Increasing Engagement by Providers and Consumers, Greater Focus on Holistic Health at Heart of Changing Industry, CVS-Aetna Merger Plan

“This is a transformational merger and it gives us the opportunity to reshape the health care industry, Aetna President Karen Lynch said this past week, looking at the potential impact of a CVS-Aetna merger.  “We expect to transform what a CVS store looks like.” “For too long we’ve been practicing sick care and not health care and the potential of a CVS-Aetna merger is really to organize around the consumer and the consumer experience.  It will allow us to be in the local communities, to create another gateway to access healthcare and it will also give Americans a go-to destination for their health care services and their health care needs,” Lynch said.

Appearing this month on Conversations on Health Care, a radio program produced by Middletown-based Community Health Center, Lynch noted that CVS has over 10,000 stores across the United States and that 70 percent of Americans live within five miles of a CVS.

CVS Health chief executive officer Larry Merlo recently said the company’s $69 billion acquisition of health insurance giant Aetna is “making good progress” with state regulators and on track to close later this year, according to published reports.

Merlo said the company is seeking approval from 28 departments of insurance and many are holding hearings, with the key market of Florida already giving it approval. CVS also continues to provide information to the U.S. Department of Justice, which is reviewing the pharmacy chain's agreement to buy the Hartford-based health insurer.

Lynch described a post-merger CVS as “an interactive hub where individuals can come in and learn more about their health care, where they can access healthcare services and they can have further assistance in navigating the overall healthcare system.”  Right now, she said, “Your zip code is more important than your genetic code. What that means is your individual behaviors and your environment clearly have meaningful impact on health care costs.”

“Our overall goal is to achieve affordable, quality care for the individuals that we serve,” Lynch said. Lynch was named by Fortune as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in 2017 and 2016, and is one of the most senior women in the health insurance industry.  She joined Aetna in 2012.

CVS has a network of nearly 10,000 retail pharmacies in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Brazil and more than 1,100 Minute Clinic locations in 33 states. Aetna – the nation’s third largest insurer - has more than 20 million enrollees in its various health plans.  The latest CVS in Connecticut opened this weekend in West Hartford, supplanting a local pharmacy.

In looking ahead to evolving changes in the health insurance industry, Lynch highlighted three areas: provider engagement, consumer engagement and an increasing focus on holistic health.

She explained that “Aetna and providers have one common purpose – to improve the quality and affordability of health care and with value-based care we can demonstrate that partnership to do just that”.  She also stressed the importance of “consumer engagement, and being in local communities and really focusing on individual behaviors and the social determinants of care. I believe that can be a very powerful step in reshaping how we think about healthcare.”  Another key factor, looking ahead, will be holistic health, “treating the whole person, physical, emotional and behavioral aspects of one’s health,” which she said “could make a meaningful difference on the impact of healthcare.”

Noting that the U.S. spends more on healthcare than any country in the world, which continues to grow at what Lynch described as “an unsustainable rate,” Lynch said “we need to understand people’s health ambitions and we need to support them in their individual behaviors, we need to provide better access, and we need to give them more affordable and more transparent health care in America to really drive down overall health care costs.”

She indicated that 30 percent of Americans now suffer from diabetes, compared with less than one percent in the 1950’s. Citing another major – and costly – health concern, she said that 40 percent of adults and 20 percent of children are considered obese today.  And she said that over 900 billion dollars – one in three dollars – “is waste in our healthcare system.”

Aetna Chairman and CEO Mark Bertolini has routinely stressed that "if we keep people healthier, there's lower costs in the system." He has described the health care system as “backwards” – responding to when people are ill rather than seeking to prevent the illness.

Lynch said that technology also drives the changing healthcare landscape, predicting that greater attention would be paid to “leveraging telehealth and telemedicine and having people have access in ways that are unique and different.”  Aetna, for example, is increasingly able to access data in real time utilizing newly designed apps and cloud technology, often placing nurses armed with ipads in individual’s homes.

