Here’s a story that says everything about Robertson: The father of a very sick child had reached his breaking point. He refused to allow doctors to proceed with surgery. So great was his pain, other hospital staff members were afraid to enter the child’s room.
But Robertson took the chance. She walked her friendly face in and brokered a truce with the frightened and angry dad. She supported the physician while he made the case for surgery. She dressed the dad in scrubs and took him on a tour of the operating room, so he could see where his child would be. Then, with the surgery under way, she called the father every 30 minutes to report on progress. So successful was the outcome that the man came back with treats for the staff, plus two words that meant the world: “Thank you.”
What makes Robertson so good at her job? Keen intuition and powers of observation, deep empathy— “and I plan ahead,” she says. “I’m always preparing for the what-ifs, so everyone in the OR can work as an interdisciplinary team. I couldn’t be successful in my job, or happy in it, without the support of the team.”
It can be tough operating on kids in a facility that’s really designed for adults. UCSF’s new children’s hospital at Mission Bay, built for children from the ground up, will change all that.
The joy of working harmoniously toward a shared goal—caring for ailing children and supporting their families—is similar to the satisfaction Robertson experiences when she sings. In fact, she’s a vocalist of some renown. “I don’t want to sound corny, but the link between my music and my career is really that my passion for both is rooted in the same inspiration. I don’t sing R&B. I sing gospel,” she says. “And my faith makes me passionate about caring for people, period.”
That caring isn’t focused solely on patients. It extends to entire families, and to staff members too. “A lot of our kids are chronically ill. They come back again and again,” she says. “The staff gets close to them, and it can be hard to see them return. So I try to support the team emotionally, as well as by providing the resources they need to do their jobs.”
Colleagues say her clear, pragmatic personality, able to handle challenges with quiet calm, makes Robertson the anchor of pediatric surgery. But it’s her singing spirit, able to soothe and inspire, that makes her a true champion.
