Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing

Havlik, Helen (nee Rosati):

I graduated with a Certificate in Nursing Education from U of T in 1956. I worked at St. Michaels Hospital in Toronto that summer as a staff nurse. Then I went back to Hotel Dieu in Windsor because I was obligated to work there for two years since it had sponsored me for my year at university. I did clinical nurse teaching there until 1958.

I met my future husband, Frank Havlik, at a dance in Windsor and we were married on Sept. 27, 1959. My son was born in 1964 and my daughter in 1965. From 1960-62, I was a nursing instructor at Sarnia General Hospital in the School of Nursing. My clinical teaching was in obstetrics.

Next, I worked at a nursing home from 1967 to 1970. I set up protocols and procedures and also a medication-delivery system comparable to a hospital system. The on-call day and night with two small children started to wear me down, and when an ad appeared in the paper for RNs at the Charlotte Eleanor Englehart Hospital in Petrolia (a small, 63-bed hospital), I applied and was hired. I worked as the head nurse on the second floor, where there were medical, surgical and obstetrical.

In January 1973, I became an in-service educator. My husband died in March of that year. I continued to work as in-service co-ordinator until October 1975 when I became director of nursing, and I stayed in that position until I retired in March 1992. I have since volunteered with a seniors’ group (on their health committee and board), and sat on the hospital auxiliary and board.

I am a town councillor, and have been since November 2006. I am on the board of the Rapids Family Health Team and on the Sarnia Lambton Health coalition, as well as the Ontario Health Coalition. I am now fighting for the emergency department for our Petrolia small and rural hospital. I live alone but since June 2008 my 80-year-old sister has moved in with me. I was born Jan. 21, 1931 so I have just turned 78 years of age.

Syms, Jeanne Halet (nee Edwards):

When I graduated from U of T’s S of N in 1961, I had no expectation of having a nursing career. Luckily, the man I eventually married expected me to work, both before and after our children arrived. I say “luckily” because although I began to teach nursing just to supplement the family income, I soon realized I had found my niche. I loved it almost from the beginning and for most of the next 30 years.

My prior jobs in public health nursing, and as a hospital staff nurse and a head nurse, gave me a lot more credibility in my students’ eyes. I became a lifelong student myself. I completed many workshops to upgrade my nursing knowledge. I completed a master of education degree and started a doctorate before I was offered early retirement.

During my first teaching position, I was the only faculty member who had earned an RN diploma and a BScN degree at the same time. I was rather gratified when one of my colleagues told me one day after a faculty curriculum meeting: “I love to hear you speak at these meetings – you think about the Issues differently than the rest of us. You want to know the ‘why’ not just ‘how’ and you really understand what basing ‘practice on principles’ means.” I worked in nursing education during its transition from a hospital-based training program to its emergence as a full profession when a degree became the qualification for entry to practice. It never failed to amaze me when I would tell a lay person that I taught nursing, to see the look of respect for me light up their eyes.

Since retirement in 1998, I have devoted myself to my “right brain” loves: art, dance, theatre, travel and more. Presently, I am teaching line dancing to retirees in southern Texas. My husband says: “Once a teacher, always a teacher!”

Munro, Margaret:

I graduated with my post-RN BScN in 1963. The next three years were spent as a clinical instructor at the University of Saskatchewan College of Nursing in Saskatoon. This was a great experience in a large referral centre teaching in surgical and rehabilitation nursing. Then I spent a year at the University of Minnesota to complete an MEd with a major in nursing.

In 1967, I returned to U of T and began a 13-year stint of teaching in the generic BScN and post-RN programs and in the MN program. One of the highlights was being involved in an accelerated BScN for students who had completed or almost completed a baccalaureate degree in science or in arts who wanted to enter nursing. In 1976, I began full-time doctoral studies at the University of Michigan, completing a PhD in education in 1978.

In 1980 I left Toronto to begin a 10-year appointment in the Faculty of Nursing at University of Calgary, serving as the associate dean. While there I was involved in developing an articulated BScN program with Mount Royal College, Foothills Hospital School of Nursing and the U of C Faculty of Nursing.

In 1990 I accepted the invitation to go to UPEI to develop a baccalaureate program in nursing and then accepted the invitation to be the first dean in 1992, as the first cohort of students was admitted. I remained in that position until retiring in 1997, by which time the school had successfully gone through its first accreditation with CASN and the second cohort of students had graduated. We developed a new model of nursing based on primary health care. The entire nursing curriculum is designed around the core values of that model. I now have the privilege of teaching a class to senior students on the PEI model in a course on theories and models of nursing.

It has been a great career and I'm very thankful for the educational base and teaching opportunities provided by U of T.

Dollinger ,Marilyn:

After graduation, I started working in the emergency department at Toronto General Hospital. The next year I married Richard Dollinger (7T3 St. Mikes) and moved to Boston. I worked in the respiratory ICU at Mass General for about three years and then relocated to Albany, NY. I worked at Albany Medical Center in the open heart surgery unit and then became the ICU instructor. At the same time, I started my MS in medicine/surgery and education and had my first baby.

Next we moved to Rochester, NY where I finished up my MS, had two more children and worked at Strong Memorial Hospital in the SICU, burn unit and ED. In the late 80’s I did some adjunct faculty teaching in local BS programs and then took a tenure- track position at St. John Fisher College. I completed a post-master’s FNP in 1995 while teaching and then completed my DNS from the University of Buffalo in 2007. I am a tenured associate professor and teach in the BS, MS and DNP programs.

In 2006, the nursing program received a $8M gift from the Wegmans family in Rochester to build a new nursing school. I was instrumental in obtaining the gift, the planning and design of the new school. I am now the associate dean and chair of the undergraduate nursing program.

My research interests are in health policy and political advocacy. I currently am the co-principal investigator on a $375,000 Robert Wood Johnson PIN grant on nurses as leaders in long-term care and have recently been appointed the Finger Lakes Health 2020 Commission for regional health planning. I am president of the Genesee Valley Nurses Association (Dist. 2 of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) and am a past chair of the NYSNA Council on Legislation. I hope to make it to Spring Reunion. It would be great to reconnect with some of my nursing classmates! mdollinger@sjfc.edu.

Patel, Sima:

Since graduating in 2001, I have been fortunate enough to practice nursing in many educational and rewarding settings. My first position was as a paediatric nurse at the Hospital for Sick Children after which I decided to work in the Sexually Transmitted Diseases unit at Toronto Public Health. I functioned in an expanded role in one of the Sexual Health Clinics run by Toronto Public Health.

During this time, I also took on a casual position as a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner within the Women’s College Sexual Assault Care Centre at Women’s College Hospital. My role was to see male and female victims of sexual assault and domestic violence who came through the emergency department of the hospital. My work involved treating clients, collecting forensic evidence, counseling and assisting with follow-up care.

Three years ago, while at Public Health, I decided to take a leave of absence and do a nine-month volunteer mission with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)/Doctors without Borders. As part of a team of doctors, nurses and logisticians working on an HIV/AIDS project in rural Zambia, I was in charge of coordinating activities around prevention of mother to child transmission. After this mission and over the past few years, I have become as concerned about the health of the planet as I am about the health of people.

This concern has brought me to where I am today, which is a full-time master’s student in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University. I am particularly interested in food security and how creating a more sustainable food system can have multiple benefits including people’s social and emotional health, as well as a light footprint on the planet. s4patel@yahoo.com.