Omaha Mayor signs cancer center ordinances

Eighteen-month-old Kipton Krumland is cancer-free today thanks to a bone-marrow transplant he had earlier this year at UNMC.

The transplant occurred after Kipton was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and started treatment at another local hospital before he switched to UNMC. The switch will not be necessary for future patients like Kipton once the Cancer Center Campus at UNMC is complete and that is a good thing, Kipton’s mother, Erin Krumland said.

Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle plays with 18-month-old Kipton Krumland as the boy’s mother, Erin Krumland, looks on. Kipton Krumland survived acute lymphoblastic leukemia thanks to a bone-marrow transplant at UNMC. Suttle signed ordinances Tuesday that will provide city funding to help build a cancer center campus at UNMC that can help others with cancer receive the best care in one location.

“It’ll be very helpful for the little ones as they get so attached to the (caregivers),” Erin Krumland told a group of reporters on Tuesday as Kipton sat in her arms and playfully grabbed at the foam microphone covers that surrounded him.

Watching history

The Krumlands were at UNMC on Tuesday to watch Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle sign a pair of ordinances that will provide $35 million to help construct the $370 million Cancer Center Campus at UNMC.

Joined by city council members, UNMC physicians, community members and cancer survivors, of which Kipton was the youngest, Suttle signed the ordinances. One ordinance will provide $3.5 million for each of the next 10 years to the project and the other ordinance will raise the money necessary by the implementation of a 3 percent occupation tax on retailers who sell tobacco products.

Great project, great investment

The cancer center campus, the mayor said, will provide some of the best care in the nation and serve as a major economic engine for years to come.

“Great cities invest in themselves and that’s what this … will help us do for Omaha,” Suttle said.

The city funds from the occupation tax, along with $5 million that Douglas County has committed to the project, come as part of a public-private fundraising effort that will raise $200 million for the cancer center.

The $200 million — along with $50 million from the state and $120 million being borrowed by The Nebraska Medical Center — will make the landmark construction project a reality.

Many benefits

The cancer center is predicted to create thousands of jobs at the medical center and throughout the city, and infuse hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy each year.

And most importantly, Erin Krumland said, it will provide patients like her son a single place to get the best care.

“It was very difficult to switch during his treatment,” Krumland said. “This project is amazing.”