REDHS chief executive Karen Laing celebrates International Women's Day

In her second chief executive role, Ms Laing has had a long and successful career in nursing so far.

“I always knew I wanted to be a nurse from a young age,” she said.

“My dad was very sick and died when I was young, so I saw him go in and out of hospital a lot.

“In 1983 I started my training and ended up working at the Royal Melbourne Hospital for 10 years.”

Ms Laing moved around in her career, spending time at Bendigo Health, St John of God in Bendigo and Kyneton before going to REDHS in 2019.

And in that time, Ms Laing worked below a long list of male chief executives and supervisors.

“I never had a problem with any of them, thankfully,” she said.

“But back in those days it was usually a male chief executive and a female matron or director of nursing.”

After working as the head of the critical care ward in Bendigo for a number of years, Ms Laing found herself moving up in her career.

“I moved to Kyneton and was offered the chief executive position and took it,” she said.

“It wasn't my role to go into a position like this, the doors sort of just opened and I moved into this job.”

As she moved further away from the city, she noticed more women in these positions of power.

“If you look at health services in the Loddon Mallee, you will find maybe 50 per cent of them have female chief executives,” she said.

“It's a lot more common in the country and I think that's fantastic.”

But although she was moving swiftly up the career ladder, it didn't mean Ms Laing didn't face challenges of her own.

“There were a lot of personal challenges I faced,” she said.

“A lot of the time, I would question whether I was capable of doing this job and I think I share that thought with a lot of women.

“Whereas you find men having this trouble but they manage to get through it a lot of the time.”

Ms Laing said moving to REDHS had been a great career move.

“I work with a lot of talented and hard-working people in Rochester,” she said.

“Our board of directors is made up of about 50 per cent women and men and I think that's fantastic.

“I think the men in our ranks really respect and know what we as women bring to the table and we work together to keep the hospital on its feet.”

Ms Laing said if she could give any young woman advice, she would tell them to never give up.

“Don't doubt yourself,” she said.

“If you believe you can do your job and do it well, never stop trying to improve and do the best you can.”