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V O L . X X V N O. X X S E P T E M B E R 1 6 , 2 0 1 9 30 H E A LT H C A R E F O C U S three months to six, and the second group is currently being assembled to start this fall. Voxy's moxie e Immigrant Welcome Center's lan- guage lab uses a cloud-based platform developed by Voxy, a venture capital- backed firm based in New York. Until recently focused on foreign markets, Voxy launched the New Americans Initiative this year to bring eLearning to immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers through sector-specific training in high-demand careers with upward mobility, like certified nursing assistants and IT help desk technicians. Voxy's patented technology, says Chief Education Officer Katie Nielson, is based on evidence that adults learn languages "by doing things with them, so you have to make the content as relevant to their needs and as interesting to them as possible." Voxy does that by embedding content related to people's jobs into language training that people can learn at their own pace. Nielson, a former language teacher and researcher who holds a Ph.D. in second-language acquisition, says that approach is much more effective than traditional methods, saying, "e grammar you need is embedded into the language." During last October's National Immigrant Integration Conference in Arlington, Va., where Nielson was a speaker, Voxy's moxie made an impres- sion on Alain J. Nahimana, execu- tive director of the Greater Portland Immigrant Welcome Center and a 2018 Mainebiz Next honoree. "You learn English for a purpose," Nahimana says of the platform. "One size fits all in a classroom doesn't work anymore." Damas K. Rugaba, the IWC's finance and operations chief, adds that Voxy's offer of $600 for a license and online support was equally attrac- tive, saying: "ere's no class you can sign up for a year for $600. It's really cost-effective." For MaineHealth, Voxy developed a curriculum using content it supplied including employee orientation training materials as well as information about computer security and vocabulary around specific jobs. Rugaba notes that Voxy users can also choose up to two other English courses around their personal interests, from medical interpretation to DESIGN | BUILD | MAINTAIN Is Your Workforce Prepared to Respond to a Workplace Cardiac or First Aid Emergency? New research says 50% may not be. With 10,000 cardiac arrests annually in the workplace, the American Heart Association launched a campaign advocating for workplace First Aid, CPR, AED training and public access to AEDs. Most individuals across industries believe that being trained in First Aid CPR AED use is important to their roles, but many have never received training. ©2018, American Heart Association. DS12902 1/18 51% of employees AED don't know where their workplace AED is located. 9 in 10 cardiac arrest victims who receive a shock from an AED in the first minute live. 65% of employees would view their employers more positively if they offered CPR training. One-third of safety managers reported lives have been saved with this training. Source: 2017, AHA Mediagenic Survey Results; 2017, AHA with Edelman Intelligence; 2017, AHA with BLR Media; Postgrad Medical Journal, October 2007. Heartsaver courses are designed for anyone with little or no medical training who needs a course completion card for job, regulatory (for example, OSHA), or other requirements. These courses can be taken by anyone who wants to be prepared for an emergency in any setting. Learn it by Heart at Heart.org/WorkforceTraining Heart.org/Maine or 207-289-2394 » C O N T I N U E D F RO M PA G E 2 8 P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Jennifer O'Leary is manager of the MaineHealth Center for Workforce Development, set up in November to support, strengthen and create employment opportunities within the health care system and the community at large.

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