Jennifer Graves
Jennifer Graves has walked through doors, taken chances, and became a role model for nursing leadership.
During the pandemic she was on the leadership team at Kaiser Permanente as the vice president for quality and safety and regional chief nursing executive. She had made a strong partnership with King County.
So, when King County Supervisor Dow Constantine said the county was running out of space for Covid patients, she helped create a 140-bed field hospital on a soccer field in Shoreline. She asked the union to send out a note for support, and she worked every night alongside 127 nurses and medical assistants who volunteered to work for regular pay.
Rather than let 1,600 vaccines spoil because a freezer door was left open, she called Swedish and UW Medicine to arrange for a highly successful pop-up vaccine clinic that night.
As a leader, Graves wants the best for her team. By employing servant leadership principles, she encourages nurses to feel safe speaking up and to share differences of opinions. And she has always supported nurses in their right to organize and take collective action.
Prior to her role at Kaiser, Graves was the senior vice president for patient safety and quality at the Washington State Hospital Association where she was instrumental in creating a formal partnership for nearly 200 hospitals across Alaska, Oregon, and Washington to reduce harm and improve patient outcomes.
As the chief executive at Swedish Ballard, Graves attained the ANCC Pathway to Excellence Designation with her team in 2015, making it the first hospital in Washington state to achieve this prestigious recognition. The award recognizes a healthcare organization’s commitment to creating a positive practice environment that empowers and engages staff.
Graves worked as a board-certified nurse practitioner for two decades. She has taught in nursing programs at both Seattle Pacific University and Northwest University, and she has conducted clinical research in pulmonary and critical care medicine.
At WSNA, Graves always steps up. She has served as vice president of the WSNA Board of Directors and president of the Washington State Nursing Foundation Board of Trustees as well as on numerous committees and task forces.