Robin Benne†† Kanarek ’96:
Ensuring Nursing Excellence
By Nina M. Riccio
S
he was accepted to Skidmore on the
children began school, and finally earning
basis on her artwork, but Robin
that longed-for BSN in 1996.
Bennett Kanarek ’96 never got to
take a single art course while there.
with all the statistics, Western Civilization,
Instead, she fell in love with nursing,
religion, and calculus!” she admits. “But
“and it was all or nothing back then,” she
Dr. Ben Fine (of the College of Arts and
says. “I was told I had to choose one or
Sciences) was such an excellent teacher
the other.” She earned her associate’s
and had an ability to make the math so
degree in nursing, then decided to take a
relevant to every day life. And Drs. Sheila
break from school and go to work.
Grossman and Dee Lippman were instru-
“That decision not to finish my BSN
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mental in bringing out the best in me and
was always one of my biggest regrets,”
in all their nursing students. They knew
says Kanarek, who worked as a diabetes
what we were capable of doing. In the
educator at Stamford Hospital. Not one to
end, the core helped me tremendously
waste time with regrets, she decided to do
because it challenged me.”
something about it, enrolling in the School
Lilac
(syringa)
“Oh, how I dreaded taking that core
All that has made for a very committed
of Nursing’s second-degree program at
alumna, and after former University
Fairfield just as the youngest of her two
President Aloysius Kelley, S.J., hired
Dr. Jeanne Novotny as dean of the School
hands-on environment. Using simulation-
of Nursing in 2001, he insisted the two
based teaching will also allow professors to
meet. “She absolutely had such energy
integrate nursing skills, critical thinking,
and vitality and such a passion for nursing
and communication into their curriculum.
that it was impossible not to be taken
“A simulation laboratory is essential if
under her spell,” Kanarek remembers.
the School of Nursing is going to keep
“She’s a true leader, and quickly brought
from remaining stagnant,” says Nancy
the School to the level it should be.”
Lynch, P’95, chair of the School’s Advisory
So strong is Kanarek’s belief in the
Board. “Today’s students are so smart and
direction of the School that she has
savvy, and they shop around to find the
recently put forth a challenge grant of
school with the best teaching facilities.
$350,000 towards equipping the newly-
We simply could not attract the kind of
constructed Learning Resource Center,
students we want without this.” She points
built last year through the generosity and
out that Kanarek’s family has a history of
successful fundraising of the Board.
giving back to the community. “It’s not
Grateful for support
she received, impressed
by the dynamism of the
School of Nursing dean,
and energized by her
work on its Advisory
Board, Robin Bennett
Kanarek’s challenge will
ensure that the Learning
Resource Center will
continue to thrive.
“With the Kanarek Family Foundation
gift, we’ll be able to engage in more faculty
development as well as purchase simulation
equipment, a medication and EKG
machine, intravenous pumps, laptops,
operating room equipment – in short,
everything we need to make these clinical
spaces as authentic as possible,” says Dr.
Suzanne Campbell, associate professor
and director of the Resource Center.
The Learning Resource Center is a
simulation laboratory; students can work
on a “patient”, a computerized robot programmed to have symptoms specific to an
illness, while being assessed by both their
peers and a professor through a closed
circuit television in another room. Varying
scenarios can also be created – the
“patient” can be belligerent, for example,
refuse to be treated by a female, or speak
a foreign language. The result: a center
where students can learn in a risk-free,
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Giving eye drops properly
is a technique that needs
to be learned, both for
patient comfort and so as
not to waste medicine.
Under the watchful eye of
Suzanne Hines, adjunct
professor, Alan Guffanti
gives it a try.
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just her heart that’s in this gift, it’s that of
her whole family,” adds Lynch.
Kanarek herself suppresses a smile
Kanarek has been a member of the
School’s Advisory Board since its inception
in 2005, a position she finds exhilarating.
when asked to compare the nursing edu-
“I’ve been on boards before where the
cation of today’s students with her own,
purpose is just to make sure the job gets
just over 10 years ago. “When I graduated, I
done,” she says. “This is different. Our
had no ICU experience, no ER experience,”
meetings are absolutely energetic.
she admits. “Today’s students are not only
Everyone has an idea of where things
more prepared, they have more of an
should go, and every idea is received with
understanding of the pressure they’ll be
excitement.” Kanarek is quick to point
under. They learn to react while they’re
out that the Board has done as much for
being monitored. What they practice here
her as she has for it; in her last semester
will have an effect on their patients well
as a student, her son David was diagnosed
into the future.”
with acute lymphocytic leukemia, a
disease that would ultimately take his life
is something she thinks is lacking, and an
at age 15. “For me, being on the Board
area she would like to see emphasized
represents a lot of healing,” she admits.
more. Perhaps it’s not surprising that her
“I had no expectations when I joined.
17-year-old daughter, Sarah, who went
But the leadership and the brainstorming
through her own grief process at the loss
that goes on is so exciting that I look
of her only sibling, is considering a major
forward to each meeting. I’ve been able to
in psychology when in college.
do the things I’ve wanted to do to honor
“End-of-life care and counseling for
David’s memory. It’s been a very healing
grieving families is something Robin is
experience.”
clearly passionate about,” says Dr. Novotny.
The trauma of David’s death in 1999
“She has been such a strong supporter of
was so great that the family welcomed the
the School, and brings to the Board not
chance to move to London for a few years
only her background as a nurse, but her
when an opportunity arose with Joe
experience as someone who has gone
Kanarek’s job. There, Kanarek volunteered
through a personal tragedy and seen what
with the Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT), an
nurses can do to be effective. Her com-
organization designed specifically to
passion and her intelligence make her a
address the needs of teens with cancer.
unique person with a unique perspective to
Challenges for charities are different in
offer, and her commitment and generosity
the UK, Kanarek explains. “They don’t
will impact nursing education and care
have the same tradition of charity work
beyond our time here.”
and of fundraising that we do in the
U.S.,” she says. “But one thing they do
very well is acknowledge that a teen with
cancer has very different needs than an
adult with cancer. I realized, through my
„
Editor’s Note: In honor of the Kanarek
Family Foundation gift, the Learning
Resource Center will be formally named the
Fairfield University School of Nursing
Robin Kanarek Learning Resource Center at
a special ceremony in June 2008.
experience with David and my volunteering
with the TCT, the importance of listening
to the patient. As professionals, we often
don’t take the time to listen; we need to
learn that there is a true art to listening.
That professional doesn’t have to be a
psychiatrist; a doctor or nurse who can
listen as well as answer medical questions
and talk about death can be just as helpful.”
Incorporating counseling skills into
the education of healthcare professionals
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