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Meetings & Events

All chapter meetings are held at Hodel's Country Dining Restaurant at 5917 Knudsen Dr. (99 and Olive Dr.) in Bakersfield. Click the map below to use Google Maps to customize driving directions to the meeting.

April 2008 Chapter Meeting

April 2, 2008 - 7:00am

Guest Speaker: Claudia Jonah

Claudia Jonah is Interim Health Officer for the Kern County Department of Public Health. Over her 20 years of employment with the department, she has also served as a Deputy Health Officer and the Assistant Health Officer. Dr. Jonah has had experience in multiple disease outbreaks in Kern County including the measles epidemic of 1990, multidrug resistant tuberculosis cluster of 2002 and West Nile Virus (WNV) in Kern 2004 -2007. She regularly delivers informational presentations ranging from preventive health education, teen health choices and consequences to senior health awareness.

Raised in Los Angeles, California, Jonah has resided in Bakersfield for 21 years. She has two adult daughters one a chef and the other serving in the military. Her hobbies include skiing and sewing.

March 2008 Chapter Meeting

March 5, 2008 - 7:00am

Guest Speaker: Joe Bariffi, CSP

Lead Health & Safety Advisor; Aera Energy, LLC

Classifying injuries can be an integrity test. Pressures associated with organizational safety performance and/or recognition/bonus programs has the potential to impact the record keeping function.

Are the record keeping guidelines clear? What categories are involved? Are the guidelines for OSHA record keeping the same as worker's compensation?

Bring your complicated injury classification cases to benchmark how others might classify them.

February 2008 Chapter Meeting

February 6, 2008 - 7:00am

Guest Speaker: Anthony J. Ciancimino

Tony Ciancimino joined the National Safety Council as Regional Manager of Safety and Health solutions in January of 2007. His current involvements are the solicitation of new members, servicing the needs of existing members and program development for the California Chapter. He also represents the Chapter with local institutions and governments. He brought with him an extensive background in sales and marketing as well as membership based association experience.

For six years prior to joining the NSC Tony worked for the Westchester/LAX-Marina del Rey Chamber of Commerce (now called the LAX Coastal Area Chamber of Commerce,) as Executive Director. Tony has run his own marketing company, Creative Horizons Marketing. Previous endeavors include the sales, marketing and merchandising of textiles and man-made fibers to the apparel and home furnishing trades. He has worked for industry leaders such as Hoechst Celanese, Burlington Industries and the Crompton Company. Tony earned his BA from Gettysburg College. He and his wife and daughter live in Southern California where Tony has called home for the past 37 years.


Tony helps draw the winning numbers for the raffle.

December 2007 Chapter Meeting

December 5, 2007 - 7:00am

Identity Theft, Local Scams, How to Prevent a Visit from the Secret Service, and Protecting Your ID When Using Your Credit Card

Guest Speaker: Sandi Morris

Sandi Morris is a Community Relations Specialist with the Bakersfield Police Department and is currently assigned to the Crime Prevention Unit and marketing for the Police Activities League. A native of Bakersfield, she has been with the City for 18 years.  As a Certified Advanced Crime Prevention Specialist, her assignment now consists of educating the public on such topics as Personal Safety, Senior Safety and Elder Abuse, Violence in the Workplace, Identity Theft and fraud, Neighborhood and Business Watch, and Crime Prevention through Environmental Design.

October 2007 Chapter Meeting

October 3, 2007 - 7:00am

Corporate Wellness Programs – Simple Solutions to a Complex Issue

As part of the presentation, you will be asked to identify one step you can take to improve your own health.

Guest Speakers: Ron Jones and Chris Vochoska

Ron Jones has a MS in Kinesiology with a sub discipline in Sport Psychology from CSU, Northridge, a BA in Physical Education and English, is a certified Health/Fitness Instructor with the American College of Sports Medicine, and has an ACSM CEQ in Older Adults & Exercise.  He holds a professional clear California teaching credential and is credentialed in Physical Education, Health Science, and English. Ron has been a community college adjunct health/fitness instructor, coached cross country and track student-athletes from first grade through community college, and is a certified USA Cycling Coach.  Ron has served as an ultra-endurance cycling fitness/training consultant nationally and internationally and presented at state and national conventions on bicycle safety, bicycle/health advocacy issues, and corporate wellness.  Ron Jones is also a Licensed Corporate Wellcoach with Wellcoaches.Com.

Chris Vochoska, CSP, is a EHS Training Advisor for Aera Energy LLC in Bakersfield California. He has a BS in Industrial Technology and an MBA in Finance from the University of Houston.  He has been in the Safety, Health and Environmental field for 16 years. He is a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) and is recognized by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals.

This month is also "Bring a Guest Month", all guests eat free!

September 2007 Chapter Meeting

September 5, 2007 - 7:00am

Guest Speaker: Hans E. Einstein, M.D.
  • 1943 Furman University, SC - BS
  • 1946 New York Medical College, New York, NY - MD

Dr. Einstein has been practicing internal medicine in Bakersfield since the early 50's. He has been a professor at the University of Southern California and is presently the Medical Director, Division of Respiratory Care at San Joaquin Valley College. He has published numerous papers on fungus disease. He is a leading authority on Valley Fever who has devoted his life to find a vaccine for this very serious illness.

August 2007 Chapter Meeting

August 1, 2007 - 7:00am

Guest Speaker: Guy Shaw
  • Registered Environmental Health Specialist
  • Chief Environmental Health Specialist at California State University, Northridge
  • Bachelor of Science - Health Science -Option in Environmental Health

Employed by the Kern County Environmental Health Services Department for 28 years responsible for the Management of the Food and Consumer.

  • Protection Division which includes the Food, Land, Water and Housing Programs
  • Adjunct Faculty Bakersfield Community College Family and Consumer Education Department
  • Serve Safe Food Manager Certification Instructor
  • California Environmental Health Association Central Chapter President.

Guy's topic will be Food Safety - What it means to you in Kern County. The presentation will include the new grading system, food safety checklist for work and home, some interesting real life stories.