“Having data at our fingertips will allow us to remotely monitor and get information about people where they are so that we can immediately get information back out to them,” Lynch said.  “Having real-time access can really change individual behaviors and how people think about their health.”

Conversations on Health Care focuses on opportunities for reform and innovation in the health care system. Co-hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter each bring four decades of experience in overcoming the barriers that block access to care in their work at community health centers.  It is heard on radio stations from Connecticut to Washington state, and online at www.chcradio.com.  Flinter is Senior Vice President and Clinical Director, and Masselli is the President/CEO of Community Health Center, Inc., Connecticut’s largest and most comprehensive provider of primary health care services for the uninsured and underserved.

Yale Cancer Center, Globally-Connected Students Honored by World Affairs Council

The World Affairs Council of Connecticut marked Connecticut’s global leadership in cancer research and innovation at the organization’s 2018 Luminary Awards program.  The Council honored Yale Cancer Center, a ground-breaking center for global health, as the 2018 Luminary Award recipient, noting that “innovations made here in Connecticut impact health on a global scale.” The Yale Cancer Center is one of the select few centers in the nation and the only one in southern New England designated a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute. Through pioneering research, health innovations, and breakthrough treatments, the Yale Cancer Center is leading the world in cancer research for the betterment and advancement of our global community.

“Through collaboration among world-class institutions of education, healthcare, bio-pharma, and research here in Connecticut, the state has developed a health ecosystem that enables scientific risk-taking and fosters a well-developed network of some of the world’s premier hospitals,” the Council website pointed out.

Honored at the event, and participating in a conversation moderated by CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Max Gomez, highlighting their work in the field, were:

• Lieping Chen, MD, PhD, described as the “Father of Immunotherapy”
• Patricia LoRusso, DO, a transformational leader in cancer clinical trials
• Vincent DeVita, MD, a pioneer of chemotherapy and founder of the leading international textbook of oncology, “Cancer: Principles & Practice of Oncology”
• Joan Steitz, PhD, an international pioneer in understanding the role of RNA in biology & cancer development & progression

Also in attendance to receive the Yale Cancer Center’s recognition was Dr. Charles Fuchs, Director of the Yale Cancer Center, Physician-in-Chief of the Smilow Cancer Hospital, and Richard & Jonathan Sackler Professor of Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine.

The annual Luminary Award is the signature event of the World Affairs Council of Connecticut. It honors one or more individuals or an organization from Connecticut that has profoundly influenced global affairs, with a strong emphasis on achieving the overall betterment of the world.  Past recipients include United Technologies, AmeriCares, ESPN International, and Hole in the Wall Gang Camps.

In addition to the focus on the work of the Yale Cancer Center, a number of students were recognized for their accomplishments by the World Affairs Council.

Hartford Public High School student MaSei Pan, who will be attending Central Connecticut State University this fall to study international affairs, received the Peter G. Kelly Global Scholar Award.  She arrived in the U.S. six years ago as a refugee from Thailand.  She grew up in a refugee camp, was delayed in starting school until age 8, and came to the U.S. without knowing English.  Today, she excels in school and uses her experience to help others, including newly arrived immigrants.

The Global Engagement Award was presented to RHAM High School student Skylar Haines, who traveled to Mexico to teach English at the Serapio Elementary School, and subsequently organized fundraisers to purchase a computer lab and musical instruments for the school. She has also written a book of poetry about her experiences.

Global Engagement honorees were Maria Hoffman of Glastonbury High School, who focused on climate change and elephant migration in Botswana, and a trio from Westminster School in Simsbury, Shane Wahlberg, Lucas Wahlberg and Carson Roth, who devoted their attention to Sustainable Farming and Humanitarian Assistance for Cuba.

