Category: Q&A

Co-owner of X Golf Bedford

Tom MacKenzie is co-owner of X Golf Bedford (5 Colby Court, Unit 110, Bedford), the area’s largest and most technologically advanced indoor golf simulator with a full restaurant and bar and the option to take lessons from a PGA professional. Find X Golf at @xgolfbedford on Instagram or visit playxgolf.com/locations/bedford

Explain your job and what it entails.

I am one of the owners — myself and Zane [Villandry] are the owners of X Golf Bedford. It’s a new high-tech indoor golf experience….

How long have you had this job?

The process started in November of last year, but we’ve only been officially open for about 2 1/2 months.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

I think just love of the sport led me to this career field. Kind of hungry to go out and test the market and provide a service for what seems like a thriving golf community in the Bedford, southern New Hampshire area.

What kind of education or training did you need?

Myself, anyway — Zane has the small business experience — myself, just some, a little here and there projects that I like to work on for fun on the side. Started a couple of small businesses just with friends and family and I wanted to take that to the next level. But other than that, my background is completely unrelated to business ownership. I worked in the sales industry for a pharmaceutical company.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

I would say golf professional. So polo and slacks. In the summer, polo and shorts. Just like your standard golf course attire.

What is the most challenging thing about your work, and how do you deal with it?

I would say the most difficult thing is just managing people. Bringing people with different backgrounds, experiences and attitudes and work habits together to work in sync and to cooperate together and being able to facilitate all that has been probably the biggest challenge…

What do you wish you had known at the beginning of your career?

That there are massive opportunities out there in the market and you just need to apply yourself and go take what you want rather than falling into a typical 9-to-5 role…

What was your first job?

My first job was making pizza. Pizza tosser. Main Street Pizza in Henniker.

What is the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?

I think the importance of networking. A lot of times people say, ‘Everything in business is who you know.’ I would say the most important advice I’ve gotten is that … but also, who likes you. It’s about making good impressions and creating positive networking in business and in life. —Zachary Lewis

Five favorites
Favorite book: The first thing that pops up on my Audible is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Be Useful
Favorite movie: Point Break
Favorite music: classic rock
Favorite food: breakfast, omelets
Favorite thing about NH: The Live Free or Die mentality. No sales tax.

Featured photo: Tom MacKenzie. Courtesy photo.

The Department of Health and Human Services releases its 2024-2025 Roadmap

Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Weaver talks about the new DHHS Roadmap 2024-2025, which outlines the plan the DHHS developed with input from many stakeholders (people involved with or affected by the Roadmap) to help improve the state of health for all Granite Staters. Visit dhhs.nh.gov (get to the Roadmap via News & Events).

Explain ‘Mission Zero’ and how the Roadmap will address Emergency Department boarding?

Mission Zero is the Department’s commitment to eliminating boarding in an Emergency Department. … It used to be, years ago, that we would have 40 or 50 people sitting in any given day waiting to find a bed for psychiatric care. … the beginning of this year in January of ’24, we were at about 4 1/2 days sitting in an emergency department waiting for a bed … now we’re down to 2 1/2 days [in May]. … That basically means that you’ll have people come in that will need that level of care and rather than waiting weeks and months they’re actually getting care within an average of 2 1/2 days at this point.

What are school-based services for children enrolled in Medicaid and how will they be strengthened through the Roadmap?

We have a lot of school counselors who provide services to youth that may be having some issues. That could be mental health counseling, that could be substance-use disorder counseling, could be any sort of peer-related issue. The schools need a mechanism to be able to, for those students that have Medicaid, to be able to bill Medicaid for that service….The Department was able to secure a grant to be able to build an administrative infrastructure. … This process will automate and streamline those processes for schools to be able to bill Medicaid and then get reimbursed to be able to provide that service so the schools aren’t losing any money …. The commitment here is really about investing in the infrastructure so that it’s self-sustaining and lasts for a while.

Would you mind expanding on the Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies initiative and why that’s important in the Roadmap?

We know that our maternal health definitely stands out as a need in the state of New Hampshire. What we do is we put a lot of money into prevention and being able to get moms into prenatal care as soon as they’re eligible in their first trimester and then caring throughout … and then obviously post-delivery care. We know that if we put our money and time into prevention, then we’re seeing less on the other end of having to continuously treat. It’s putting the money in and the time in to be able to have that healthy mom and healthy baby and then sustaining as a community member not necessarily having to go in for needs after that. Maternal mortality rates for the state of New Hampshire are pretty high, as they are nationwide, so we’re looking to reduce those maternal mortality rates as well.

Why is it that the maternal mortality rate is so high across the country and in New Hampshire?

I think when we’re looking at equity of care that oftentimes we will see a lot of our diverse populations don’t have the same access to maternal care that some other parts of our population do. It’s really making sure that no matter who you are in the state of New Hampshire that you have access to that care. I think in New Hampshire we’re a small enough state that we can set that as a goal and I think make a dent in it.

