Aetna, CVS Health Earn Place Among 50 Civic-Minded Companies

Hartford-based Aetna and Rhode Island-based CVS Health, with their merger plans currently under review at the state and federal levels, have both been named to The Civic 50 for 2018, reflecting their community-minded programs and policies.  They are among the public and private companies with U.S. operations and revenues of $1 billion or more, selected based on four dimensions of their U.S. community engagement program.  Both companies also reached the list of 50 in 2017. The Civic 50 survey, produced annually since 2011 for Points of Light, has provided “a national standard for superior corporate citizenship and showcased how companies can use their time, skills and other resources to improve the quality of life in the communities where they do business,” according to Points of Light.

The survey analysis is administered for the Points of Light Foundation by True Impact, a company specializing in helping organizations maximize and measure their social and business value, and analyzed by VeraWorks. The survey instrument consists of quantitative and multiple-choice questions that inform the Civic 50 scoring process. It is the only survey and ranking system that exclusively measures corporate involvement in communities.

Among findings highlighted in the latest annual report:

• Civic 50 companies are evolving from being supporters to engaging as stewards of social causes. Instead of confining themselves to writing checks or piggybacking off of nonprofit work, Civic 50 companies are involving themselves in all aspects of social causes which they champion. In 2018, 70 percent of Civic 50 companies took national leadership positions on four or more public education or policy efforts, an increase from 62 percent in 2017.
• Civic 50 honorees continue to exemplify one of the core tenets of corporate citizenship: "doing well by doing good". The 2018 honorees demonstrate that integrating community engagement initiatives into business strategy can support business interests. The 2018 honorees are using community engagement to drive key business functions, including employee engagement (86 percent), marketing/PR (78 percent), diversity and inclusion (74 percent), skill development (74 percent) and stakeholder relations (56 percent)
• Leading innovations for purpose at work, Civic 50 honorees have found community engagement as a meaningful and valuable investment to inspire employee changemakers and create a strong culture of giving back. 68 percent of Civic 50 companies include community engagement as a formal component of employees' performance reviews, an increase from 62 percent in 2017.
• Civic 50 companies understand the importance of impact: to ensure the sustainability and success of their community engagement initiatives, Civic 50 companies are using measurement practices to not only measure quantifiable outputs, but social outcomes. Civic 50 companies are making sure to measure social outcomes as part of regularly implemented data collection. In 2018, 68 percent of Civic 50 companies collected and analyzed data on organizational grants and 42 percent did so for volunteerism.

Among the other companies included in the Civic 50 are KeyBank, Marriott International, Wells Fargo, UPS, Prudential Financial, and Comcast NBC Universal.

In its Corporate Social Responsibility Report, Aetna noted that as the company “pursues its goal of building healthier communities, we view social responsibility as a critical driver of success and an integral part of how we conduct our business.”

The report notes that “three quarters of Aetna employees are women, a third are people of color, 11 percent self-identify as LGBT and nearly 5 percent self-identify as having a disability.  Additionally, millennials comprise 31 percent of Aetna’s employees, which was a key driver of our new program to provide up to $10,000 to qualified recent college graduates to help them repay education loans.”

CVS Health, in the company’s social responsibility report, shares that their work “is rooted in our company’s values:  innovation, collaboration, caring, integrity and accountability.”  Three pillars – Health in Action, Planet in Balance and Leader in Growth – make up the company’s Prescription for a Better World, which provide the framework for the CVS Health strategy in corporate responsibility.

The four-dimension criteria used in assessing companies include:

• Investment: How extensively and strategically does the company apply its resources to community engagement in the United States, including employee time and skills, cash, in-kind giving and leadership?
• Integration: How does the company integrate their U.S. community engagement programs into key business functions, including employee engagement, marketing/PR, diversity and inclusion, recruiting, stakeholder relations and skill-development?
• Institutionalization: How does the company support community engagement in the United States through organizational policies, systems and incentives?
• Impact: How does the company measure the social and business impact of their U.S. community engagement program?

Points of Light is the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service.  It grew from the vision of 1,000 points of light shared by founder President George H. W. Bush in his 1989 inaugural address. The Points of Light Corporate Institute is a leading resource for community-minded companies looking to build and expand effective employee volunteer programs.

Report: Connecticut's Medicaid Expansion Increased Coverage, Access to Preventive Care and Behavioral Health Treatment

A recently issued report found that emergency department visits are down; coverage seen as critical in fight against opioids has expanded, and preventative care and mental health care have become more prevalent – all resulting from a 2010 policy decision made by Connecticut’s elected officials to expand Medicaid coverage. That decision, made collaboratively by a Republican Governor (M. Jodi Rell) and Democratic-controlled legislature – helped to reduce Connecticut’s uninsured rate from 9.1 percent in 2010 to 4.9 percent in 2016 and created a significant source of coverage for preventive health services and behavioral health care, according to the report developed by the Connecticut Health Foundation.