Connecticut-Grown Businesses Lead Stand-out Cohort of Entrepreneurial Start-Ups

reSET, the Hartford-based Social Enterprise Trust, whose mission is advancing the social enterprise sector and supporting entrepreneurs of all stripes, has announced the winners of its 2018 Venture Showcase, and three Connecticut-grown businesses took the top awards. The annual event recognizes the talented entrepreneurs and innovative businesses that have just graduated from reSET’s nationally recognized accelerator. This year, 18 early stage enterprises graduated from the most recent cohort, and eight finalists competed for $20,000 in unrestricted funding.  reSET’s goal is to meet entrepreneurs wherever they are in their trajectory and to help them take their businesses to the next level.

The entrepreneurs pitched their business models to an audience of founders, investors, and community and corporate stakeholders. The panel of judges included Claire Leonardi, former CEO of Connecticut Innovations; Alan Mattamana, Partner at Fairview Capital Partners; and Lalitha Shivaswamy, President of Helios Management Corporation.

Winning the top $10,000 award was Loki, which was created in a “group independent study” through UConn’s Digital Media and Design program by Andrew Ginzberg and co-founders Jeffrey Santi, Brian Kelleher, and Case Polen.  Described as “a new kind of media company” - a video sharing platform exclusively for smartphones - Loki is “a place where you can watch events through collections of many perspectives, live-streamed through the eyes of people actually there.”  The company’s website is welcoming people who would like to learn more to leave an email address.

Taking the second-place $6,000 award was Florapothecarie, a line of 100% natural + vegan skincare products, “lovingly handmade in Connecticut” by Sami Jo Jensen.  The line of products is certified vegan and cruelty-free by Leaping Bunny and PETA.

The third-place entrepreneurial business was Bare Life, launching a line of crave-worthy food products with the world’s first Organic, Vegan, Paleo, Non-GMO, Dairy Free, Gluten Free and Refined Sugar Free Hot Chocolate Powder.  Founded by local resident Ali Lazowski, who was put on a very restricted diet due to numerous medical conditions and learned first-hand how scarce allergen and irritant-free foods are. So, she set out to create them. Bare Life's mission is to make these allergen and irritant friendly foods and recipes convenient for everyone, especially the chronically ill.

The event was held last week at the YG Club at Dunkin’ Donuts Park to a sellout crowd of 225. Before selecting the 18 ventures that would participate in the Accelerator class, officials had reSET had to sift through an applicant pool that was the most competitive yet, with 110+ submissions from all over the world.  Since 2013, reSET has graduated 105 companies from its accelerator program and has awarded more than a quarter of a million dollars to scaling ventures.

The Superlative Award for “Most Improved Pitch” was won by FieldOwler, a new business that provides auditing and risk management software and solutions to help businesses, organizations, and agencies.  Other finalists were CNG Fit, LLC / Fit Party Me, Lioness Magazine, Noteworthy Chocolates, RecordME, and SKYWIREme .

The Accelerator program and Venture Showcase was made possible by reSET’s partners and sponsors, including  CTNext, The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Travelers, The Walker Group, Bank of America, The Hartford, GoodWorks Insurance, and People’s United Community Foundation.  SnapSeat Photo Booths also provided in-kind services.

reSET, the Social Enterprise Trust is a non-profit organization whose mission is to advance the social enterprise sector. reSET serves all entrepreneurs, but specializes in social enterprise ― impact driven business with a double and sometimes triple bottom line. In addition to providing co-working space and accelerator and mentoring programs, reSET aims to inspire innovation and community collaboration, and to support entrepreneurs in creating market-based solutions to community challenges.

Four Stores in CT Warned by FDA for Selling e-Cigarettes to Minors as Popularity, Concern Grows

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has sent out warning letters to 40 retailers in 17 states  – including four in Connecticut - as part of a “concerted effort to ensure youth are not able to access” e-cigarettes – specifically responding to what officials describe as the “surging youth uptake” of JUUL products. According to the federal agency, those receiving the warnings in recent weeks included four Connecticut retailers: Discount Tobacco and Vape in Vernon, Mobil Mart in Waterbury, Shell/Henny Penny in Lisbon, and Smoker’s Outlet in West Hartford. The retailers were warned about selling the increasingly popular – but hazardous – products to minors.

