She comes into the role with a wealth of experience in community wellbeing and health promotion.
Born and raised in the area, Ms Fitzgerald has a deep and diverse understanding of the community’s needs and history.
Ms Fitzgerald grew up in Katamatite on a dairy farm and her mother is a nurse at Numurkah hospital.
As a teenager, she worked at the supermarket in Cobram and had planned to become a teacher after graduating from St Mary’s Primary School.
But life had other ideas. A gap year working at a childcare centre inspired her to take up a career with children and very quickly her talent for management was spotted.
Before long she took on the child services co-ordinator role for Greater Shepparton City Council.
After 10 years in that role and with two children of her own, she made the jump to Moira Shire Council.
As the community and youth services team leader, she was instrumental in establishing the council’s Wellbeing for All Ages Strategy.
This gave her a chance to work on a broad sweep of community health issues, from early years through to youth and seniors, as well as other priorities such as disabilities, family violence programs and libraries.
Ms Fitzgerald said one of her favourite projects was working with the Cobram community during the consultation process which led to the building of the beautiful Cobram library.
Now she will have a chance to bring her passion for public health and public health promotion down to the service delivery coalface.
The community services team supports a big range of services from chronic disease management and rehabilitation to delivering health education and wellness programs, with the demand for services constantly growing.
There is a strong emphasis from the government on finding ways to prevent chronic disease from developing so that people enjoy better health as well as reducing the strain that chronic disease places on health budgets.
Ms Fitzgerald said it was an exciting time to be a part of Cobram District Health, with the new co-operation with Numurkah and Nathalia health services opening up a world of new possibilities.
‘‘For example, it’s so important that we take an integrated approach to childhood health. It’s not just about healthy eating, it’s things like do children feel safe to walk home from school, are they engaging in sporting activities, and how can we reduce the barriers to accessing these things for everyone,’’ Ms Fitzgerald said.
‘‘Cobram District Health is part of a whole-of-community approach. After seven years of working across the whole shire, I am really looking forward to focusing on my local community.’’
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