Sanitasole, Marco Island, Florida
Boston native Paula Camposano-Robinson brings a wealth of both clinical and managerial healthcare experience to her role as Vice President of Clinical Services at Sanitasole, Marco Island’s Premier Place for Senior Health. With her husband, Richard, she is co-founder and owner of the Adult Day Health Services Company. Loosely translated from the Italian, Sanitasole means “Healthy Living Under the Sun,” most befitting for an Island environment!
Paula is a registered nurse with over 30 years in the healthcare industry. The depth of such professional exposure enabled her to gain an astute grasp of the ever-changing complexities of the present healthcare system while cultivating an empathic eye to Senior Care in particular. She has witnessed their increasing impact on the population of Southwest Florida and the challenges that have accompanied them.
Following her graduation in 1977 from Lasell College, Newton MA with a degree in Nursing, Paula moved to Marco Island and began her nursing career at Naples Community Hospital (NCH). The hospital was then in its infancy and determined to keep pace with the unprecedented growth occurring throughout the state. The demand for healthcare services of every type –especially for Seniors- was escalating. Such an environment provided the perfect challenge for Paula as she seized every opportunity to gain mastery of the vast array of healthcare services offered in Collier County.
Over the next decade Paula served clinical rotations in critical care, long-term care, ambulatory care -as well as working in home health. Throughout her clinical experiences she maintained a passion for “hands-on” patient care and with it, the dream of owning her own healthcare company began to grow. Although leadership roles in nursing administration became her public trademark, she never stopped nurturing her own entrepreneurial spirit.
When NCH inaugurated its first community affiliate, the Marco Island Urgent Care Center in 1985, Paula was appointed Head Nurse/Manager of the 24/7 ambulatory care center. She steadily advanced to become Executive Director, maintaining ongoing interface with the Board of Trustees, auxiliaries, anextensive network of referral sources and the community at large. After serving on the capital campaign committee to actualize an expansion to bring additional medical services to the Island, Paula spent two years as a Development Officer with the NCH Healthcare Foundation. After 28 years of service with NCH, she made the critical decision in 2004 to resign and pursue her dream.
Paula has continued to strengthen her clinical expertise while keeping a trained eye on the healthcare continuum for seniors. “I see seniors at risk within the present system- but it doesn’t have to be this way,” she asserts. “They can become vulnerable so quickly. They break a hip, have a stroke, suffer a heart attack – or become forgetful. Such events are often clear signals of an overall decline in their physical and emotional health. And so often those needing assistance are alone.”
Camposano-Robinson credits these insights to her belief in a model of Preventive Care that focuses directly on Seniors; a model also endorsed by her husband and partner, Richard Robinson. It has inspired their collaborative vision and compelled them to visit facilities on the cutting edge of such advocacy throughout the nation. “It’s a proactive model that anticipates client needs in a comprehensive manner,” Paula explains. “We designed Sanitasole to create a sense of warmth, wellness and empowerment for all our clients. There’s nothing like it in Southwest Florida -or the state. We aspire to having Sanitasole become a flagship facility.”
Paula Camposano-Robinson, RN, Vice President of Clinical Services
