The head of Southern Health-Santé Sud has announced she is stepping down. Kathy McPhail said Friday she will retire at the end of April 2017.

The health journey began 45 years ago for McPhail, who says she literally moved from the bedside to the board room. McPhail trained as a nurse and worked in that role for the first part of her career. She eventually transitioned into administrative roles in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Over the years, McPhail went back to school in order to gain more education and enhance her knowledge of the health care system.

In May 2012, McPhail was named Chief Executive Officer of the newly formed Southern Health Region. The amalgamated regional health authorities of South Eastman Health and Central Health Region would eventually come to be known as Southern Health-Santé Sud, which is what it is called today. McPhail says at the time of her retirement, she will have served a combined 10 years as CEO of a health region.

"It has truly been a wonderful, wonderful rewarding career for me," says McPhail. "The role of CEO has truly been rewarding, very challenging at times but very exciting and I have really appreciated all of those opportunities."

McPhail says it is not because of a particular challenge that she is stepping down. Rather, it is a personal decision and time for the next chapter in her life.

McPhail says her style is to lead by being with people. Rather than leading from behind, she chooses to lead beside. And McPhail says one of her greatest accomplishments has been working with communities, such as the people in Steinbach, in getting construction started on a primary care centre. Further to that, she says some of her most rewarding times have been working with stakeholder groups and local health involvement groups.

"That has been one of the most rewarding times," reflects McPhail. "Sitting down with community leaders and talking about the issues and how do we together try and clear the path and make way for what we see as the next vision or where we hope to go."

As for challenges, she says they still have a long way to go in the health system in utilizing information to make evidence-based decisions. McPhail says there is also the challenge of ensuring health services are available throughout the region. But she says initiatives like their mobile clinic have certainly helped.

McPhail says she will certainly miss her job.

"I love my job," she says. "I'm certainly not leaving because there's a big job to do. I love my job and I know there's lots of changes coming in the health system and I've got six months to enjoy those and work with those."

McPhail says she hopes May will bring with it some great weather so that she can hop on her motorcycle and ease into her new lifestyle. With her extra time, she also plans to spend more time with her grandkids.

It is now up to the Southern Health-Santé Sud board, together with Manitoba Health to name a replacement for McPhail.