Following former chief executive Robyn Lindsay’s departure at the end of April, Ms Rudge has traded her executive director of finance and corporate services position to oversee the top job.
Growing up in Swan Hill, Ms Rudge studied accounting at the University of Adelaide, working at the South Australian Auditor-General’s Department and South Australia Water before relocating to Echuca-Moama in 2009, where she joined Gannawarra Shire Council.
In her previous role at ERH, which she took on in 2016, Ms Rudge managed all non-clinical services, covering a broad range of areas in her 200-person team.
“I looked after the non-clinical services of the health service,” she said.
“That’s from the laundry to ICT to coding to the finances to engineering, facilities management.
“I covered lots of things in that role.”
When the interim chief executive position opened up, Ms Rudge felt it was an opportunity for her to contribute more to the growing health service.
“I’ve been here for nine years and over that time — I love and take great pride in wearing the ERH uniform, I really love ERH — I’ve developed a really deep connection to the health service that supports the community, but also my own family,” she said.
“I saw that this was an opportunity for me to actually put my hand up to really contribute to the growth (and) to the direction that we're heading because I'm very committed to that.
“(I’m) very committed to our values here, and saw it as a chance to step up and have a go.”
Ms Rudge was appointed on April 28, and has enjoyed her few weeks in the position thus far.
Aside from board meetings and operational adjustments to the new role, a highlight was presenting to one of the local Probus clubs.
“Day one, I got the opportunity to present to Probus, that was fantastic,” Ms Rudge said.
“They’re beautiful people.”
Looking ahead, Ms Rudge is happy to be in her role leading in to the end of the financial year and planning period at ERH.
“This is a really exciting time of the year,” she said.
“This is all the stuff I love, but this is the time where we actually do develop the budget and work on our operating priorities for the coming year with the departments.
“There’s lots of key initiatives that we’ve got to deliver and finish off for this financial year, and then we’ve got to prepare for what we’ve got to deliver in the new financial year.”
ERH continues to expand with its community, looking to ensure strong coverage of services to the growing population in Echuca-Moama and surrounds.
Maintaining this growth is a key priority for the health service.
“We've been in a rapid growth period,” Ms Rudge said.
“All services, and particularly clinical services, have just grown enormously.
“Our focus really is on our community services now — our acute services are continually growing — but we really want to focus on our community services.”
Other areas of priority at ERH are service awareness and fundraising, rotating its goals biennially, with the current focus on mental health and wellbeing.
Being the biggest employer, ERH also plays an important role in Echuca-Moama.
“We all need to work together to provide a great community,” Ms Rudge said.
“There’s always a connection to ERH, and I think that’s great.
“I think the biggest thing is the fact that people are happy to work here, but also come here for their healthcare.
“(It) shows how good we are at providing the services we do.”
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