Calvert and RSF Invest in Sustainable Health

HeartMath Blog by Deborah Rozman, President and CEO of Quantum Intech, Inc. (dba HeartMath Inc.)

I’m writing this on April 16^th, National Stress Awareness Day, which is a day to both focus on how stress is affecting our lives and how to become proactive about reducing our personal, family and workplace stress. There are steps we can take, but first we have to become aware of how stress overload is affecting our attitude, relationships and health.   Addressing the relationship between stress, attitude and health has been my focus since my sophomore year at the University of Chicago several decades ago. Today, stress awareness is even more of an issue and is critical to health and well-being.   After attending a Social Capital (SoCap) conference and hearing the interest in scalable solutions for stress, my company Quantum Intech (dba HeartMath Inc) decided to open an investment round to raise growth capital from mission-aligned impact investors. I was invited to present to more than 100 impact investors at Investor’s Circle 2010 Spring Fair our ROI-based stress solutions, which are used by thousands of health professionals, health care systems, businesses and the U.S. military. HeartMath programs and emWave® technologies, based on 18 years of peer-reviewed research, demonstrate the critical link between emotions, heart function and cognitive performance, and empower people to reset their reactions to stress, increase their resilience, and achieve needed behavior changes.   Pre- and post-assessments of more than 5,000 employees and individuals found that in just six to nine weeks, HeartMath consistently reduced clinical stress factors, including:   ·         58% reduction in metabolic syndrome (three or more major risk factors) ·         50% drop in fatigue ·         46% drop in anxiety ·         60% drop in depression ·         30% improvement in sleep   Post-assessments after six months and then one year showed sustained improvements.   An independent actuarial analysis of one self-insured client showed 2:1 ROI resulting in $585 per HeartMath trained person in the first year with projected 4:1 ROI in the second year. A similar ROI has been achieved in other organizations.   At Investor’s Circle I was fortunate to meet the Chairman, president and managers of RSF Capital Management along with a representative of Calvert’s Social Investment Fund who later introduced me to the Calvert fund’s co-founder Terry Mollner.   Together, RSF and Calvert provided Quantum Intech, Inc. (dba HeartMath Inc.) $1.1 million in growth capital to scale the company. Quantum Intech is now raising an additional $2M to put our emWave® Personal Stress Reliever® technology on smartphone platforms and is listed on the Mission Markets platform.   “People today give their power away to things outside themselves; Quantum Intech and HeartMath give us emWave®, a profound technology that helps individuals empower themselves to monitor and change their feeling states.” —Terry Mollner, Founding Board Member, Calvert Social Funds   In a March 8, 2011 press release, the American Psychological Association (APA) stated that stress is an increasing and ongoing issue and many U.S. workers feel stressed out and undervalued.   Stressed workers may cause an increase in business insurance claims, and not only in the U.S., according to this UK report.   “Although health and wellness is not a direct focus area for RSF, the well-being of individuals, organizations and communities has always been central to RSF’s work and the projects that we support.” —Joe Avenatti, Managing Director, RSF Capital Management   It’s important to take stock and become aware of the effect that stress is having on oneself and our children, then take steps to do something to balance it. Take this stress survey to determine the state of your heart, mind and emotions.   In honor of April as National Stress Awareness Month, I wanted to provide the CSR community with practical and fast-acting HeartMath stress solutions you can use and share with friends, family and co-workers.     Deborah Rozman is President and CEO of Quantum Intech, Inc. (dba HeartMath Inc.) and serves on the advisory board of the Institute of HeartMath. Quantum Intech, with its scientifically validated HeartMath® programs, is a world leader in personal and organizational stress reduction. HeartMath provides individuals and businesses with a set of tools, methods and emWave technologies to empower themselves to navigate through stressful, changing times. HeartMath programs have enabled organizations to achieve a 2:1 ROI in lowered health costs within one year – while at the same time increasing employee satisfaction and performance. The aggregate savings – and additional returns from enhanced performance – add up fast, creating a significant value proposition for companies and society as a whole.   Quantum Intech also has a strong reputation as a socially responsible company with a triple bottom line mission in partnership with the 501(c)3 non-profit stress research organization, Institute of HeartMath, which provides HeartMath’s stress solutions to the underserved, including schools, community service organizations and veterans.   QINT13279