Could you expand on the ‘building a system of care for healthy aging’ initiative?

… Basically, taking a lot of the parts of our services that serve seniors and working to update, upgrade, automate and making sure that seniors have access to services. It goes back to a lot of the same things about community-based services about trying to keep folks within communities rather than having to be in institutional care, so that means having a robust system that can get seniors’ needs met before having to go into a nursing facility, say, that they could actually get their care at home or in a community-based setting. We have things like our service link centers, which I think in our report is called the ‘aging and disability resource centers.’ Those are some of the first stops that our folks in the long-term care system will go to to get help. It’s making sure that wherever you are in the state you could go to one of these centers and clearly understand what … resources were available to you or your family members.

In what ways will customer service be improved?

When you think about the Department from customer service, we have a couple of different customers. … Oftentimes you have to fill out a form to see if you’re eligible for a service. We’re committed to making sure that there’s efficiency and expediency in those processes … The Department is so large, you could come in, Zach, and you might think you need one service from here but all of a sudden you find out you need a couple of other services from the Department. …You shouldn’t have to go knock on 10 doors to figure out how are you going to be able to get these services. You should knock on one door and then be able to have a care plan developed for you. So there’s that side of it. Our customers are also our providers, so we get a lot of federal money and [with] the money that we have we do contracts with providers, then those providers will go out and provide a service. Let’s just say, like a residential care home for the developmentally disabled, we would give money to a provider to stand up that service. That provider is also our customer, so we want to make it easier for them to do business with us, right. We want to be a better business partner. … We also want to be able to have a financial payment model that works for providers so that they’re able to be paid in a timely and sustainable way.

Is there an aspect of the Roadmap you’d like to expand on that you haven’t been asked about or something particular in the Roadmap you think is exciting to talk about?

The one thing you didn’t ask me about, really, was the commitment one, which is People and Culture. That’s our focus internally. … If we’re taking care of our staff and our workforce, it’s going to show up in the work … we’re going to have better customer service skills from our staff if we’re able to create an environment in the Department where people want to be, can grow and learn …. The Roadmap, really, is about the Department being able to say to all of those stakeholders that I just mentioned, who we are and what we do. —Zachary Lewis

Featured image: Lori Weaver. Courtesy photo.

A conversation with Manchester’s fire chief

Ryan Cashin is Chief of the Manchester Fire Department and he spoke about the importance of fire safety. Visit manchesternh.gov/departments/fire for more information on the Fire Department and be sure to check with your local town ordinances and fire departments on specifics for fire pits, fireworks and all things fire-related. (Interview edited to include follow-up questions via email.)

What is the No. 1 thing you can do to keep your home safe from fires?

The No. 1 thing you can do to keep your home safe from fires is to have active, working smoke detectors and to have a fire evacuation plan.

What are the main causes of house or apartment fires?

I don’t think there is one single answer of what would cause those the most. There’s various causes to a house catching on fire and I don’t think any one of them would necessarily be more than the others. I would say one thing that we always want to be cautious of being as careful and thoughtful as possible when discarding smoking materials.

With fire pits, do you need a permit?

You can obtain a fire permit if you have a residential home in the city of Manchester…. It needs to be a contained fire pit, it needs to be a certain distance away from your house. Basically, if you come into the fire department we will go out there and do an inspection and if your single-family house passes the inspection we will give you a fire permit and then you can use that fire permit to have small fires in your backyard. Of course, single-family residence only.

Are fireworks allowed in Manchester?

Fireworks are not allowed within the city of Manchester period. We do regular patrols for fireworks throughout the summer as we get a lot of complaints about them.

Aside from just the noise annoyance, what is the danger of fireworks in Manchester?

Fireworks are a physical danger to people as they can be very dangerous and accidents happen quite often.

Besides fires, what other types of emergencies would a fire department respond to?

Last year we responded to 34,000 separate calls and those would vary from EMS calls to river rescue calls, swift water calls, to hazardous materials to fire alarms to anything that would involve welfare checks, whether that be on someone in a home or possibly a homeless residence. A wide array of calls that we go on.

What are the requirements to become a firefighter?

In order to become a firefighter in the City of Manchester you need to have a couple of certifications. One is your Firefighter I as well as your Firefighter II, which are both state certifications, and [you need to be]a nationally registered EMT…. We give preference here in the City of Manchester to residents that live in the city as well as veterans and also if you have your EMT Advanced.

What is the biggest fire danger in Manchester in the summer?

The biggest fire danger year-round is careless disposal of smoking materials.

Featured image: Courtesy photo.

Children’s Book Author

Regina Tranfa is an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator who is a Kid’s Con New England veteran. You can find her stories My Dad Took Me To Outer Space and My Dad Took Me To Dinosaur Land, as well as coloring books, on her website thetookmeseries.com or on Amazon.

