Month: May 2024

Olivia Sloan was pursuing a career in health policy and research when her father was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The devastating news put her work on hold as she returned home to Santa Fe, New Mexico to help care for her dad.

Four years later her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Olivia, whose mother is Navajo and Tohono O’odham, spent most of this time helping her parents navigate their treatment at the CHRISTUS St. Vincent Regional Cancer Center. She’s grateful that her educational and career background helped her advocate on behalf of her family, but she knows not everyone is able to do this.

It’s fitting that today Olivia is a registered nurse at the cancer center and leads the Native Health Navigator (NHN) program that launched last July with the help of Gilead’s Toward Health Equity Oncology Grant. Through the grant, Gilead partners with organizations that share in its goal of transforming cancer treatment by expanding access and addressing barriers to care.

Depending on a patient’s tribal affiliation and residence, diagnostic work and treatment often requires a referral to an unfamiliar system – something that can be both confusing and intimidating for patients. That’s where the NHN program is helping by connecting breast cancer patients referred from Indian Health Services (IHS) and tribal or urban clinics to care at CHRISTUS St. Vincent Regional Cancer Center.

“Traversing outside the Native American healthcare system can be daunting,” says Olivia. “The cultural needs that our patients face really stand out, therefore we knew we had to do more to serve Native American patients in a genuine, authentic and culturally sensitive way.”

Shayna Grandbois-Herrera of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa tribe was hired as the program’s first navigator. She provides support every step of the way, from addressing appointment transportation needs and childcare to untangling complicated insurance payment processes. She even connects patients to groceries and nutritious meals.

The emotional and physical stress of those facing breast cancer adds to the care challenges. Having to see new doctors can compound the fear that comes from a cancer diagnosis, but the NHN program provides patients a human bridge to help navigate screenings, diagnostics and treatment.

For Amy, a Native American mother of two, having a navigator has made all the difference. She was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer in January but was juggling so much in her life that she didn’t plan to start treatment. However, being introduced to Shayna through the NHN program changed that. Today Amy attends her multiple medical appointments each week with Shayna there to communicate with providers as needed.

“No one should feel alone when they have a diagnosis,” says Shayna. “Every patient deserves a warm embrace.”

Olivia and Shayna both hope the program will ultimately help reduce these late-stage breast cancer diagnoses in their community. “We know mortality rates are much higher for Native American patients with cancer,” Olivia says. “The program is helping to remove the fear and other barriers so we can bring patients into care earlier.”

Just a few months into this program, the organization is already seeing a difference in patients’ willingness and ability to receive breast cancer care. They often start out wary of the unfamiliar health care system, but through the NHN program they gain a guide from their cultural background who understands their experience and can help change their health outcomes.

“To care for and work with Native American patients, honor individual tribes and their sovereignty, and work with them as true partners in advancing healthcare is a really beautiful vision and goal for our state and our communities,” concludes Olivia.

Originally published by Gilead Sciences

AllianceBernstein is honored to have received the designation of Third Best Company Headquartered in the US by the Hirschel and Kramer Responsible Investment Brand Index 2024. The RIBI 2024 evaluates over 600 asset managers globally on their commitment to sustainable development into their brands. To read more about the RIBI 2024, visit: https://www.ri-brandindex.org/

AllianceBernstein

AllianceBernstein (AB) is a leading global investment management firm that offers high-quality research and diversified investment services to institutional investors, individuals, and private wealth clients in major world markets. We believe corporate responsibility, responsible investing and stewardship are intertwined. To be effective stewards of our clients’ assets, we strive to invest responsibly—assessing, engaging on and integrating material issues, including environmental, social and governance (ESG), and climate change considerations in most of our actively managed strategies. We also believe that strive to hold ourselves as a firm to similar practices that we ask of issues. Our stewardship practices, investment strategy and decision-making are guided by our purpose, mission and values.

Our purpose—pursue insight that unlocks opportunity—inspires our firm to act responsibly. While opportunity means something different to each of our stakeholders; it always means considering the unique goals of each stakeholder. AB’s mission is to help our clients define and achieve their investment goals, explicitly stating what we do to unlock opportunity for our clients. We became a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in 2011. This began our journey to formalize our commitment to identify responsible ways to unlock opportunities for our clients through integrating material ESG factors throughout most of our actively managed equity and fixed-income client accounts, funds and strategies. AB also engages issuers where it believes the engagement is in the best financial interest of its clients.