The FDA explained that warning letters are sent to retailers the first time a tobacco compliance check inspection reveals a violation of the federal tobacco laws and regulations that FDA enforces.  During undercover buy inspections by agency representatives, “the retailer is unaware an inspection is taking place” and the minor and inspector “will not identify themselves.”

Published reports nationwide indicate that vaping is increasing rapidly in popularity with young people, especially with the most popular brand, JUUL. Its devices are tiny, and look like a pen or flash drive. When someone vapes, there is no fire, ash or smoky odor — instead, the devices heat up and vaporize a liquid or solid.  School bathrooms, where cigarette smoking was done in “secret” a generation ago, are now often referred to as “juul rooms” according to numerous reports – the nicotine fix of choice of the current generation.  A recent New York Times article prominently featured a description of the magnitude of the problem in a suburban Connecticut high school.

“The FDA has been conducting a large-scale, undercover nationwide blitz to crack down on the sale of e-cigarettes – specifically JUUL products – to minors at both brick-and-mortar and online retailers,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D.

Gottlieb highlighted the danger – and the attraction – of the products to youth.

“We understand, by all accounts, many of them may be using products that closely resemble a USB flash drive, have high levels of nicotine and emissions that are hard to see. These characteristics may facilitate youth use, by making the products more attractive to children and teens.  These products are also more difficult for parents and teachers to recognize or detect. Several of these products fall under the JUUL brand, but other brands, such as myblu and KandyPens, that have similar characteristics are emerging.”

Businesses receiving the warning letters are directed to provide, within 15 days, “an explanation of the steps you will take to correct the violation(s) and prevent future violations (for example, retrain your employees, remove the problematic items, etc.),” the agency website points out.  In addition to federal restrictions, purchase/possession of an electronic nicotine delivery system or vapor product by persons under age 18 is prohibited in Connecticut.

The FDA also sent an official request for information directly to JUUL Labs, requiring the company to submit important documents to better understand the reportedly high rates of youth use and the particular youth appeal of these products.

Said Gottlieb: “We don’t yet fully understand why these products are so popular among youth. But it’s imperative that we figure it out, and fast. These documents may help us get there.”  The agency plans what it calls a “full-scale e-cigarette prevention effort” in the fall.

In addition, the FDA also recently contacted eBay to raise concerns over several listings for JUUL products on its website. eBay took what the agency described as “swift action to remove the listings and voluntarily implement new measures to prevent new listings” from being posted to the website.

Trinity's Berger-Sweeney, Barack Obama, Tom Hanks, Yale Faculty Are Among American Academy Inductees

The 238th class of new members of the highly selective American Academy of Arts and Sciences, to be inducted later this year, include many household names - and one prominent local individual.  The academy is one of the country’s oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers, and its members include some of the world’s most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers, and artists, as well as civic, business, and philanthropic leaders. Being added to the ranks this year are, among others, former president Barack Obama; actor Tom Hanks; Netflix CEO W. Reed Hastings Jr.; NASA climatologist Claire L. Parkinson; Supreme Court Justice Sonia M. Sotomayor;  pediatric neurologist Huda Y. Zoghbi - as well as Trinity College President and Professor of Neuroscience Joanne Berger-Sweeney and three Yale professors in the schools of divinity and medicine.

“This class of 2018 is a testament to the academy’s ability to both uphold our 238-year commitment to honor exceptional individuals and to recognize new expertise,” said Nancy C. Andrews, the academy’s chair of the board. “John Adams, James Bowdoin, and other founders did not imagine climatology, econometrics, gene regulation, nanostructures, or Netflix. They did, however, have a vision that the academy would be dedicated to new knowledge—and these new members help us achieve that goal.”

