Deepak Devasthali, the new Chief Operating Officer of Burien’s St. Anne Hospital, has a lot to be thankful for.
Devasthali grew up in India, and at the age of 15 moved to the U.S.
“I knew I wanted to go into health care because I had family members who were in the industry and I got to see firsthand the positive impact it could make in other people’s lives,” he told The B-Town Blog. “I started my career serving in the Navy Medical Service Corps. I served as a Naval officer for 13 years, moving roughly every three years. My first duty station was actually at Whidbey Island as primary care manager.”
After leaving the Navy, Devasthali accepted a role with Kaiser Permanente in operations right before the COVID-19 pandemic. His transition to St. Anne Hospital in October of 2022 was part of a natural progression for him.
“I’ve always wanted to support a community hospital,” Devasthali said. “I was so honored to join the amazing team we have here at St. Anne Hospital and I’m grateful each day I have the opportunity to collaborate with them to best serve our community.”
Below is a Q&A we recently conducted with Devasthali:
How are things going in your new job?
“We have a great team here at St. Anne Hospital, and I am loving every minute of this role. Since I’ve come on board, we have focused on a five pillar approach. Essentially, we focus on five areas of care, for example acute care services, to ensure we’re consistently providing exceptional care to our community.
“As part of this work, we identified a need for telemetry everywhere. To advance this initiative, we recently launched the first of three additional telemetry-enabled floors – Cedar 5 – that will expand our acute care capacity. It is critical, lifesaving, technology that serves patients nonstop while in the hospital, monitoring their cardiac status and alerting care teams to changes in a patient’s condition.
“Our five-pillar approach also led us to launch an Enhanced Care RN (ECRN) program which allows us to best support our patients and their families. This newly-launched program is addressing the complex care that our patients require, and is focused on adding support to the bedside team by assisting them with admissions and discharges, medication reconciliation, patient education and other necessary tasks. Through the collaborative care model, we will be able to expand our focus on quality, safety and patient experience.
“Overall, it’s been a great first year! While it’s still busy, our teams are coming together quite nicely and we’re all adapting to our new normal in the endemic phase of COVID-19.”
Tell us about your team?
“Every team member at St. Anne plays a crucial part in our hospital. It is our unified commitment of providing exceptional care to all that makes everyone an all star.
“This is reflected in the successful launches of recent programs such as our telemetry expansion and ECRN program. It’s also reflected in the positive feedback I hear from patients. Many of us live in and near Burien and we all care for the community as they’re our neighbors, family and friends.”
How are you liking living in the Northwest?
“The Northwest is my favorite part of the country. After being stationed here in Whidbey in 2006, I knew this is where I wanted to settle down. Now that I’m here, I couldn’t be happier! I have three kids and we enjoy being able to explore the outdoors in the Northwest. On the weekends we go hiking, whether it’s Tiger Mountain, Mt. Rainier or just a trail near our home. We absolutely love it! There’s no other place I’d rather be.”
Are you planning on making any changes at St. Anne?
“At St. Anne Hospital, we are always seeking to identify opportunities for improvement and growth. As part of this, we are planning to continually align our services and further expand our high-quality care to serve community members.
“One of the projects we are excited to launch in the next year is a urology clinic offering services in Burien. We plan to have one urologist begin initially, and the second one coming on board within the following year. This new clinic will essentially enhance the services that we provide for our communities, so that patients can receive this care closer to home.
“We also recently upgraded our Cath lab equipment to enable us to provide outpatient diagnostic cardiovascular services.”
Is COVID-19 coming back?
“St. Anne Hospital is experiencing cases on par with the rest of the state, which is currently fairly low. In the greater Seattle area, roughly 71 daily average cases have been reported over the past 28 days and about 7 daily cases on average have been hospitalized.”
Any other news about what’s going on at St. Anne?
“I’m extremely proud of the great team we have at St. Anne Hospital. They are 100% committed to the community, constantly working to provide the highest quality of care to our patients. They are the reason I am so excited to go to work every day and look forward to all we continue to accomplish together.”