Because we are an active manager, our differentiated insights drive our ability to deliver alpha and design innovative investment solutions. ESG and climate issues are important elements in forming insights and in presenting potential risks and opportunities that can have an effect on the performance of the companies and issuers that we invest in and the portfolios that we build.

Our values provide a framework for the behaviors and actions that deliver on our purpose and mission. Values align our actions. Each value emerges from the firm’s collective character—yet is also aspirational.

Invest in One Another means that we have a strong organizational culture where diversity is celebrated and mentorship is critical to our success. When we invest in one another, we empower our employees to reach their potential, so that they can help our clients realize theirs. This enables us to partner with clients to design and deliver improved investment outcomes.Strive for Distinctive Knowledge means that we collaboratively identify creative solutions to clients’ economic, ESG and climate- related investment challenges through our expertise in a wide range of investment disciplines, close collaboration among our investment experts and creative solutions.Speak with Courage and Conviction informs how we engage our AB colleagues and issuers. We seek to learn from other parts of our business to strengthen our own views. And we engage issuers for insight and action by sharing ideas and best practices.Act with Integrity—Always is the bedrock of our relationships and has specific meaning for our business. Unlike many other asset managers, we’re singularly focused on providing asset management and research to our clients. We don’t engage in activities that could be distracting, or create conflicts—such as investment banking, insurance writing, commercial banking or proprietary trading for our own account. We are unconflicted and fully accountable.

As of September 30, 2023, AB had $669B in assets under management, $458B of which were ESG-integrated. Additional information about AB may be found on our website, www.alliancebernstein.com.

Learn more about AB’s approach to responsibility here.

$10M project in the Dominican Republic is part of the company’s nearly $750M investments in North American manufacturingEaton creating 300 skilled manufacturing jobs in Santiago

SANTIAGO, Chile, May 14, 2024 /3BL/ – Intelligent power management company Eaton is opening its new 65,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art assembly plant in Santiago de los Caballeros to meet growing demand for its fuses. Announced in February 2024, the project will increase supplies of Eaton’s Bussmann series fuses, which provide critical safety functionality in electric vehicles (EVs), renewable and energy storage projects, data center as well as other industrial applications.

“The latest expansion of Eaton’s manufacturing capacity in Santiago was completed in record time to meet unprecedented demand for our solutions that are at the center of the world’s energy transformation,” said Rob Griffin, vice president and general manager, Eaton’s Bussmann Division. “Across the globe, we’re helping customers simplify intelligent power management to electrify their operations safely, resiliently and sustainably. The Eaton Santiago facility will assemble and package fuses and fuse accessories that provide vital functionality in these applications.”

Eaton has operated in the Dominican Republic for more than 35 years and is one of the country’s largest manufacturers. The Eaton Santiago facility is the company’s fifth manufacturing site in the Dominican Republic.

The new Eaton facility in Santiago is part of the company’s investment in North American manufacturing. In 2023, Eaton announced nearly $750M in investments to increase manufacturing capacity for electrical assemblies including switchgear, switchboards and circuit breakers; EV charging technology, transformers, voltage regulators and more; as well as underground protective connectors for the electric grid.

Eaton is an intelligent power management company dedicated to protecting the environment and improving the quality of life for people everywhere. We make products for the data center, utility, industrial, commercial, machine building, residential, aerospace and mobility markets. We are guided by our commitment to do business right, to operate sustainably and to help our customers manage power ─ today and well into the future. By capitalizing on the global growth trends of electrification and digitalization, we’re accelerating the planet’s transition to renewable energy sources, helping to solve the world’s most urgent power management challenges, and building a more sustainable society for people today and generations to come.

Eaton was founded in 1911 and has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange for more than a century. We reported revenues of $23.2 billion in 2023 and serve customers in more than 160 countries. For more information, visit Eaton.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

Contact:

Kristin Somers

+1.919.345.3714

Kristincsomers@eaton.com

Regina Parundik

Cobblestone Communications

+1.412.559.1614

Regina@cobblecreative.com