Meet Your New Neighbors

Nina Thai moved into her Tehachapi home in early July. About six months earlier, she had officially joined the staff of Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley where she became part of the surgical staff. She had been unable to find a permanent place to live here until July. Nina came from Ridgecrest where she worked at Ridgecrest Regional Hospital. When she found the opportunity to join the hospital staff in Tehachapi, she applied and fortunately had already made the move by the time the two earthquakes devastated the Ridgecrest area on July 4 and 5.

Nina is serving AHTV as a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) and said that there are two of them on duty every day to be available for surgery patients. But Nina Thai is far more than that; she has also earned a PhD. She holds a Doctor of Nursing in Anesthesia Practice (DNAP).

Nina came to the United States from Vietnam in 1993 with her grandmother, her mother and her sister and ended up in the middle of the country. She graduated from the University of Michigan, School of Nursing in Ann Arbor, Mich. She came west and received her Master of Nursing degree from Midwestern University in Glendale, Ariz. Her doctorate was received from the same university. She also holds a certificate in Chronic Pain Management.

Both Nina and her sister are working moms. Nina has a 6-year-old daughter named Kiana and her sister has a boy. Nina said that they come from three generations of divorces. Their mother takes turns watching the children and Nina said that right now, she has first dibs.

One of Nina's visions for Tehachapi is a new physician's service of anesthesia service providers available to all area hospitals and clinics. The providers would be employed by the group and could be sent to any facility in the area. But for now, that is just a dream.

Welcome to Tehachapi, Nina, and while I hope my family doesn't need your services, I am very glad that you will be there if we do.

Cindy and Tom Reeder moved to Tehachapi on the 4th of July from California City where they owned a home. Originally from the Central Valley, they discovered Tehachapi in 1992 and always loved it. It was an ad in The Loop Newspaper that gave them the idea to move to Tehachapi and rent their California City home to their daughter.

Cindy was raised in the Bay Area and had lived in Oakland and with her grandmother in Alameda for six years. She recalled her grandma telling her she had been in that area during the 1909 San Francisco earthquake. Cindy has raised four children, two boys and two girls and now has eight grandchildren. She loves to spend time gardening and making crafts, particularly making jewelry.

Tom was born in Altoona, Penn. His family moved to Hemet, Calif. in 1970 where his mother's parents lived. He became a truck driver, a job he had for 42 years doing both long haul and short haul runs. He met Cindy when he placed an ad in the "Personals" in his local paper and she answered it. They have been together ever since. He loves trains, which was one of his attractions to Tehachapi, and he goes to all the model train shows.

They both love animals and are adoptive parents to a fox terrier, a Jack Russell/terrier mix and an unknown Chow mix who Tom calls a "garbage dump dog" and originally belonged to his son. In addition, there is a cat and two birds (a cockatoo and a beautiful gold Sun Conyer). The Conyer has even learned to talk a little bit.

We are sure that Cindy and Tom have made the right choice by moving to Tehachapi and will enjoy living here.

If you have moved to Tehachapi within the last six months, Hilltop Welcoming Service has a bag of information about the Greater Tehachapi area, its activities, events, government and facilities. There are always a few coupons and gifts, as well. It is a great way to learn about your new community. Being part of this column is strictly optional. If you would like a visit from the Welcome Hostess contact our office at (661) 822-8188.