The report examines the impact of HUSKY D, as the Medicaid expansion is known, and highlights a number of key findings:

• Most people covered by HUSKY D are using their insurance to get care. Just over 80 percent of people with HUSKY D used the coverage for preventive or outpatient health services in 2016.
• Emergency department usage among HUSKY D members is down significantly. The rate of emergency department visits fell by 36 percent from 2012 to 2016.
• HUSKY D is a significant source of coverage for behavioral health care. In 2016, more than one in three HUSKY D members – 36 percent – used their coverage to get care for a mental health condition or substance use disorder.
• Outcomes have improved for diabetes patients with HUSKY D. A review of more than 500 HUSKY D members with diabetes found that the percentage whose blood glucose was under control rose from 31 percent to 50 percent from 2012 to 2016.

The report also examines the role HUSKY D plays in other policy work in the state, including addressing the opioid crisis and helping those leaving prison get medical and behavioral health treatment when they return to society. The report notes that before HUSKY D, individuals with substance use disorders were generally not eligible for Medicaid, creating a major barrier to treatment.

“Health insurance coverage is a critical first step to health, but it is also important to ensure that people are able to use that coverage to get care, and for that care to make a difference in people’s health,” said Patricia Baker, president and CEO of the Connecticut Health Foundation. “This research underscores the importance of HUSKY D in giving low-income state residents the tools to take care of their health.”

HUSKY D covers adults ages 19 to 64 who do not have minor children and whose income falls below 138 percent of the poverty level – the equivalent of $16,643 for an individual. (For comparison purposes, a person working 30 hours per week at Connecticut’s minimum wage – $10.10 per hour – would earn $15,756 in a year, the report indicates.)

The report concluded that “nearly eight years after Connecticut expanded HUSKY to cover more low-income adults, HUSKY D has made a significant impact on the state’s uninsured rate and the lives of thousands of people. The majority of those covered are using this insurance to get preventive care, and the rate of emergency department usage has declined, a promising trend.”

The report also notes that the federal government has “financed more than 90 percent of the cost of the program, allowing Connecticut to cover more than 200,000 people with a relatively small budgetary impact.” Currently, the federal government pays 94 percent of the cost of coverage and the state pays 6 percent. The report also identifies challenges associated with HUSKY D, including concerns raised by health care providers about Medicaid payment rates and uncertainty in federal funding.

The report’s analysis indicates that HUSKY D enrollees live in every city and town in Connecticut.  The largest number of covered individuals live in Hartford (18,404), Bridgeport (16,330), New Haven (15,583), Waterbury (13,989), New Britain (8,439) and Stamford (6,110).

The Connecticut Health Foundation is the state’s largest independent health philanthropy dedicated to improving lives by changing health systems. Since it was established in 1999, the foundation has supported innovative grantmaking, public policy research, technical assistance, and convening stakeholders to achieve its mission – to improve the health of the people of Connecticut. Since its creation, the Connecticut Health Foundation has awarded grants totaling more than $60 million in 45 cities and towns throughout the state.

High School A Risky Time for CT Students, Survey Finds

The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System was designed to focus the nation on behaviors among youth related to the leading causes of mortality and morbidity among both youth and adults and to assess how these risk behaviors change over time. In Connecticut, the times they are a changin’.  Data released this week by the state Department of Public Health highlights changes over the past decade, and disparities among current students depending upon their grades in school.

The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System measures behaviors that fall into six categories:

• Behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence;
• Sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection;
• Alcohol and other drug use;
• Tobacco use;
• Unhealthy dietary behaviors; and
• Inadequate physical activity.

The 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) includes randomly chosen classrooms within selected schools, and is anonymous and confidential.  It was completed by 2,425 students in 38 public, charter, and vocational high schools in Connecticut during the spring of 2017. The school response rate was 76%, the student response rate was 81%, and the overall response rate was 61%. The results are representative of all students in grades 9-12, according to the state Health Department.

The survey found that during the past decade, the percentage of students who rarely or never wore a seat belt has declined by one-third, as has the percentage who drove a car at least once in the previous month after they had been drinking.  That drop was between 2013 and 2017.

The percentage of students who “felt sad or hopeless” almost every day for a two week period “so that they stopped doing some usual activities” during the previous year climbed from 228% in 2007 to 26.9% in 2017 – more than one-quarter of students.  The survey found that in 2017, 13.5% of students seriously considered attempting suicide and 8.1% attempted suicide during the past year.