The 238 newly elected members represent 25 categories and 125 institutions. The new class will be inducted at a ceremony in October 2018 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The full class of new members is available at www.amacad.org/members.

“This is truly a great honor that I share with my family and friends and with Trinity College, which I’m privileged to serve,” said Berger-Sweeney. “To be elected to the academy is an extraordinary highlight of my career in science and education.”

Berger-Sweeney has served as president of Trinity College since July 2014. Over the past four years, she has, among other accomplishments, overseen the completion of the college’s strategic plan, Summit, which will guide Trinity toward its bicentennial in 2023 and beyond; the creation of the Bantam Network mentoring program for first-year students; the launch of the Campaign for Community, a campus initiative promoting inclusiveness and respect; and the expansion of Trinity’s footprint to Constitution Plaza in downtown Hartford.

Before coming to Trinity, Berger-Sweeney served for four years as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University. Prior to Tufts, she spent 13 years as a member of the Wellesley College faculty and as associate dean from 2004 to 2010. Berger-Sweeney received her undergraduate degree in psychobiology from Wellesley College and her M.P.H. in environmental health sciences from the University of California, Berkeley. While working on her Ph.D. in neurotoxicology from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Berger-Sweeney did the proof of concept work on Razadyne, which went on to be the second-most-used Alzheimer’s drug in the world. She completed her postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Health (INSERM) in Paris, France.

Also being inducted in this year's class are John J. Collins of the Yale Divinity School and Gerald I. Shulman and Haifan Lin of the Yale School of Medicine.

Collins is Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale.  A native of Ireland, Professor Collins was a professor of Hebrew Bible at the University of Chicago from 1991 until his arrival at Yale Divinity School in 2000, and previously taught at the University of Notre Dame. He has published widely on the subjects of apocalypticism, wisdom, Hellenistic Judaism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Dr. Shulman is the George R. Cowgill Professor of Medicine, Cellular & Molecular Physiology and Physiological Chemistry at Yale University, where he serves as Co-Director of the Yale Diabetes Research Center and Director of the Yale Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Center. He is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Shulman has pioneered the use of magnetic resonance spectroscopy to non-invasively examine intracellular glucose and fat metabolism in humans for the first time.

Haifan Lin is Eugene Higgins Professor of Cell Biology, and Professor of Genetics and of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences; and Director of the Yale Stem Cell Center. Current study is focused on molecular mechanisms underlying the self-renewing division of stem cells. There is a focus on small RNA-mediated epigenetic programming and translational regulation that are required for the self-renewal of germline and embryonic stem cells, according to the Yale website, which notes that he continues to explore the clinical implications of recent findings.

https://youtu.be/RK5vvvRhGEA

CT Has 3rd Highest Catholic Population; 4th Most Jewish Among the States

Connecticut is the third most Catholic state in America, ranking just behind Rhode Island and New Jersey, in a national analysis by the Gallup organization.  Twenty-three percent of all Americans identify as Catholics, but there is wide variation in Catholic representation across states -- ranging from 44 percent in Rhode Island, the most Catholic state in the nation, to 6 percent in Alabama.  Connecticut is at 38 percent.  Other states with above-average Catholic representation include New York and New Hampshire, and then several more geographically dispersed states including New Mexico, Illinois, California and Wisconsin. One of the most significant trends in American religion in recent years, according to Gallup, has been the increase in the percentage of Americans who have no formal religious identity, rising from 15% in 2008 to 21% in 2017. These so-called "nones" are most prevalent in the two most Western states of the U.S., Hawaii and Alaska, and also constitute relatively high proportions of the population in a number of other Western and New England states: Washington, Vermont, Oregon, Maine, Colorado, New Hampshire and California.

