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Omaha hospital chosen as a regional center for treating infectious diseases

Nebraska Medicine-Nebraska Medical Center will be one of nine regional centers in the U.S. designated to treat patients with highly infectious diseases.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services named the nine health departments and partner hospitals on Monday. Each facility was chosen for its capability to treat patients with Ebola and other diseases.

The nine regional centers have to be prepared at all times to accept patients with severe or highly infectious diseases, according to UNMC Chancellor Dr. Jeffrey Gold.

"It’s a tremendous honor for us to be recognized in this way. But it’s built upon ten years of experience and of course recently expertise with the patients with Ebola."

Last fall, Nebraska Medical Center treated three patients in its Biocontainment Unit who contracted Ebola in west Africa. The nine regional centers have to be able to treat at least two Ebola patients at once.

Dr. Gold says the designation won’t change the hospital’s approach to treating severely ill patients, but it might lead to expansion of the Biocontainment Unit’s capacity.