President’s Message

Happy New Year to all of you, it’s hard to believe a new year is already upon us.

Tim Hunter and his conference staff are hard at work on the upcoming Annual Training Conference (ATC) in Monterey in May. It will be hard to top the Midway experience, but they are working towards a fun event for all to enjoy.
Any of you who have contact with an interesting speaker or those of you who have had a hostage situation that would be of interest to others, please contact Tim or me.
Our goal each year is to provide our members with an up to date, interesting and educational conference.
We have changed the process for membership dues this year. What used to be done on a calendar year is now being done on a fiscal year (July -June).  Please be patient as we work on this new format.
When you register for the conference, the fee will include your membership for the fiscal 2008/2009 year. If you do not attend the conference your $35.00 membership fee is due by July 1, 2008. Please be patient as this transition takes place.
We will be working hard to make this process go smoothly but there may be errors. We will work quickly to resolve any and all problems.

Great news! CAHN is now an official POST presenter. What does this mean? As the ATC is certified you will be receiving post training points. This requires that attendance at the conference matches what we submit to POST. Signing in will be required each day.
On this note you will need to contact your training managers and obtain your POST student number. POST no longer requests a social security number; they have assigned specific student numbers. Please do this or you will not receive training points.
As we show POST that our attendance during sessions matches the attendance we report, my hope is to move into a POST plan that will allow for some reimbursement. Again, please be patient with this process it will take time for this to occur and it will depend upon your participation in this process to make it happen.

Lastly I would like to thank the State and Regional Boards for their work over the past year; they have been a valuable asset to me and to the membership as well. I am looking forward to planning a celebration for the 20th year of our association.

We continue to collaborate and train with our fellow associations throughout the nation. I am proud to represent the California Association.
That being said this is your association, please feel free to contact any board member with your questions, concerns or suggestions.

Thanks, have a good winter, stay safe and we will see you in May in Monterey.

Matt Thomas