Swedish Edmonds CEO spent years as boots-on-the-ground nurse

EDMONDS — A familiar face will continue to steer Swedish Edmonds.

Jennifer Graves, the hospital’s interim chief executive since January, moved into the permanent CEO position on June 1. She succeeds David Jaffe, who led the campus from 2011 to 2014.

To take on the new role, Graves stepped down as chief executive and nurse executive of Swedish Ballard, a joint post that she balanced with her interim appointment at Swedish Edmonds.

“I have a lot of energy,” said Graves, 50, about working at both hospitals at the same time. “I’m not even a glass half-full person, I’m a glass-overflowing person.”

Graves has nearly three decades of nursing experience on her resume.

She credits this career course to her days as a candy-striper, volunteering in a hospital in Tacoma when she was a teenager.

“I fell in love with the hospital setting,” she said. “I was pretty confident that I wanted to go into nursing from a young age.”

She earned a B.S.N. from the University of Portland in 1987 and took a job as a nurse at the University of Washington Medical Center.

From 1990 to 1995, she worked as a staff nurse at Ballard Community Hospital, which eventually became Swedish Ballard. That’s where she learned to appreciate the idea of the community hospital.

“You could really get to know your team, and you could trust your team,” she said. “When I had the chance to come back in a nurse executive role, it was one of those things where life kind of comes full circle.”

Swedish Edmonds also has a history as a community hospital. Formerly known as Stevens Hospital, it joined the five-campus system of Swedish Health Services in 2010. Swedish Edmonds has 1,400 staffers, 450 of which are physicians and specialists.

June Altaras, the chief executive of Swedish Seattle, spent four weeks at Swedish Edmonds last fall. She nominated Graves for the interim position when it opened up.

“I had a good sense of the type of leader we needed to take Edmonds to the next level,” Altaras said. “We knew it was really important to place an executive there who has a passion and a desire to become very involved in the community. Jennifer was absolutely proven in that ability in her role as Ballard’s chief executive.”

Like Graves, Altaras has a background in nursing. They’re not alone: Every Swedish campus is led by a chief executive with clinical experience.

“I think that’s unique that our whole system values that,” Graves said. “Having been a boots-on-the-ground nurse for a lot of years gives me an understanding of what the staff are going through.”

Sarah Zabel, vice president of operations at Swedish Edmonds, can see how the hands-on experience benefits Graves.

“She has a deep knowledge of hospital operations — a nice balance of experience working in a community hospital setting but also within a much larger system,” Zabel said.

Graves arrived at Swedish Edmonds in the midst of its biggest expansion in 50 years.

The most recent project, a $63.5 million building set to open in November, will house an emergency department and a diagnostic imaging center.

The building’s original floorpan included space for urgent care, but Graves encouraged the team to rethink that decision. They eventually moved the unit to the Kruger Building near the bustle of Highway 99.

Graves will also help answer the question of what to do with the new building’s 37,000-square-foot second floor.

“She’ll be the key figure in that,” Zabel said.

Besides working in the field, Graves has taught nursing at Seattle Pacific University and Northwest University.

“I’ve been in nursing 28 years, and there has not been one day that I’ve regretted making the choice to go into healthcare,” she said. “I guess you could say it’s a calling. I feel compelled to serve our community.”

She won’t be the only new addition to the hospital.

Her 14-year-old son told her he wants to volunteer at Swedish Edmonds this summer. She made him fill out an application.

“I said, ‘You don’t get any special favors, you have to fill out the volunteer packet,’” she said. “He filled out his application and went and got references. Maybe he’ll get the bug, too.”