SUNA Spotlight: Ann Robinson

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Ann Robinson, RN, has pretty much been a Beaumont lifer, except for her short time teaching in Honduras.

Seriously.

Ann, the director of urology at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak (Mich.), has worked for Beaumont in various capacities since 1972 and for the most part, urology has been her primary focus.

“I was working in the O.R. and our team assignments were by surgical specialty,” says Ann in remembering how she got her start.  “In the 'old' days, RNs were not needed in the cysto suites, but in the early 1980s it was decided that RNs would join the urology team and rotate to the cysto suites. I then decided to join the urology team since it was a new challenge for me. Soon after that, Dr. (Ananias) Diokno came to Beaumont as the new Chief of Urology and I couldn't have been happier to be a part of the urology team. After working at Beaumont in a few other positions, not straying too far from urology, I am now back in urology full-time.”

Ann has been in her current position since January 2005.

From April 2003 until January 2005, Ann taught English as a second language in Honduras and also taught English, science, math, social studies, reading and biology to kids ranging from third grade to eleventh grade. She checks on the school and her students when she goes back to Honduras.

“I visit Honduras fairly often,” notes Ann. “My first trip there was in 1972 as a senior student nurse. I went with a team of healthcare workers on a medical brigade. I returned to work with medical brigades in later years and eventually decided to quit working at Beaumont and go to Honduras to live. My Spanish wasn't quite perfect enough to work in the local hospital, but I got a great job teaching in a bilingual school in Santa Rosa de Copan.  After two years, though, I was drawn back to the States and got a job at Beaumont in of all places – urology!”

Coming back to the urology realm also meant Ann needed to get back in the swing of things. Enter SUNA.

“I joined SUNA to stay up to date with urology since I had not worked directly in urology for a few years,” Ann says. “I enjoy attending the physician lectures that give a great overview of specific topics and the annual Great Lakes SUNA conference is a terrific option for CME and hearing the latest on urology topics.”

Away from work, Ann definitely keeps busy and has her animals to thank for that.

“I currently don't have any pets since it doesn't seem I have enough time to care for one,” says Ann tongue-in-cheek. “But my list of dogs includes Augie, Sasha and Rasta.  My two cats were Inspector Clouseau and Clarissa. Recently, I bought a stuffed dog. He stands by the door wall silently guarding the condo.”

Ann also spends time playing the violin, singing in her church choir, traveling to visit family, friends or just sightseeing. She is also going to experience a “first this October” when she will be going on her first cruise.

The destination? The Mediterranean.