Overall, the Gallup analysis found that Americans continue to be geographically segregated by religion. Protestants dominate in the South, while Catholics are most common in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, with some representation in the Midwest. Two smaller religious groups are also geographically concentrated: Mormons are a major population factor in Utah and Idaho, and Jews tend to be disproportionately located on the East Coast, the review of religion in America found.

About half of Americans (48%) identify as Protestants or other Christians who are not Catholic or Mormon. Protestants have long been a fixture of the Southern Bible Belt and that trend continued in 2017.

Connecticut has the fourth largest Jewish population, at four percent.  Only New York (8%), New Jersey (6%) and Massachusetts (5%) have larger Jewish populations.  Nationwide, Americans who identify their religion as Jewish are a small percentage of the U.S. adult population -- about 2% according to Gallup's review of 2017 data.

In a similar survey in 2004, Gallup ranked Connecticut as having the fourth highest Catholic population, at 46 percent, behind Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Jersey.  At that time, the state's Jewish population was the sixth highest percentage among the states, at three percent.

Children's Champions to Be Recognized for Commitment, Leadership

Two leading advocates for Connecticut children who have followed very different paths to impact the well-being of young people will be honored by The Center for Children’s Advocacy as Connecticut’s 2018 Champion of Children Award recipients later this month. Fran Rabinowitz, Executive Director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS) and Abdul-Rahmaan I. Muhammad, Executive Director of My People Clinical Services in Hartford will be honored at the Center’s annual Spring for Kids event to be held at Infinity Hall in Hartford on May 8, 2018.

Fran Rabinowitz has been a dedicated and respected Connecticut educational leader for over 30 years. Prior to her appointment at CAPSS, she served as Associate Commissioner of Education for the State of Connecticut, Superintendent of Hamden Public Schools, and Interim Superintendent of Bridgeport Public Schools.

In announcing her selection, organizers indicated that “in every challenging position, Ms. Rabinowitz has demonstrated vision, courage and passion in her forceful advocacy for the educational needs of every student.”

Abdul-Rahmann I. Muhammad leads My People Clinical Services, a community-based social service organization that helps Hartford-area youth and families rebuild their lives. Services include therapeutic support and crisis intervention, helping youth overcome the impact of family disruption, domestic violence, substance abuse and other barriers to health and safety.

Through collaborations with state, educational and other community based organizations, My People aspires to be a leading organization for positive change, supported transition and permanency for children, young adults and families. In announcing Muhammad’s selection as an award recipient, organizers stressed that “his focus on Hartford’s underserved youth provides critically needed support.”

My People Clinical Services sponsors many community events such as the Daddy Daughter Dance and the Female Empowerment Conference. He also launched The Dream Support Network in 2007, to encourage, inspire and support individuals to live the life of their dreams. The signature programs of the Dream Support Network are Ice Cream for a Dream (where free ice cream is exchanged for dreams) and the Dream Chaser Program.

The Center for Children’s Advocacy is the largest children’s legal rights organization in New England, fighting for the legal rights of Connecticut’s most vulnerable children. Areas of focus include protecting and defending abused and neglected children, improving child health, supporting teens and homeless youth, improving educational success, helping immigrant children, reducing racial disparities, promotion youth voice and reducing involvement with the juvenile justice system.  Martha Stone is founder, two decades ago, and Executive Director of the Center for Children’s Advocacy.

Tickets and information are available on the Center for Children’s Advocacy website at cca-ct.org or from Susan Stein at sstein@cca-ct.org.

Hit-and-Run Crash Deaths Increase in Connecticut and Nationally, Analysis Reveals

At the beginning of this month, Connecticut State Police investigated a hit and run car crash that killed one person on I-84 near exit 2 in Danbury.  Less than a week later, in Middletown, a person sought in a hit and run accident that resulted in a death last November was arrested.  Just two weeks earlier, Bridgeport police made an arrest in connection with a hit-and-run crash that killed an elderly man last June. If you have a sense that reports of hit-and-run accidents have increased in frequency, you’re correct.

