Submitted by Providence Swedish
At Providence Centralia Hospital, caring for patients often means caring for neighbors, friends and family. For Jessica Valentine, nurse manager of the Surgical Unit, that connection to community is more than professional — it’s personal.
Jessica graduated from Napavine High School, attended Centralia College, and began her nursing career at Centralia Hospital in 2018. Over the years, she has served as a bedside nurse, house supervisor, assistant nurse manager, and now nurse manager of the Surgical Unit — a journey shaped within the community she calls home. She and her husband, a lifelong local and police chief of Winlock, are raising their two children surrounded by extended family.
“We live in the same community as our patients,” Jessica says. “We go to the same restaurants and know many of the same people. It makes everything we do more personal.”
Finding a Calling in Care
Jessica didn’t set out to be a nurse. She considered pharmacy and took courses in chemistry before training as a certified nursing assistant. It was there — caring for patients on their most vulnerable days — that she found her calling. She discovered she enjoyed connecting with people, supporting them, and helping ease their challenges, even when the work was tough.
“That connection with people — that’s what stayed with me,” she says.
Teamwork Patients Can Feel
Jessica describes the Surgical Unit team as collaborative, compassionate, and deeply committed. On a typical day, the team manages a steady flow of surgical patients — postop recoveries, admissions and discharges. Those transitions can be demanding, but teamwork makes the difference. “There are days when we’re getting patients back-to-back and everyone just bands together and helps each other,” she says.
Local Care You Can Trust
Because so many caregivers live in Lewis County, Jessica says the team cares for patients the way they’d want their own loved ones treated. “This is where we come for our care. If it’s not acceptable for us, it’s not acceptable for someone else,” she explains.
That commitment shows up in practical ways — like focusing on early mobility. Helping patients get out of bed, sit in a chair for meals, and walk in the hallway can mean the difference between going home or requiring a nursing facility after surgery. “Mobilizing patients is one of the best things we can do to help patients return home to their families and improve their quality of life when they are home,” Jessica says.
Always Improving for Patients
The Surgical Unit has recently implemented bedside report — a practice in which nurses hand off care at the patient’s bedside rather than at the nurses’ station. This change, championed by the staff themselves, helps catch safety issues and ensures patients feel informed and included in their care. Jessica says it’s one of the many ways the team is adopting best practices to enhance patient safety and experience.
What Jessica Hopes You Feel When You Walk in
Jessica wants every patient and their family who enters the Surgical Unit to feel welcomed, confident and supported. “I hope they see a clean, organized unit, kind and courteous staff, feel informed and comfortable asking questions,” she says. “Most of all, I hope their family feels confident we’re doing everything we can to care for their loved one.”
The Heart of a Community Hospital
For Jessica, the strength of Centralia Hospital lies in its people — caregivers who are not only skilled, but deeply invested in the community they serve. “Many of our patients are literally our neighbors or our friends’ families,” she says. “That connection creates a level of compassion and collaboration that really sets us apart as a community hospital.”
Providence Centralia Hospital is a 128-bed, not-for-profit community-based hospital. The services the hospital provides make it the heart of medical care in Lewis County. As a community hospital with outstanding technology, Providence Centralia Hospital is large enough to provide state-of-the-art services such as MRI, 64-slice CT scans and digital mammography. The hospital is also small enough to offer personal, compassionate care to everyone it serves.
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