Nina Cornell Plata, MSML, BSN, RN, a dynamic and experienced nursing leader, joined Skagit Regional Health on March 8, 2021 as Regional Vice President Chief Nursing Officer.

Plata’s hiring is a significant step in the organization’s transition to system-wide nursing leadership for inpatient care at Skagit Valley Hospital and Cascade Valley Hospital.

Plata brings leadership strengths including inpatient experience, quality, community wellness and partnerships and continuum of care improvement. She has extensive experience in rural and metropolitan healthcare systems. She also has experience with Just Culture and the process to become a High Reliability Organization, which lines up with current efforts at Skagit Regional Health.

“I am truly excited to join Skagit Regional Health and be part of the journey to become a High Reliability Organization,” Plata said. “The organization I came from has been on this journey for the past six to seven years. I believe that embedding a ‘Just Culture’ into an organization with strong leadership support will open the door to greater value of care for the communities we serve.”

Plata also noted that transformation and improvement involves the entire healthcare team.

“Transforming care starts with understanding the plan of where we want to go - our ‘True North’ - and designing a process to get there with a chosen measurement so we know how we are doing with this change,” Plata said. “A valuable step in this process is understanding the ‘why’ in all we do. Each of us plays a role in engagement, safety and efficiency. The two things I learned from this journey are: Keep it simple and it takes an aligned team to accomplish big dreams.”

Most recently, Plata served as Vice President, Population Health for the Adventist Health Central Valley Network in Hanford, California where she administered the MediCal at-risk plan with 17,000 attributed lives in King’s County. Her three years in that position were preceded by five years as Vice President Chief Nursing Officer (Patient Care Services and Operations) with Adventist Health Selma in Fresno County, California.

Plata earned her BSN at California State University in Los Angeles and her Master of Science in Management and Leadership from Pepperdine University in Malibu.