Earmarks: Labor, Health, Science

Project:  Delivering  Health Education through Technology
Name of Recipient: Central Community College
Location of Recipient:   Grand Island, Nebraska
Purpose:  For  distance education equipment to provide students access to technologies to  improve their educations.
Amount  Requested: $1,200,000
Taxpayer  Interest: This project meets a critical need by increasing the capacity for nurse training and education.  There is a well documented nursing shortage in Nebraska and throughout the nation. 

Project:  Madonna  Rehabilitation Hospital’s First Hope Initiative
Name of Recipient:  Madonna Foundation
Location of Recipient:   Lincoln, Nebraska
Purpose:  For  a program to increase functional independence of victims of stroke, traumatic  brain injury and spinal cord injury.
Amount  Requested: $1,500,000
Taxpayer Interest: This project directly links to multiple Health and Human Services’ goals including improving the quality of healthcare provided for vulnerable members of our society, reducing health disparities, and promoting implementation of evidence-based methodologies and best practices.

Project: Fremont Area  Center Renovation and Expansion
Name of Recipient: Metro Community College
Location of Recipient:    Fremont, Nebraska
Purpose:  To  renovate a facility which will provide healthcare related education and  training opportunities for future workers.
Amount  Requested: $525,000
Taxpayer  Interest:  This project will facilitate additional post-secondary educational opportunities with an emphasis on healthcare and information technology degrees.

Project:  College Center  at South Sioux City Initiative
Name of Recipient: Wayne State College
Location of Recipient: South Sioux City, Nebraska
Purpose:   For equipment purchases associated with the College Center at South Sioux City, which will address the higher-education and workforce-development needs of Dakota and Thurston Counties.
Amount  Requested: $1,500,000
Taxpayer  Interest: Dakota and Thurston counties are two of only four Nebraska counties identified as having the most critical level of education need.  Access to affordable, public, post-secondary education and workforce development training in these two counties and the immediate surrounding area has not kept pace with demand.  This project will meet the educational needs of the population in these two counties and the surrounding area, as well as education and workforce development needs of employers and employees.

Project: Biomarkers  Database of Rural Diseases
Name of Recipient: University of Nebraska-Medical Center
Location of  Recipient:  Omaha,  Nebraska
Purpose:  To establish a database of health information to determine effects genetics, environment and other factors have in causing cancer.
Amount  Requested: $6.4  million
Taxpayer Interest: This project will rectify the health research gap that exists for Midwestern populations.  Current large scale studies rely exclusively on data collected from urban populations, primarily on the coasts, so the data is not directly applicable to the Midwest or rural residents.   Information from this project will populate a database focused on rural populations which will improve our understanding of the effects that environmental, occupational, and genetic factors have in causing disease.

Updated 6.11.09