More than one-third of students (34.6%) of students did not eat breakfast every day in the week preceding the survey, and 14.1% did not eat breakfast on any of those days.  The percentage of students who got 8 or more hours of sleep on an average school night dropped from 26% in 2007 to 20% in 2017,

The survey also found that 25.8% of students with mostly A’s and 48.6% of those with the lowest grades (D or F) have used marijuana at least once in their lifetime.  More than one-quarter of students, across all academic grades (A-F) responded that they drank alcohol at least once in the month prior to the survey.

The survey found that 38 percent of students whose grades were mostly A’s texted or e-mailed while driving a car on at least one occasion in the 30 days prior to the survey.  The percentage was slightly less among students with lower grades:  31% of students with mostly B’s, 30% of students with mostly C’s and 23% of students with mostly D’s and F’s.

When it came to the percentage of students who rode with a driver who had been drinking alcohol (one or more times during the 30 days prior to the survey), students with better grades did so less often, ranging from 12% of students with mostly A’s to 26% of students with mostly D’s and F’s.

The survey also found that 1 out of 5 students (20.1%) whose grades were mostly D’s and F’s did not go to school because they felt unsafe at school or on their way to or from school, on at least one day during the 30 days prior to the survey.  Among those with mostly A’s, that percentage was just under 4 percent.

Among those with the lowest grades, 38.9% were in a physical fight at least once during the previous 12 months, and 19.7% were threatened or injured with a weapon on school property, such as a gun, knife, or club, at least once during the past year.  Among those with mostly A’s, the percentages were 10.2% and 3.6%.

https://youtu.be/d63xyYs9s94

Foodshare Ups Commitment to Healthier Young People, Communities

Foodshare has signed a three-year commitment with the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA),  a national nonpartisan nonprofit led by some of the most respected health and childhood obesity experts in the country, along with health advocates such as former First Lady Michelle Obama and U.S. Senators Bill Frist and Cory Booker. Earlier this month, Foodshare was recognized as a new healthy Food Assistant Partner at the 2018 PHA Summit in Washington, DC. The program “elevates and accelerates the work of food banks and large-scale food pantries committed to addressing hunger and malnutrition,” according to PHA.   

At the organization’s annual Summit in 2018, “we were thrilled to welcome Foodshare as one of several new partners in this program.”  More than 15 million U.S. children live in “food insecure” households, according to PHA.

Dr. Katie Martin, the nonprofit’s Chief Strategy Officer, represented Foodshare at the Summit.  In a recent article that she co-authored, Martin pointed out “food pantries have significant potential to promote better nutrition for the communities they serve,” adding that “recent national data show that 63 percent of households who visit food pantries acquire food through the charitable food system on a regular basis to help with their monthly food budget.”

As part of the commitment, Foodshare has agreed to:

• Use a nutrition stoplight system to rank the nutritional quality of food in our inventory;
• Increase the amount of nutritious food and beverage distributed through our network;
• Increase the demand for healthy food and multiply its impact with promotional materials.

“This is an exciting opportunity for all of us at Foodshare. More produce and healthier options: that’s the future of food banking,” said Jason Jakubowski, President and CEO of Foodshare.

Foodshare is the regional food bank serving Connecticut’s Hartford and Tolland counties, where 121,000 people struggle with hunger. As a PHA partner, Foodshare will increase supply and foster demand for healthier options in several ways, such as evaluating the nutritional quality of at least 50 percent of the food in its inventory, increasing the amount of nutritious food and beverages it distributes, and incentivizing the organizations it works with to select more nutritious foods.

Foodshare joins ten other partner food banks from across the country, as well as Feeding America, in this national partnership. Created in 2010 with the goal of ending the national epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation, PHA’s strategy rests on transforming the marketplace, so that the healthy choice becomes the easy choice for American families.

Senior Deaths from Falls Climbs Nationally, in Connecticut, During Past Decade

Fatal falls among senior citizens are on the rise in Connecticut and across the United States, according to a new government report. The overall rate of older adult deaths from falls increased 31 percent from 2007 to 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2016, a total of 29,668 Americans ages 65 and older died as a result of a fall - that is 61.6 out of every 100,000 senior citizens that year. A decade earlier, in 2007, there were 47 fall-related deaths for every 100,000 senior citizens.  Connecticut’s rate was the 17^th lowest in the nation among the 50 states and District of Columbia.  The only New England state with a lower rate was Massachusetts. 

