When 18 former cruise ship passengers arrived in Omaha this spring for quarantine after potential exposure to hantavirus, what most people saw was exactly what UNMC and Nebraska Medicine hoped they would see
National Quarantine Unit (NQU) guests settled into private rooms. Meals arrived. Laundry was done. Medical needs were met.
From the outside, it felt remarkably ordinary and seamless.
“It looked easy from the outside because we wanted it to,” said Michael Wadman, MD, Muelleman Chair of Emergency Medicine at UNMC and NQU medical director. “The truth is that a lot was going on behind the scenes.”
For six weeks, that work stretched across Nebraska Medicine and UNMC, drawing in everyone from nurses and physicians to pharmacy staff, Food Services, Public Safety, Facilities and countless others.
Guests relied on the team for far more than medical monitoring. Prescription refills, routine medical appointments, clean laundry, meals and other day-to-day needs all required coordination.
And someone always stepped up to make it happen.
“I can’t think of a single team, department or person where we’ve reached out and presented a situation and somebody said no,” said Angie Vasa, director of Emergency Preparedness and Special Pathogens Programs at Nebraska Medicine. “It was always, ‘Okay, how can we help?’ Everyone wanted to be a part of this effort. That made our team feel supported by the entire organization.”
Before the first guests arrived at the NQU, teams across Nebraska Medicine were already preparing. Facilities colleagues verified specialized air-handling systems. Rooms were stocked with supplies. Clinical leaders worked through staffing plans. Patients occupying the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit were relocated to make space available if it became needed.
At the same time, another challenge was unfolding.
The quarantine activation did not replace the medical center’s daily mission. The hospitals stayed busy. Clinics remained open. The Emergency Departments continued caring for patients.
“We wanted to make sure we were doing everything we’re obligated to do for the quarantine operation, and at the same time, ensure the community doesn’t miss a beat in terms of health care,” Dr. Wadman said.
Every nurse, physician and support team member assigned to the activation represented a role that still needed to be filled elsewhere.
“We talked about those competing priorities every day,” Vasa said. “We want to provide safe care in the hospital and also provide comprehensive services in the quarantine unit.”
Leaders looked weeks ahead, building schedules for the entire activation while balancing staffing needs across the organization. Colleagues stepped in to cover shifts, adjust schedules and keep the health system moving.
“When demands changed on one unit or if a department needed to keep one of the NQU team members in place, we shifted plans and found alternatives,” Vasa said.
Inside the NQU, support often showed up in small but meaningful ways.
Food became one example.
Recognizing that guests had limited ability to manage most aspects of daily life, Food Services focused on providing choices wherever possible. Menus evolved based on feedback. They even developed a Starbucks menu to give guests more choice and a greater sense of normalcy during their stay.
“They really thought creatively about how we could get people access to the foods they enjoy, and want to have,” Vasa said.
Other requests required equally creative solutions.
When guests expressed a desire for outdoor time during the lengthy quarantine, teams across the organization came together to make it happen safely within days. What sounded like a simple request required coordination among nursing teams, university leadership, Public Safety, Facilities, federal partners and others.
“If you look at it from the outside, you’d think, ‘how difficult could that be?’” Dr. Wadman said. “Well, in fact, it’s fairly complicated.”
The same teamwork surfaced throughout the activation. The One Chart team built new workflows. Pharmacy teams modified medication delivery processes. Administrative staff stepped in to support operations so clinical teams could focus on supporting care and monitoring.
According to Vasa, one response became almost universal whenever help was needed.
“How can we help?”
For all the planning, coordination, and problem-solving happening throughout the activation, the goal never changed.
“We wanted it to seem like a boring, routine process, and I think we accomplished that because of the teamwork and innovation of hundreds of colleagues across the organization,” Dr. Wadman said.