West Wimmera Health Service appoints Ritchie Dodds as new chief

Mr Dodds has been acting in the role for the past year, taking over from former chief executive John Smith, who retired in September.

Mr Dodds said he was excited to take on the role.

“I’m humbled but extremely grateful for the opportunity afforded to me by our board,” he said. 

“I’ve learnt a great deal having acted in the role now for 12 months and I’m also very fortunate to have been able to work with such a passionate, dedicated and supportive group of people.”

Mr Dodds was born at the Nhill Hospital and grew up on farms between Netherby and Lorquon.

“After school I completed a commerce degree at the University of Melbourne and then trained as a chartered accountant,” he said.

“After a stint of backpacking around the world an accounting role came up at West Wimmera Health Service.

“I thought I’ll give it six months or so to put something back into my hometown and play some footy for the Nhill Tigers.  

“That six months has turned into 18 years, during which I’ve also worked as the service’s operations manager and most recently as the executive director of finance.”

Mr Dodds said his decision to work at Nhill Hospital also changed his family life.

“Most importantly, my role led to me meeting and marrying my wonderful wife Tarrah, a speech pathologist who was on a not-so-temporary placement at the health service,” he said. The couple have three children.

Mr Dodds said he wanted to make the health service a place where all employees was enabled to be their best.

“We’ve made great strides in recent times, particularly in terms of safety and mutual respect within the workplace, but we still have a way to go in this area,” he said.

Mr Dodds said he wanted to improve the health of the region. “The general health of the communities is not great,” he said.

“We have much higher than average levels of chronic conditions such as diabetes, obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiac disease and pain.  

“At the same time we have lower five year cancer survival rates combined with lower levels of bowel and cervical cancer screenings.

“Mental health is also a serious issue that we can do more to address.  

“As a service we’re going to continue to sharpen our focus on population health so that we in the ‘bush’ can expect to live as long and as healthily as our city cousins.”

Mr Dodds said there was also an ongoing challenge of attracting and retaining healthcare professionals.

“We’ll continue to look for ways to reduce shortages,” he said.