A new exhibit at the Wigton Heritage Center shines a light on nearly three decades of compassionate care and student-driven innovation.
“UNMC SHARING CLINICS: Cultivating Compassion, Learning Through Service” is open on Level 4 of the Wigton Heritage Center. The exhibit explores the history and ongoing impact of UNMC’s Student Health Alliance Reaching Indigent Needy Groups (SHARING) clinics — an entirely student-run, nationally recognized model of service learning founded in 1997.
Rather than a traditional historical display, the exhibit tells the story of SHARING through the voices of those who built and sustained it. Featuring more than 20 oral histories, it highlights the personal experiences of students, providers and patients whose lives intersected through the clinics’ mission.
The project was guided by a 17-person committee and supported by key faculty and staff, including Paul and Audrey Paulman, both MDs; Kate Fiandt, PhD; Jim Medder, MD; and Kevin McGuire.
Carrie Meyer, associate dean for special collections and archives at the library, said the process of curating the exhibit changed her understanding of what needed to be shared.
“I first approached this project as a traditional exhibition,” she said. “But as I began to understand SHARING, I realized this couldn’t be — shouldn’t be — presented as the typical history exhibit. The stories are the artifacts.”
Through these stories, the exhibit underscores how UNMC students learn firsthand about the social determinants of health and the realities of caring for Omaha’s most vulnerable populations.
“One of the most striking things about this exhibit — and about history itself — is that perspective shapes everything,” said Emily Glenn, dean of the McGoogan Health Sciences Library. “Two people can live through the same moment and yet come away with entirely different experiences. That diversity of memory gives history its depth, its humanity and its truth.”
During an opening event earlier this month, SHARING clinics Student Advisory Committee chairs Wenxian Zhou and Lauren Vatter and SHARING clinics past-present Dr. Paul Paulman shared reflections on what the work of the clinics means to them. Several current and former SHARING clinics volunteers were in attendance.
UNMC Interim Chancellor H. Dele Davies, MD, also in attendance, applauded the work of the student-run, faculty-supervised clinics, saying: “The UNMC SHARING Clinics are the living embodiment of our institution’s public health and service provision commitment. They successfully integrate high-quality service to the underserved with critical education. What began as a visionary student initiative has grown into a nationally recognized model of student-run health care.”
“UNMC SHARING CLINICS: Cultivating Compassion, Learning Through Service” is open to the public on Level 4 of the Wigton Heritage Center at UNMC. Explore the online exhibit at this link.