Valerie Jones MD

consists of egg whites, ground turkey, Greek yogurt, brown rice,
oats, vegetables, protein bars and nut butter,” she described. “My
friends think I’m completely crazy and they even gag sometimes
when they watch me eat my bodybuilding meals. I’ve had trainers
over the years who have had fun working out with me, but right now
I’m just working out solo. If there’s anyone out there who would like
to work out with me after reading this, I’d love to meet them!”
Jones works out at Gold’s Gym on 57th Street in Spokane.
“They are open at 4 am and the people there are very friendly and
energetic,” she stated. “It’s motivating to walk into a place at 4:30 in
the morning and hear music pumping and see so many people in
there ‘crushing it’ so early.”
A typical workday for Dr. Jones is quite full and long, but
rewarding as well. As the Medical Director of Admissions for
St. Luke’s, she is the primary medical reviewer for the 102-bed
hospital, and she carries a caseload of 50-80 patients a day. “I
am a morning person, so I’m up at 4 or 4:30 a.m. I usually start by
checking my email to see if there’s anything time-sensitive that I
need to respond to. Then I head off to the gym. I get to work at 7:30
or so, and spend the rest of my day reviewing patient referrals at
three different hospitals (Sacred Heart, Holy Family and Deaconess)
with five case managers,” she illuminated. “I also handle all of our
out-of-town patient reviews. I write full consult notes and insurance
appeals on about 10-15 patients per day and attend length-ofstay
meetings and discharge planning groups all over Spokane.
Needless to say, my days are very full and I’m running full tilt from
dawn till dusk. But I am passionate about getting patients the
rehabilitation help they need, and I consider my job like a big Easter
egg hunt ... I am genuinely excited about every patient I find who
needs rehab!”
Dr. Jones spent her formative years in Manhattan. She grew up
watching movies like Conan the Barbarian and admits to being
“drawn in like a kid to a super hero cartoon book. I wanted to
be like Grace Jones (with the same last name, we could have
been related, right?). Back
then I didn’t know how to
build muscle successfully.
I remember trying to do
Jane Fonda workouts and
wondering why I wasn’t seeing
results. I ended up joining
the ski team instead,” she
confessed.
Jones was working as a
locum tenens physician and St.
Luke’s was one of her clients. “I
have had licenses in 14 states
and was traveling constantly
for six years. My husband
was hoping I’d settle down a
bit, so he suggested I choose
the best facility with the most
growth potential. That was St. Luke’s,” she professed. “We have an
incredible team of very talented nurses, doctors, and therapists who
can ‘make the lame walk and the blind see.’ The amazing beforeand-after
stories of people with orthopedic and neurologic injuries,
medical debility, and heart and lung problems are extraordinary. We
add life to years and we get people home!”
Valerie enjoys mentoring bright young minds, and volunteered at
Boys and Girls Clubs of America from 2008 to 2015. “I was asked
to MC the ‘Youth of the Year’ awards in Washington, D.C. I got to
know some amazing kids who had survived incredible adversity to
get where they were. I was so proud of them, I wanted to be a part
of their life stories,” she proclaimed. “I became the nutrition coach
for the annual Fit Family Challenge,” she continued. “I traveled to
Los Angeles to be a judge and MC for the event with Mario Lopez. It
was fun to see these talented kids learn to choose healthy lifestyles
IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW CONTINUED ON PAGE 6
The Message | May 2016 | 5