United Nations, Vienna, Austria - March 2026
A Life Built Around Service
I’ve never been very good at sitting on the sidelines when something needs to be done.
For nearly 15 years, I worked with children and families facing some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable, eventually leading treatment teams and training staff in communication, de-escalation, and crisis intervention. That work taught me early that leadership is not about a title. It is about listening, solving problems, and being willing to take responsibility when people are counting on you.
That lesson became deeply personal when my son Silas was diagnosed with Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, a catastrophic form of epilepsy, and doctors told us he likely had only a few very difficult years to live.
Finding a treatment that helped him turned our family’s fight into something much larger. I became involved in protecting the rights of seriously ill patients and families who were often left with few options, including children in our own community who depended on medicines that were controversial, poorly understood, or difficult to access.
But protecting patients never meant ignoring the concerns of the broader community. During the debate over cannabis policy in Nevada County, I worked to protect legitimate medical patients while also supporting reasonable safeguards for neighbors, our environment, and the community from people who would exploit medical laws for commercial gain.
Through Caladrius, we helped more than 200 families with education, advocacy, access to medicine, and more than $1 million in donated medicine provided at no cost. That work eventually took me to Sacramento, where I worked with lawmakers and advocates on patient protections and compassionate-access legislation, and most recently to Vienna, Austria, in March 2026, where I participated in advocacy connected to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
Those experiences shaped the way I approach public service today. I learned how to take on complicated systems, bring people with different concerns together, and keep working until there is a practical path forward. That is the same approach I bring to Penn Valley Fire and to the challenges facing our district today.
Penn Valley Fire Auxiliary & Thrift Shop volunteers - 2026
Service Close to Home
My connection to Penn Valley Fire is personal.
For years, our family has depended on this department during some of the most frightening moments of our lives. When my son Silas was in medical crisis, Penn Valley Fire responded to our 911 calls. More than once, I believe their rapid response helped save his life.
That experience stayed with me. I knew firsthand what it meant to have trained professionals arrive quickly, calmly, and ready to act when every second mattered. I also knew the department faced real challenges and that community support mattered.
That was one of the reasons I began volunteering with the Penn Valley Fire Auxiliary and Thrift Shop. I wanted to give something back to the people who had been there for my family, while helping support the equipment and resources our firefighters and medical responders need to serve everyone in this community.
From Volunteer to Board Member
Volunteering gave me another perspective on the department. I saw not only the emergency response that residents experience, but also the work, financial pressures, planning, and community support required behind the scenes to keep those services available.
That experience eventually led me to accept the call when the opportunity arrose to serve on the Penn Valley Fire Protection District Board. Today, I bring both perspectives with me: that of a resident whose family has needed the department in moments of crisis, and that of a board member responsible for helping oversee the district entrusted with protecting this community. Nevada County lists me as an appointed incumbent in the November 2026 Penn Valley Fire Protection District election.
Penn Valley Fire Protection District - 2026
The Same Approach
The work I did for seriously ill children and their families taught me how to take on problems that can seem too complicated, too entrenched, or too difficult to change.
It meant learning systems from the inside, listening to people with very different concerns, building relationships with lawmakers and community leaders, and staying with the work long enough to turn advocacy into real policy change.
That experience is a large part of why I wanted to serve on the Penn Valley Fire Protection District Board. Our district faces serious challenges of its own, from funding and staffing to long-term planning and the way special districts are supported within California’s broader system.
I bring the same approach to those challenges that I brought to patient advocacy: understand the problem fully, bring the right people together, keep pushing when the easy answers are not enough, and stay focused on practical results for the people we serve.