Enhancing a patient’s quality of life, providing patients and families with supportive and spiritual care, and incorporating an interdisciplinary healthcare approach towards pain and symptom management, are all essential criterion to be met in the field of palliative and end-of-life care. In an effort to emphasize the importance of this rapidly growing field, the Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing and Health Studies introduced The Kanarek Center for Palliative Care and Supportive Nursing Education in the fall of 2017. Since its inception, the Kanarek Center has educated hundreds of nursing students and practicing nurses on the importance of providing compassionate, holistic, and high-quality care for patients with life-threatening conditions.

During the 2018-19 academic year, the Kanarek Center hosted a variety of successful events pertaining to palliative care. Last semester, the Egan School’s annual lecture featured Caroline Jones, an award-winning filmmaker and photographer. The lecture included a screening of her latest film, Defining Hope, which was awarded Best Premiere-Documentary Feature at the Heartland Film Festival and aired on PBS stations nationwide in the spring of 2018. The movie highlighted Jones’ research on nurses in the American healthcare industry, specifically focusing on patients receiving end-of-life care in medical settings.

“Defining Hope beautifully highlights outstanding nursing care for individuals and families diagnosed with life-threatening illness. It shows the touching, human, family interactions that are often forgotten during the completion of daily tasks that are required of nurses,” stated associate professor of nursing Diana Mager, DNP, RN-BC. “The film instills the need to see the whole person, to promote quality—if not quantity—of life in a variety of care settings, and to reflect on providing the best possible care for patients, families, and the profession.”

Most recently, under the leadership of Eileen O’Shea, DNP, APRN, PCNS-BC, CHPPN the Kanarek Center collaborated with the CT Coalition To Improve End-of-Care Organization to provide an all-day conference entitled, “Spiritual & Cultural Dimensions of Palliative and End-of-Life Care”. Christina Puchalski, MD, MS, FACP, FAAHPM, from The George Washington University Institute for Spirituality and Health, delivered the keynote address entitled, “Responding to Spiritual Distress: The Art of Presence”. In addition to Puchalski, the conference featured several other plenary speakers and panelists who explored a wide array of subject matters relating to the palliative field and touched upon issues increasingly pressing within today’s medical community. Dr O’Shea commented, “this dynamic conference is one example in which the Kanarek Center aims to enhance citizen and provider’s awareness of the role, value, and availability of palliative care services within the state of CT.”

To learn more about the Kanarek Center for Palliative Care Nursing Education, visit fairfield.edu/kanarek.