Staff Spotlight: Interview with Chris Behrens by Susan Hamlin, RCMS Board Member

Since October 31, 2023, Chris Behrens has been our Safety/Risk and Disaster Preparedness Lead, a job that is perfect for his background and temperament. Chris and his wife lived in Vacaville for over 20 years and while his wife, Molly taught school, Chris had a successful landscaping business where he certainly learned about preparedness and keeping the environment safe. He brings that 20 years of knowledge and experience to us and has done a fantastic yeoman’s job of planning and maintaining RCMS’s safety and disaster preparedness. This is very much a job that, though it is what he was hired for, he has fleshed out and expanded in important ways. When the rains came, he saw that people were slipping on the steps and so he and Kos Moelter put in channel drains to protect the steps.
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When he saw that the windows were dirty in the waiting room, he went ahead and cleaned them and, when there is an emergency (like the tsunami warning), even if he’s not on duty, he’s comes in and  guides us through it. Chis is also responsible for safety and preparedness in Point Arena and regularly does the Hazard Assessment with Yvonne Fuentes.
 
Chris came to Gualala when he and Molly began to think about where they would want to retire, even though he knew he wasn’t quite ready for that particular step. Chris is from Southern California, and knew he wanted to be on the coast. Our Northern Coast was his first stop. That led him first to Irish Beach, but then when Renee Kaucnik and RCMS convinced him that our clinic was his next landing, he and Molly bought a home in Gualala and haven’t looked back.
 
In his free time, because Chris is committed to staying healthy, one of the things he enjoys is Mud Runs. That means a run through the mud for about 5-10 kilometers. Yes, he actually does that and if there isn’t a formal mud run available, he loves to go to the muddy trails and run in the rain.
And of course, he loves to work on his home – and he has all the tools to do that.
 
Chris is a goer and a doer. We’re so lucky to have him here.
 
Susan Hamlin

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