by research help keep Nebraska’s best and brightest in the state and foster the recruitment of top faculty staff and students.
“We’re excited to share with the state the important role that UNMC plays in keeping them safe and in helping ensure a growing economy,” Goetzinger-Comer said. “For those of us who work here, it may seem obvious to others, but it’s not. It’s important to remind Nebraskans of the important contributions we make on so many fronts. These radio commercials are only one of the ways we do that.”
The commercials will air from Feb. 26 through the week of May 7. As in the past, a Web site has been created to provide more information about each of the areas featured in the commercials. To learn more, to listen to the commercials and to view a list of the stations that will air the commercials, go to www.unmc.edu/secure.