MultiCare INW anniversary: Once a young volunteer, Deaconess nurse manager reflects on 15 years of growth
When Jacob Pirtle walked into MultiCare Deaconess Hospital 15 years ago as a high school volunteer, he had no idea he’d someday be helping lead the same hospital’s emergency department. Pirtle says he’s proud to look back and see the ways both he and MultiCare Health System have grown over the years.
“Seeing the hospital grow, and the community opinion of us grow and change, has been so exciting,” says Pirtle, BSN, RN. “I’m proud to be part of this and to say I work for MultiCare.”
Now a nurse manager at the MultiCare Deaconess North Emergency Center, our off-campus emergency department (OCED), Pirtle originally joined the Deaconess volunteer program as a high school senior to dip his toes into health care. He had plans to become a firefighter, he says, but decided to check out nursing as well. The team at Deaconess convinced him this was the place to stay.
After graduating, Pirtle tried various roles at both Deaconess and MultiCare Valley hospitals, including in housekeeping and the warehouse, and then as an ED tech. Eventually he attended nursing school at Spokane Community College and moved to the Deaconess medical/surgical unit as a nurse, then the back to the Valley ED before taking on the task of helping lead the then-new OCED.
“When I first started (at the OCED), it was small,” he says. “The staff and level of acuity keep coming up. I’m glad to have been part of that growth.”
Over the past few years, the OCED has doubled the number of patients seen, now averaging between 80 and 100 patients daily. Pirtle says the ability to do that with such excellence and compassion is thanks to their amazing team and the strong support of his leaders in the Inland Northwest region.
During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, he says the OCED staff were working around the clock to keep up with the needs of the community. For Pirtle, he had two groups of people to look out for: the patients and his employees.
“The burnout is a big deal,” he says. “I was working the floor a lot during that time — going 100 to 130 hours every few weeks for months.
In those moments of debating whether it was all worth it, Pirtle says he would remind himself why he has chosen to show up every day for 15 years.
“There’s a feeling you get when you know you’ve helped someone. … What’s the point in putting in that work if it isn’t going to help someone else?” he says. “It’s not always medical either. There are other ways to help.”
Since MultiCare came to the Inland Northwest, Pirtle says it’s exciting to see the way the organization has found other ways to care for patients and the staff.
“There used to be low morale,” he says. “[Since MultiCare], I feel like we’ve really bought into the community. It’s cool to see MultiCare sponsoring events, games and other community partners.”
Pirtle adds that the way MultiCare supports its own has also seen tremendous growth over the past five years. He took advantage of the employee tuition reimbursement and student loan repayment support programs.
From high school to now — through excellent mentorship from his local leaders and the support and commitment of the staff he’s surrounded by every day — Pirtle says he looks forward to the future and how MultiCare’s Inland Northwest services and community presence will continue to grow in the coming years.
“I was born at Deaconess, I’ve worked there, and I’ll probably die there,” he says. “I’m proud of that.”
