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When I describe my job to people, I often tell them I essentially edit a daily newspaper for a small town of 3,500 highly-educated, overachievers.
Every day, people come to work in this midtown academic haven with the sincere intention of curing diseases, alleviating suffering and making the world a healthier and happier place to live. Clock watchers are a minority at UNMC.
This drive and desire doesn’t stop when these folks leave the office either. No, in fact, we started a series of stories called “Off The Clock” that focuses on what these highly-active people do away from the office.
A recent “Off The Clock” focused on Jeffrey Baldwin, Pharm.D., an associate professor in the College of Pharmacy who has been heavily involved with the Boys Scouts for more than 25 years.
As I sat in my west Omaha basement on Wednesday night when the news broke about the tornado that killed four people and injured 42 others at a scout camp in Little Sioux, Iowa, my thoughts turned to Dr. Baldwin.
I knew that he had worked extensively at leadership camps similar to the one being held near Little Sioux and I instantly wondered if he was there.
I sent Dr. Baldwin an e-mail Thursday morning inquiring about his safety. My heart sank a bit when I got an “Out of Office” note back.
After a couple calls to the College of Pharmacy, I was told Dr. Baldwin was indeed at the camp on Wednesday night and that he had escaped injury.
Relieved, I went about my day and pondered writing a short story for others who also may have wondered about Dr. Baldwin’s safety. But here’s where that “small town of overachievers” thing came back to me.
With the large number of service-orientated people who work here, it stands to reason that any time folks gather for a good cause in Omaha, you’re going to find some UNMC people. On Wednesday night, three of the 24 adults supervising the scout camp were UNMC employees.
Aside from Dr. Baldwin, I learned that Fred Ullrich, an information technology specialist in the College of Public Health also was at the camp when the tornado hit. So was Linda Chaney, a research technologist in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology.
On Thursday morning, I gave Ullrich a call at his home in Lincoln and asked how he was. In a worn voice, he told me he was a bit “scuffed up” and about to get checked out by a doctor but that, by and large, he was healthy.
Ullrich was at the camp leading a scout troop through its week of training. When the tornado sirens went off, his troop headed into one of the camp’s two shelters — both of which would be hit by the storm.
As Ullrich stood at the door of the shelter instructing scouts to get under tables, he was blown off the porch. He looked up in time to see the tornado rip the roof off the shelter.
“At that point in time, I was hoping it would just take the roof off and that would be it,” Ullrich said.
It was wishful thinking — the four boys who died during the storm were in Ullrich’s troop.
“It was otherworldy, that’s the only way I can describe it,” Ullrich said, noting that the scouts who survived the storm were a bright spot in the tragedy.
“The boys reacted exceedingly well,” Ullrich said. “They responded appropriately and effectively and I’m proud of every one of them.”
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“Fred Ullrich really is a true hero,” Dr. Baldwin said. “I want people to know that.”
Later, I called Chaney’s house and got her husband, Bill Chaney, Ph.D., who works at UNMC as an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology.
Linda was OK but was sleeping at the time, Dr. Chaney said. When the storm hit, she was in the camp’s other shelter, which didn’t endure the devastation that Ullrich’s shelter experienced.
Like me, Dr. Chaney was safe in Omaha on Wednesday night when he heard the news break out of Little Sioux about 7:15.
Poor cell phone coverage in Little Sioux made it impossible for Dr. Chaney to contact his wife. So, after a string of tornado warnings in the Omaha area expired, he drove up to Little Sioux to check on his wife.
Asked what he was thinking as he made the roughly 45-minute drive to the scout camp, Dr. Chaney said, “All I could tell myself was that if she made it through the storm, the people up there would know how to take care of her.”
Around midnight the Chaneys — who have been married for 34 years — were reunited outside the camp.
When asked to describe what it felt like when he saw his wife, Dr. Chaney went silent for several seconds.
“You know, it was a very emotional scene,” he said, noting that while he was relieved to see his wife, he also was surrounded by people awaiting word on the safety of their children and loved ones.
The Chaneys drove back to Omaha late Wednesday night and brought Ullrich with them.
Thursday afternoon, I talked with Dr. Baldwin, who’d stayed back at the camp on Wednesday night to help with recovery efforts.
I was glad to hear from him and I was glad to hear all the rest of the UNMC folks were safe. I figured the rest of you who work in our overachieving small town would be glad to hear it, too.