PeaceHealth St. John welcomes new chief operating officer

Longview, Wash. – PeaceHealth St. John Medical Center has named Elva Sipin as Chief Operating Officer (COO). She begins her new role on April 28.

Elva Sipin, a respiratory therapist who started as a CNA, brings  more than 25 years of healthcare experience that spans various leadership and clinical roles. She joins PeaceHealth St. John after serving as interim COO at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver for the past nine months.

In her new role, Elva will serve as a member of the hospital’s senior executive team and will assume direct oversight of perioperative, cardiovascular and diagnostic imaging services. Additionally, she will support overall campus operations partnering with facilities, lab, pharmacy, security, emergency preparedness and biomed.

Elva Sipin is not new to PeaceHealth. While serving in her interim COO role at PeaceHealth Southwest, she also maintained her system role with PeaceHealth of System Vice President for Clinical Services and Operations that she has held since 2023. Prior to that role, Elva spent four years as Vice President of Operations for PeaceHealth Sacred Heart at Riverbend in Springfield, Oregon.

“We are pleased to welcome Elva to our PeaceHealth team at St. John,” says Kendall Sawa, Chief Hospital Executive. “She is a goal-oriented, servant leader who focuses on the growth and well-being of others. I know she will fit well with our PeaceHealth team as she brings a wealth of experience and a demonstrated commitment to the PeaceHealth Mission of providing compassionate care to everyone we serve.”

Elva holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a master’s degree in management with an emphasis in healthcare from University of Redlands in Redland, California.

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About PeaceHealth: PeaceHealth, based in Vancouver, Wash., is a not-for-profit Catholic health system offering care to communities in Washington, Oregon and Alaska. PeaceHealth has approximately 16,000 caregivers, a group practice with more than 1,200 providers and 9 medical centers serving both urban and rural communities throughout the Northwest. In 1890, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace founded what has become PeaceHealth. The Sisters shared expertise and transferred wisdom from one medical center to another, always finding the best way to serve the unmet need for healthcare in their communities. Today, PeaceHealth is the legacy of the founding Sisters and continues with a spirit of respect, stewardship, collaboration and social justice in fulfilling its Mission. Visit us online at peacehealth.org.