Data compiled by the AAA Foundation of Traffic Safety from 2006 to 2016, found there were 148 hit-and-run crashes involving at least one fatality in Connecticut. There also appeared to be a spike in fatalities from 2015, when there were 14 incidents, compared to 2016 where there were 24 such incidents.

Connecticut is not alone.

Hit and run crashes have killed more than 2,000 people in 2016, which equates to more than 1 such crash every minute on U.S. roads, according to a new study from AAA.  That’s the highest number of these types of crashes on record and a 60% increase since 2009.

With the number of hit-and-run crashes on the rise, AAA is calling for drivers to be alert on the road to avoid a deadly crash and remain on the scene if a crash occurs.

In the study, AAA researchers found:

• An average of 682,000 hit-and-run crashes occurred annually since 2006.
• Nearly 65% of people killed in hit-and-run crashes were pedestrians or bicyclists.
• Hit-and-run deaths in the U.S. have increased an average of 7.2% each year since 2009.

In Connecticut over the six-year span, it was determined more than half of the fatal crashes occurred overnight, primarily on weekends, in the Fall.  Earlier this year, a Connecticut man was sentenced to six years in prison for a hit-and-run that authorities say killed a mother after she pushed her 7-year-old daughter to safety in October 2016.

“Hit-and-run crashes in the United States are trending in the wrong direction, especially in Connecticut,” said Fran Mayko of AAA Northeast. “The analysis shows such crashes are a growing traffic safety challenge and the AAA Foundation wants to work with all stakeholders to help curtail this problem.”

In all states, it’s the drivers legal and moral responsibility to avoid hitting pedestrians, bicyclists, or another vehicle; and leaving a crash scene significantly increases the penalties, whether or not the driver caused the crash, AAA emphasized.

In the US, state laws make it illegal for drivers involved in crashes to flee the scene. Penalties vary depending upon crash type and guilty parties may face large fines, lose their license or spend time in prison. In Connecticut, drivers who hit a vulnerable user is required to stop, remain on the scene, render aid if necessary, and notify law enforcement.

In the latest analysis, New Mexico, Louisiana and Florida have the highest rate of fatal hit-and-run crashes on a per-capita basis while New Hampshire, Maine and Minnesota have the lowest rates.

Small Business Administration to Honor CT’s Leading Small Business Owners

April M. Lukasik, President & CEO of Bright & Early Children’s Learning Centers, has been named the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2018 Connecticut Small Business Person of the Year, SBA’s top award, Anne Hunt, SBA’s District Director, has announced. “We are extremely excited to honor a truly amazing line up of small business owners and champions this year, said Anne Hunt, SBA’s Connecticut District Director.  It is important to recognize these outstanding small businesses in the state as they are the job creators, innovators and the fabric of our local communities!” 

The slate of leading small business owners in Connecticut will be honored at the Annual Small Business Week Awards Luncheon at Anthony’s Ocean View in New Haven on May 3.  National Small Business Week is obsered April 29-May 5.

Bright & Early Children’s Learning Centers have four locations in Connecticut.  The business was founded in Middletown 2012 by Lukasik.  The mission statement describes the Center as “a child care and early education solution in a nurturing and scholastic environment where dedicated teachers are awakening young minds when it matters most.”  Old Saybrook, Branford locations followed, with West Hartford soon to open.

“We hope the small business community will join the SBA and our host, SCORE for an inspiring awards luncheon on May 3rd in New Haven,” Hunt added.

