How You Can Help

Service League

Since 1946, the fund-raising activities of the Clarkson Service League have played a vital role in helping the hospital provide the finest medical care possible to residents of Nebraska and the surrounding states. Members of the volunteer organization give of their time, energy and financial support to fund programs, equipment and facilities to benefit The Nebraska Medical Center patients and employees.

The Service League has raised more than $6 million through the Gift Shop and fund-raising activities like the fall fashion production and Santa's Preview. The first fashion show in 1947 proved to be an enormously popular format for a philanthropic activity. The event remains the standard by which all similar fund-raising events in Omaha are measured. Santa's Preview, a two-day boutique of holiday gift ideas, is another popular fund-raising event in the Omaha area.

Evidence of the positive influence of the Service League's activities can be seen throughout the hospital. The contributions include two intensive care centers, the Hematology-Oncology Care Center, Radiation Therapy's CLINAC2500 Radiotherapy Linear Accelerator, a $500,000 nursing scholarship endowment for Clarkson College students, patient televisions, wheelchairs and radiology equipment. Recently, the Service League's considerable energy completed a $1 million pledge to enhance the Clarkson Family Residency program, which provides education of primary-care physicians at the hospital, and a $500,000 donation for SimplyWell, a prevention and personal wellness project.

Clarkson was founded in 1869 as Good Samaritan Hospital, Nebraska's first hospital, by a multi-denominational group of civic leaders. Those visionary pioneers had one goal in mind with the new hospital ­ to provide a place to go when they were sick or injured, something citizens did not yet have.

In the more than 130 years since, the face of health care has changed in ways the Clarkson founding fathers could never have imagined. The goal of providing the best possible health care remains.

In 1997, Clarkson merged with University Hospital, the teaching hospital of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, to form what is now known as The Nebraska Medical Center. This historic merger has resulted in the formation of a premier healthcare organization providing greater access and a wider continuum of care to Midlands residents.

Comprehensive care for every family member includes primary care, high-risk prenatal care, cancer care, transplantation, cardiology, neurology, burn care and geriatric care. The hospital has kept pace with technology, bringing new and innovative medical procedures and services to the Midlands. Some milestones include the first cardiac catherization in 1955, the first heart transplant in 1985 and the 1,000th kidney transplant in 1995.

The city's first in-patient orthopaedic hospital, Nebraska Orthopaedic Hospital, is the joint venture between a group of Omaha physicians and The Nebraska Medical Center. The west Omaha hospital opened in the spring of 2004. In 2005 The Nebraska Medical Center will celebrate the opening of the Hixson-Lied Center.

The Nebraska Medical Center leads area health-care providers by bringing new medical treatments to Omaha, many times through the good graces of the Service League. In doing so, The Nebraska Medical Center has brought thousands of Midlanders improved quality of life within convenient reach of home and family. The Nebraska Medical Center offers nearly 950 primary and specialty-care physicians offering the widest range of medical services at convenient locations throughout the city.