Explain your job and what it entails.

I have created this sci-fi, fantasy, educational series of books where I take my conceptual thinking and I combine it with my illustration style to create stories that create a sense of wonder for both children and adults. It’s kind of like the Magic School Bus too because even as an adult you’re going to learn a lot.

How long have you had this job?

I’ve been at this for 11 years but it’s really the past two years that I’ve really been selling it. It wasn’t until the second book came out with the coloring books that things started to take off at the craft fairs.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

My background is in graphic design and I just still had more of a yearning to create and use my drawing skills and my conceptual thinking, and I’m able to combine that with my views on the world. I self-publish these books. I found out about self-publishing one day when watching the Jeff Probst show. They had this man on there named Dallas Clayton and he’s a children’s book author and writer, and hearing his story was kind of an inspiration to me. That’s an avenue I can go down with my creativity.

What kind of education or training did you need?

Well, my background is in graphic design. I was lucky because the college I went to, the first two years we were not on the computer. It was a lot of hand drawing and working color theory and three-dimensional design, so that helped a lot. And then the design background is where I really got the typesetting skills and the conceptual thinking.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

Just at my drafting table in a comfortable pair of pants and shirt.

What is the most challenging thing about your work, and how do you deal with it?

Getting it done…. I’m very disciplined about my night hours, getting this done. There’s time where I don’t want to do this but no, I still stand in front of the computer, even if it’s 7 o’clock, and get an hour in.

What do you wish you had known at the beginning of your career?

When getting feedback from people, really showing it to adults with artistic backgrounds and adults with non-artistic backgrounds, because I get two different points of view from that. … The second book, when I would show it to children, I showed it to them without the words so they could tell me the story … let the child tell me the story through the images.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

That writing and illustrating is a lot of work!

—Zachary Lewis

Five favorites
Favorite book: The Neverending Story
Favorite movie: Stardust
Favorite music: Anything that’ll make me run. Alternative and pop.
Favorite food: Gourmet popsicles
Favorite thing about NH: The different seasons.

Featured photo: Regina Tranfa. Courtesy photo.

Sunapee celebrates with a drone show

The Town of Sunapee will be hosting a patriotic drone show at Sunapee Harbor in lieu of a fireworks display on Saturday, June 29, at Dusk. Town Manager Shannon Martinez talks about the innovative holiday event and the American spirit of trying new things.

Why was the decision made to do a drone show?

The initial suggestion came from the community. The community was asking what are the different kinds of innovative ways we can celebrate the Fourth of July without potential contaminants going into Lake Sunapee…. We continue to make decisions about protecting the lake and the quality of our watershed.

How many drones will be involved?

Just over 300.

What type of show is a drone show?

It will be an innovative way using new technologies to celebrate our nation’s birthday. It will be all the things you will get from a normal fireworks show. It’s really homing in on what makes us proud of our nation, what makes us proud to be Americans. It’s the same spirit of the celebration of our nation’s birthday…. It’s an American company with American-made drones with veterans flying drones. It’s a very patriotic way to celebrate what’s important to us. It’s one of those things that can promote community, promote resilience, and just all give us a moment to reflect and pause on what makes us great.

Does it mimic a fireworks show or is it its own thing?

That is the curiosity…. What exactly is a drone show and what does it look like? Absolutely there will be some ‘fireworks,’ there will be, I guess the right word will be ‘characters,’ and there will be things that celebrate and bring us together as a community, celebrate us specifically, like what makes Sunapee proud, that will also be part of the show as well. It’s a blend of animation, if you will.

Will there be music accompanying the drone show?

We are partnering with the local college radio station [Colby-Sawyer College, WSCS] and they will be broadcasting the music that will accompany the drone show. We will have speakers and audio set up in the harbor itself, but for folks who are maybe farther out in their boat, if they just tune in to that radio station they will be able to hear the music that accompanies the movement of the drones.

Are fireworks allowed in Lake Sunapee?

Fireworks are definitely allowed on the Fourth of July. The town ordinance allows people to shoot off fireworks on the Fourth of July without a permit.

What would you say to someone who is not totally on board with a drone show?

It is the ability to try something new and to celebrate in a new and innovative way. Committing to doing something new, what does that mean? That we’re taking away? It can definitely be an additive thing that can still demonstrate our commitment to our country. If you try it once and the feedback from the community is overwhelmingly positive, isn’t that great that we tried something new. If the community finds out that they didn’t love it and we need to go back to fireworks because that is the consensus of the community then we absolutely can do that but I don’t think we lose by being a community that’s willing to try new things together and be open-minded about how it is that technology is changing the way that we interact with one another … drones are a big part of that, it’s a new technology, it’s almost in some ways [we’re] being an early adopter.

Featured image: Courtesy photo.