A love for people is what has driven Ms Reeves for almost 14 years in her role as Ballarat Community Health chief executive officer. Helping people, her staff and clients, is what Ms Reeves will miss most as she prepares to leave BCH later this year – not retirement, she makes clear, but an extended break to decide her next move and find what doors might open.

“This job is all about people,” Ms Reeves said.

“Community health has always been based on prevention, if you assist people to keep healthy and maintain health it can have more positive outcomes on a community. There is far more research and evidence now in how to do this more effectively, and a lot more sharing of information.”

Ms Reeves took charge of BCH in January 2005 in what she said was a vastly different world to the one she operates in now.

Starting with 40 staff across Sebastopol, Wendouree and Sturt Street sites, BCH under Ms Reeves has transformed into 220 staff and contractors working across six sites. This includes the award-winning Lucas hub, opened in June 2014 for the western growth zone. Lucas set the tone for modern, open upgrades in the Sebastopol site and, later this year, in Wendouree.

“When I first came here, the organisation was in a difficult position financially, the fleet was rundown, old buildings needed some love and staff needed different support,” Ms Reeves said.

“But I look around now at the fantastic growth and amazing staff who are enthusiastic and dedicated in their work – that always leads to good outcomes.”

Ms Reeves said there was still a long way to go in improving community health, particularly in widespread issues of gambling, overweight and obesity, alcohol and drugs and mental health.

“What we do really is a continuum from prevention to treatment and obviously hospitalisation is at the pointy end of the scale. The more we can do to influence policies can help shape the way people in our community are living,” Ms Reeves said.

“We have lots of policy levers we can pull. We do a lot of advocacy on what’s causing problems in our community.”

Ms Reeves hoped to the BCH would retain a passion for preventative health measures and, importantly, staff engagement in working across the Ballarat community and linking up with other community services.

The biggest lesson Ms Reeves hoped to pass on was to not have a fear of failure, because failing sometimes can be good and set you in good stead for a future challenge.

“I encourage all people thinking about their work to take on a challenge to keep learning and stretching,” Ms Reeves said.

“What you’ve got to say is just as important as the next person.”

Ms Reeves will finish at BCH in November. BCH will advertise the CEO role from this weekend.

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