Sun Life donates $50k to Roux Institute for health care training
Northeastern University / CambridgeSeven Associates
The Roux Institute is building a new campus in Portland. A rendering provides a view from the water
Sun Life U.S. (NYSE: SLF), one of the largest group benefits providers in the country, said Thursday it donated $50,000 to Northeastern University's Roux Institute to help improve access to health care throughout Maine.
The organizations have neighboring campuses on Portland's East End.
The money will go toward Roux’s gap year program, which places recent college graduates from schools around the country in clinical support positions throughout Maine.
The graduates fill frontline roles. The goal is to address staff shortages in health and dental delivery settings.
Nearly all participants enter careers in health care, and many remain in Maine, according to a news release.
The program began in 2023. Since then, 54 graduates have been placed in seven health care systems around the state.
“We launched the gap year program to address the issue of access to healthcare in Maine while attracting and retaining more health professionals,” said Aileen Huang-Saad, Roux’s director of life sciences, health and engineering and associate professor of bioengineering.
The program is designed to provide support to clinical teams, enabling them to increase the number of appointments available and treat more patients. Of the participants who have completed the program, 80% have stayed in Maine, and all of them said in an exit survey they would be seeking employment in health care or entering post-graduate studies in health.
“With the growing workforce shortage crisis in the U.S. health care system, supporting programs like the Roux's gap year is an innovative way to address this issue in Maine,” said Dan Fishbein, Sun Life U.S.’s president.
Based in Portland, Roux offers graduate degrees in data analytics, life and health sciences, and other fields.
Last year, Sun Life opened a Portland office hub at 110 Thames St. on the city's East End. The majority of Sun Life’s 550 employees live in or around Portland and the company has a handful of remote employees, a spokesperson told Mainebiz. The company offers hybrid flexibility, so employees can choose which days of the week they come in.
Sun Life first partnered with the Roux Institute in 2020 to deliver an actuarial training program for employees. Sun Life also participated in the institute’s research on artificial intelligence and its 2023 conference, The State of AI in Maine.
Sun Life partners with other organizations in Maine, such as the Boys and Girls Club of Southern Maine and Spurwink Services.
The Roux Institute works with corporate and individual donors around Maine to support the gap year program.
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