Samantha Siders Receives Emerging Leader Award
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Sacramento, CA (MPG) - Samantha Siders recently received the Emerging Leader Award at the National Association of Health Underwriters’ (NAHU) 87th Annual Convention and Exhibition in Orlando, FL.
Samantha was recognized for this award that honors NAHU members with less than five years in the industry who have made significant contributions in connection with association volunteer service at the local, state and national level. Her commitment of time, talent and finances to the advancement of the association and health insurance shows an impressive understanding of health insurance for one so new to the industry.
“The leadership of NAHU members has a far-reaching impact on providing for the healthcare needs of individuals, families and business in their communities. We are grateful for Samantha’s leadership and recognize her for those efforts with this well-deserved award,” said NAHU CEO Janet Trautwein.
Samantha has served on the Sacramento Association of Health Underwriters (SAHU) Board for 4 years, currently leading the Vanguard Council. She is the Regional Sales Manager for Choice Administrators, where she has worked for the past 4 ½ years. Samantha lives in Shingle Springs with her husband, Casey, and 2 ½ year old daughter Kendyl. The Sider family will be welcoming a baby boy in January.
“Samantha Siders exemplifies the dedication that provides the best opportunities for our members through their leadership and dedication,” said Helen Ornellas, president of Sacramento Association of Health Underwriters. “This year, she organized networking events, volunteered with our local charities and hosted seminars to further our members’ educational efforts. These projects and many others have set a standard of excellence in the health insurance industry that we are proud to represent.”
The National Association of Health Underwriters represents 100,000 professional health insurance agents and brokers who provide insurance for millions of Americans. For more information, please call Scott Gilroy at 818.298.9780 or email scott.gilroy@kclife.com.
Honoring 100 Years of Service
Sacramento County Farm Bureau Organization Honored for Service to Local Communities
Sacramento Region, CA (MPG) - The Sacramento County Farm Bureau is celebrating 100-years of service to local communities after receiving special recognition at the 2017 California Agricultural Heritage Club Ceremony held at the California State Fairgrounds in Sacramento. Membership in the Agricultural Heritage Club is a prestigious award, which is only given to farms, ranches, organizations and agribusinesses that have maintained a fiscal responsibility in the state for at least one full century. The California State Fair is the sanctioned body that holds these records and facilitates the recognition process.
"Only a handful of county farm bureaus have been honored with this kind of designation and Sacramento County is now a part of that exclusive club," said Sacramento County Farm Bureau Executive Director Bill Bird. "It's a special recognition of what several generations of farming families have built in Sacramento County. Farm Bureau members do more than just grow the food that all families rely upon, they also work to educate others about the important work that the agricultural community does.
The award was accepted by three lifetime Sacramento County Farm Bureau members, who also operate ranches and farms in the local community. They include Ken Oneto, who grows cherries, walnuts, grapes, tomatoes and wheat on KLM Ranches in Elk Grove, Tim Neuharth, who grows certified organic pears and cherries on Steamboat Acres in the Delta and Jim Vietheer, who raises angus seed stock and cattle on the Have Angus Ranch in Wilton.
The Sacramento County Farm Bureau works to protect and promote agricultural interests throughout Sacramento County and to find solutions to the problems of the farm, the farm home, and the rural community. The membership-driven organization strives to protect and improve the ability of farmers and ranchers engaged in production agriculture to provide a reliable supply of food and fiber through responsible stewardship of California's resources.
Sacramento County is the 25th largest agriculture producing county in California with total agricultural production approaching $500 million. The top five county crops include wine grapes, poultry, grain corn, milk and Bartlett pears.
Sacramento County farmers put food on your fork. Our agricultural operations and products are as diverse as the lands we carefully manage. We are proud to provide healthy, fresh food for your family and ours. We invite you to join our efforts to protect Sacramento County's agriculture, rural character, and our ability to produce local, high-quality food for your table.
Source:SCFB
Hearing In CHP Officer’s Death Set
Sacramento, CA (MPG) - A July 13 preliminary hearing for the man accused of causing the death of CHP Officer Lucas Chellew February 22 in South Sacramento, has been rescheduled in order to give CHP investigators more time to complete their investigation of the accident.
Defense attorney Alice Michele requested an extension for the hearing for her client, Alberto Quiroz, 26 at the time of arrest, who faces one misdemeanor and three felony counts of vehicle theft, possession of a stolen vehicle and resisting arrest.
Motorcycle patrolman Chellew was pursuing Quiroz, also on a motorcycle, on Fruitridge Road, when he was suddenly cut off by a passing car, lost control of his motorcycle and hit a pole. He was taken to UC Davis Medical Center where he later died from his injuries. Quiroz was arrested shortly after the pursuit.