The 2018 Connecticut SBA Honorees are:

• Region 1 & Connecticut Manufacturer of the Year  Brian Weinstein, CHAPCO, Chester
• Region 1 & Connecticut Family-Owned Small Business   Charles Buck Jr., Buck’s Spumoni Company, Inc., Milford
• Exporter of the Year  Dennis Nash, Control Station Inc., Manchester
• Woman-Owned Small Business  Erin Emmons, Lucky Taco Cantina and Tap Room, Manchester
• Minority-Owned Small Business  Marilyn Ortiz, Borinquen Bakery, New Britain
• Veteran Owned Business of the Year Nicholas W. Wright, Unlimited Fun LLC., Prospect
• Home-Based Business of the Year Linda Longboardi, ReGift the Wrap, LLC., Glastonbury
• Young Entrepreneur of the Year  Alyssa DeMatteo, Wildflour Confections, Seymour
• CT Microenterprise Award  Stefanie Toise, At Once LLC., Vernon
• Financial Services Champion  Aaron M. Bohigan- Webster Bank, Hartford

Lukasik, founder of Bright & Early Children's Learning Centers, finds her roots in a family of entrepreneurs. Her grandmother owned and operated a nursing home that her parents later grew into a successful entity. She started off working in the family business, gathering experience and cultivating her passion of caring for others. After obtaining her Bachelors Degree in Marketing, she jumpstarted her entrepreneurial career, creating and operating multiple companies while gaining experience and insight into what it takes to build and grow a successful organization.

When her children were toddlers, she found herself searching for child care options that suited her needs and standards as a discerning parent… a safe, secure, nurturing, warm, home-like, educational, organized, and clean child care center. Not finding what she was looking for, she tapped into her entrepreneurial spirit to start her own child care center that met all of these standards.

The Young Entreprenuer of the Year, Alyssa DeMatteo, is a 26 year old Seymour resident who quickly gained popularity in southern Connecticut's cake and cupcake scene when she launched Wildflour Cupcakes & Sweets as a Facebook page in 2013.

Control Station was founded in 1988 and headquartered near the University of Connecticut. Control Station harnesses the creative energies of its surrounding, solving difficult plant monitoring and controller challenges facing process manufacturers with a broad portfolio of software-based solutions. Exporter of the Year Dennis Nash is President and Chief Executive Officer of Control Station, Inc.

Advancing Racial Equity in Nonprofits to be Among Themes for National Conference in Hartford

When members of the Alliance for Nonprofit Management, a national association based in St. Louis, hold their 20^th anniversary conference this fall, they will be gathering in Hartford.  The conference, “Re-envisioning Our Field:  Advancing Racial Equity & Leading Innovation in Capacity Building,” will be held October 10-12 at the Hartford Hilton. The organization’s Board Chair is Anne Yurasek, Principal of Fio Partners, which is based in Chester, CT.  Yurasek has been an organizational development consultant and trainer for over twenty years in the nonprofit and private sector.

The Alliance is the “national voice and catalyst for the field of capacity building.”  The organization’s mission is to “increase the effectiveness of the individuals, groups and organizations that help nonprofits and communities achieve positive social change.”  The Alliance seeks to “create spaces for professional dialogue and learning by amplifying research in the field and promoting its implications for effective practice.”

More than 250 attendees will include consultants, coaches, funders, academics, and executives from across the country. The conference intends to “convene the diverse perspectives that shape and advance our field.”

The conference provides participants with the chance to “convene, dialogue, learn, shape and advance our field for the good of the nonprofits and communities we serve,” official explained.  The theme was selected because now “is a critical time for our field to reflect, to learn together, and to consider how our work should evolve to address racial inequities in our society. From amplifying emerging approaches to reflecting on research and exploring its implications for practice,” participants are urged to “bring your perspectives, experiences, and energy” to the annual conference.

The three-day event includes presentation opportunities with local nonprofits, work-sessions for Affinity & Interest Groups, twenty-plus workshop sessions “curated for capacity builders by capacity builders, and thought provoking plenary sessions.”

The Alliance for Nonprofit Management is the result of the 1997 merger of the Nonprofit Management Association and Support Centers of America. The organization is described as unique as a cross-sector professional association of individuals and organizations that are devoted to increasing the effectiveness of the individuals, groups and organizations that help nonprofits and communities achieve positive social change.

The 2017 conference was held in Grand Rapids, Michigan.