In Connecticut, the number of deaths of persons age 65 or older attributable to falls increased from 243 in 2007 to 357 in 2016. The death rates from falls ranged from 24.4 per 100,000 in Alabama to 142.7 per 100,000 in Wisconsin.  Connecticut’s rate was 56.9 per 100,000 in 2016, an increase from 44.9 per 100,000 in 2007.

Falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths among people who are at least 65 years old, according to the report. Deaths from unintentional injuries are the seventh-leading cause of death among older adults, and falls account for the largest percentage of those deaths, the CDC said. The CDC has previously noted that less than half tell their doctor that they have fallen, and that falling once doubles your chances of falling again.

The rate of deaths from falls increased in the United States by an average of 3.0% per year during 2007–2016, and the rate increased in 30 states and the District of Columbia (DC) during that period.

The largest AAPC in mortality rates from falls (11.0% per year) occurred in Maine, followed by Oklahoma (10.9%) and West Virginia (7.8%). A significant increase in the rate from 2007 to 2016 occurred in 30 states, including Connecticut. There was no significant change in fall mortality rates in 11 states.

Once every 19 minutes, a senior citizen in America dies as a result of injuries sustained during a fall.  The older Americans became, the greater their risk of dying from a fall. In 2016, there were 15.6 fatal falls for every 100,000 Americans between the ages of 65 and 74. Among adults ages 75 to 84, there were 61.4 such deaths per 100,000 people. And for those ages 85 and up, there were 247.9 fatal falls per 100,000 people.

The data was included in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, published last week. To reduce older adult falls, CDC created the Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries (STEADI) initiative to help clinicians make fall prevention part of their clinical practice. The CDC notes that more than 10,000 people in the U.S. turn 65 every day.

“As a result, the country will experience a growth in falls and fall injuries, resulting in a cost increase if preventive actions are not taken now,” the agency has pointed out.

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.

Advocates Urge End to CT's Statute of Limitations for Sexual Assault Crimes; Legislation Awaits Action

The statistics were stark and unsettling, featured in an informational display in the corridor connecting the State Capitol and the Legislative Office Building, in the midst of Sexual Assault Awareness Month:

• 77% of victims in Connecticut know their perpetrators
• In 2016, the estimated cost of sexual violence in Connecticut was $5,762,944.30, including lost wages and medical costs based on emergency department visits.
• Connecticut students who experienced sexual violence were 3 times more likely to miss school because they felt unsafe
• 8% of CT students in grades 9-12 reported being forced to have sexual intercourse.
• 1 in 2 women and 1 in 5 men have experienced sexual violence other than rape in their lifetimes.

Less prominent, but described as equally significant, was advocacy information that explained Connecticut has the third shortest statute of limitation in the country in cases of sexual assault, and the shortest in New England – five years.

The Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence is calling for that to change, but it is unclear if a legislative proposal (House Bill 5246) to eliminate the criminal statute of limitations will be approved in the final three weeks of the state legislative session. Another proposal would extend the period to ten years (Senate Bill 238), an improvement over the current 5-year window, but still shorter than it should be, advocates say.

The "elimination" bill was approved by the legislature's Judiciary Committee, 26-14, earlier this month.

The organization points out that Connecticut’s short reporting window does not account for new crimes that involve online victimization.  And it does not recognize the multiple barriers to reporting immediately after an assault, or that five years has not always been enough time to investigate and bring a case against a perpetrator, “allowing some likely offenders to go free.”

Stating that “justice should not have an expiration date,” the organization points out that eight states have no statute of limitations for felony sexual assault crimes, and 28 states have a statute of limitations of 21 years or more.  Only 10 states, including Connecticut, have a statute of limitation of 10 years or less.

According to the National Institutes of Health, sexual violence is the leading cause of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in women.  Testifying in support of the bill last month, Madeline Granato of the Connecticut Women's Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF) said a survivor of sexual assault may face multiple barriers that prevent timely reporting, and "the elimination of the statute of limitations will remove at least one barrier:  time."

The bill has been opposed by the State Office of Chief Public Defender, which told legislators in March that "Without any finite period of time within which a prosecution can be brought, it may be impossible for an innocent person to fairly defend himself, 10, 20 or more years beyond the date of the offense."

The Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence partnered with the Connecticut Department of Public Health in showcasing materials and information to help the public identify sexual violence, offer support to survivors, and prevent sexual violence.  Throughout the month of April, The Alliance its member programs, are raising awareness about sexual violence through hosting events across the state.

Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence is a statewide coalition of individual sexual assault crisis programs. The Alliance works to end sexual violence through victim assistance, community education, and public policy advocacy.