Deputy District Attorney Aaron Miller confirmed that the hearing, which was stalled for several months for settlement conferences before being calendared, was delayed so that CHP officials conducting a detailed investigation into the crash that killed Chellew could have more time to prepare.
“They need more time to put together their report before we can move forward,” Miller said, adding that the original charges have not changed in the case against Quiroz, but declining to say that they could.
The CHP report is expected to play a critical role in the case against Quiroz. Should it reveal willful recklessness on the defendant’s part, charges against him could change to include at least one count of vehicular manslaughter.
Chellew’s widow was present in the courtroom for the hearing. She sat flanked by CHP patrolmen, presumably colleagues of her late husband, as Judge Kevin J. McCormick asked Quiroz, clad in an orange jumpsuit inside a detaining cell, if he agreed to waive his right to have his case heard sooner. He did.
SMUD Crews Concentrate on Repairs
Now Replacing Dozens of Poles, Miles of Cable
Sacramento Region, CA (MPG) - If you’re a SMUD customer, there’s a good chance you’ll see SMUD workers out this summer along area streets and highways working to improve the SMUD electrical system. Reliability is a core value of community-owned SMUD, so a lot of the work is preventative, concentrating on replacing older power poles and installing and replacing miles of underground cable. Safety is ingrained in SMUD’s culture. Doing the work now precludes needing to do it later such as during the winter storm season.
SMUD’s electrical grid serves about a million and a half people. The system is about 40 percent overhead (wires and transformers and other equipment on poles) and about 60 percent underground (buried cable and other equipment, and pad-mounted transformers). SMUD plans to replace approximately a thousand poles over the rest of the calendar year and some 3,000 poles over the next several years.
Most of the electrical grid is redundant, which means most of the customers affected by an outage can be rerouted to other power lines and circuits while the underground cable or damaged pole, transformer, or other electrical equipment is fixed or replaced. Most outages last less than an hour as a result. There are, however, some people who will experience longer outages because there are no redundant power lines in their area, or the damaged equipment affects them directly.
While underground electrical equipment provides for better aesthetics, it can also present significant challenges for all utilities, including SMUD. By its nature, any problem with equipment installed underground is going to be more difficult to initially locate, sometimes taking an hour or two. Repairing it can take several hours depending on the problem and the location. The longer restoration time is a trade-off for having underground service, compared to overhead service.
The underground power cables that were manufactured decades ago tend to have higher failure rates. SMUD is replacing that cable with much better cable that has benefited from more rigorous testing and better manufacturing techniques. They are replacing the older cable at a rate of about 400,000 feet—or more than 75 miles of new cable—which would be roughly the distance from Folsom to Lake Tahoe, per year over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the SMUD smart grid has become more robust every year since smart meters were installed at the beginning of the decade. The smart grid now enables more expedient identification of outages, which results in quicker restoration times. Sometimes power can be restored remotely or even automatically without having to dispatch a troubleshooter and a truck.
No one likes being without power, even for a short period of time. If your power is out, please contact SMUD and report it at the SMUD.org Outage Portal page, or by calling 1-888-456-SMUD. SMUD has optimized its outage map and outage reporting options for mobile phones as well. For more information visit SMUD.org.
Senator Gaines Calls Cap-and-Trade Deal a Massive energy Tax
Sacramento, CA (MPG) Senator Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado) on July 13th, voted against Assembly Bills 398 and 617 during a Senate Committee on Environmental Quality hearing. These bills are the Governor and Legislative Democrats’ attempt to extend California’s cap-and-trade program.
“Cap-and-trade is bait and switch.
“Governor Brown is full of talk about cap-and-trade ‘benefits’ we never verify and jobs we never see. What we do see are electricity rates that are 50-percent higher than the national average and a million California households living in energy poverty and struggling to get by because we push power prices up beyond affordability.
“California just passed a new gas tax that will add twelve cents to the cost of every gallon of gasoline starting this fall. This cap-and-trade extension could add about another seventy-three cents a gallon on top of that. While the rest of the country is paying $2 a gallon for gas, we are going to be paying a dollar and a half a gallon just in taxes and climate fees!
“Governor Brown and his cadre of climate change extremists won’t be happy until California leads the nation in wind, solar and poverty.
“This so-called historic agreement is really just a big fat energy tax. Californians will have to use less but pay more for it. That is a rotten deal for our families and businesses.”
Senator Ted Gaines represents the 1st Senate District, which includes all or parts of Alpine, El Dorado, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Shasta, Sierra and Siskiyou counties.
Local Swimmer Earns Team USA Roster Spot
Sacramento Region, CA (MPG) - Based on the results at the U.S. National Championship, Amalie Fackenthal, 17, from DART Swimming at Sacramento made the Team USA roster for the 2017 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships, which will be hosted by USA this year, at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis on August 23-28.
Amalie was selected based on her 100m freestyle performance at the Phillip 66 U.S. National Championships / World Championship Trials last week where she posted a 55.61 second swim, tying for 3rd place overall amongst all 17 & under female swimmers.
USA will field a team of 24 women and 19 men total at the World Junior Championship. Nearly 800 athletes from 167 countries are expected to compete in this six-day meet, which "will feature an early look at young athletes who will vie for positions on their respective nations’ Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games teams”, according to FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation), the governing body for aquatics worldwide.
Also at U.S. Nationals, Amalie placed 13th overall (all ages) in the 50m Fly event with a time of 27.02. She was 2nd amongst the 17 & Under girls.
Amalie trains with DART Swimming at Sacramento under Brian Nabeta.
Most recently during the spring high school season, Amalie swam for Sacramento Country Day High School Swim Team. The Country Day high school team was also coached by Brian Nabeta, and won State titles in both the 50 yard and 100 yard Freestyle at the CIF State Swimming and Diving Championships, setting a new State meet record in the 50 yard Freestyle.
Amalie is a Senior. She has been swimming under the DART at Sacramento coaches since she was 9.
Source: DART Swimming-Sacramento
HealthQuest: New Approach to Medical Equipment
Fair Oaks, CA (MPG) - Who says shopping for things such as compression socks, knee braces, walkers, canes or crutches has to feel clinical and impersonal?
Vanesa and Kevin Grenyion, the husband and wife owners of HealthQuest in Fair Oaks, have done everything possible to make the experience of shopping for medical equipment and supplies a much kinder, gentler one. In short, they hope to turn the industry on its head by providing a fresh approach to the physical space in which these products are sold, supported by a suite of services that include educational seminars, custom fittings, and an emphasis on “wellness,” as well as recovery.
“Two things were very important to me when I was researching the plans for opening the store,” says Vanessa. “First, I wanted to make sure that we treat every single person who walks through those doors like a human being, not a dollar sign. Second, I wanted the space to feel open, warm and well lit, so that the experience for everyone was pleasant and not so clinical.”
HealthQuest, which will be celebrating its first year in business July 18, offers a vast, top-of-the-line inventory of pain management, diabetes support, bath and safety accessories including walk-in tubs and raised toilet seats, scooters, walkers and rollators, a large selection of lift chairs, orthopedic braces, high-quality closed shoes and sandals for men and women, facial and “beauty” products, even a mothering section that includes breast pumps and pregnancy aids.
Rather than stuffing these items onto metal shelves in a crowded space where volume overshadows service, Vanessa and Kevin, both trained pharmacists who, by the way, met in pharmacy school in Massachusetts, have created something more akin to boutique for medical supplies, with categories of products grouped into their own “departments,” each designated with bright, painted signage, soft wood wall décor and inviting displays that strip the sterile right out of the experience.
“We want the experience of shopping in our store to be calming and supportive,” says Kevin, an air force veteran who still works as a pharmacist at Mather Air Force Base while sharing responsibilities for managing the new business. Vanessa, the face of HealthQuest, says she and Kevin considered opening their own private pharmacy, but competition from chain stores, as well as concerns about being targeted by thieves put that idea to bed. Instead, the couple, both born and raised in Jamaica, decided to parlay their experience in the pharmacological field with a strong interest in serving others through wellness and health services.
With the help of a VA loan, the couple were able to invest roughly $200,000 into their new venture. The first year has had some challenges, but with any small business, marketing has been key. Vanessa has spent the last year nurturing relationships with home-health care providers, assisted living facilities, pharmacies, chiropractors, physical therapists and other ancillary businesses to ramp up visibility for the new store and exposure to service providers who, like Kevin and Vanessa, want a better experience for their clients and patients.
“We have worked hard this last year to build relationships in the community, to let people know we are here and it is starting to come through for us,” Vanessa said. “This last month alone was a really strong indicator of how things are beginning to really start to shift into gear.”
The store also has partnered with at least two elder care organizations, the Older Adult Collaborative (OAC) and the Elder Society Network (ESN) to provide on-site seminars and workshops at facilities across the community to educate both care providers and the patients themselves.
“We think of ourselves as a resource center, as well as a retail store,” says Vanessa. “This is a business that relies on the needs of those in care facilities and the caretakers themselves, but it’s also here for anyone who wants a more personal experience shopping for items for themselves or their loved ones, or those in their care.”
The store offers senior discounts of 10% every Monday, as well as loyalty customer discounts of 5% off all purchases of regularly priced items.
In recognition of its first year in business, the store will be having an open-house from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 18. All are invited.