Leidos and the Baltimore Ravens have partnered to distribute approximately 70 thousand drug disposal packets to local non-profit chapters across communities in Baltimore, Md., as part of the "Tackling Opioid Addiction" campaign to raise awareness for the opioid public health crisis, Leidos reported on Wednesday. 

"This initiative reinforces our commitment to the people of Baltimore. We want to do our part to help end the opioid epidemic and address challenges impacting over-all mental health and well-being," said Melissa Lee Dueñas senior vice president of Leidos. More than 90 percent of drug and alcohol-related deaths in the city are opioid-related, according to data from the Baltimore City Health Department.

After Roger Krone, CEO and chairman of Leidos and seven-time Wash100 Award recipient, received an employee's call to action in 2017, Leidos launched a company-wide initiative to help end the opioid epidemic. 

Since then, Leidos has led dozens of initiatives and events to heighten awareness, including a large-scale drug deactivation kit distribution event in conjunction with the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA), the MD National Guard, and the Aberdeen Proving Ground team. 

Leidos’ enhanced efforts, with the support of the Ravens, under the drug disposal packet distribution will enable community members to safely dispose of legal leftover prescriptions from the safety of their own homes. 

About Leidos

Leidos is a Fortune 500® information technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The company's 37,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Va., Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $11.09 billion for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2020.

Health Canada has certified the CAE Air1 ventilator to help remediate the effects of COVID-19, CAE reported on Wednesday. 

"The agility shown by CAE in designing and succeeding to have the CAE Air1 ventilator certified in a fraction of the usual time is a testament to the strength of CAE's innovation, engineering talent, and advanced manufacturing capabilities,” said Marc Parent, CAE's president and CEO.

CAE’s ventilator will be distributed to Canadian hospitals across the country where it will be used in the fight. Certification comes two months after CAE signed a contract with the Government of Canada to manufacture and supply 10,000 ventilators.

"Since the beginning of the pandemic, CAE was the first to receive certification from Health Canada for an entirely new ventilator. It was created and manufactured in Canada, and we are proud that it will help save lives in the fight against COVID-19," added Parent. 

With the certification, CAE will provide hundreds of CAE Air1 ventilators to the Government of Canada every week. The CAE Air1 ventilator can deliver pressure control, volume control and pressure support ventilation using room air or pressured oxygen. 

The company’s ventilator will integrate an intuitive, simple touchscreen interface and is bundled with on-demand ventilator training, adaptive e-learning modules related to COVID-19 patient management and 24/7 customer support. It will support Intensive Care Units patients treated for COVID-19.

"Today's announcement is a testament to CAE's agility and innovative capability. I am glad that we were able to support CAE in accelerating the design and manufacturing of CAE Air1 ventilator that is now ready to be used by our frontline healthcare workers," said the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Canada's Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry.

About CAE

CAE is a global leader in training for the civil aviation, defence and security, and healthcare markets. Backed by a record of more than 70 years of industry firsts, we continue to help define global training standards with our innovative virtual-to-live training solutions to make flying safer, maintain defense force readiness and enhance patient safety. 

We have the broadest global presence in the industry, with over 10,500 employees, 160 sites and training locations in over 35 countries. Each year, we train more than 220,000 civil and defence crewmembers, including more than 135,000 pilots, and thousands of healthcare professionals worldwide.

Amyx has been recognized as one of The Washington Post’s 2020 Top Workplaces in the Washington D.C. area for the second time, the company reported on Wednesday. 

“Being selected again as one of the Top Workplaces in the Washington D.C. area is a significant achievement,“ said Satya Akula, President and CEO of Amyx. “Creating and maintaining a productive and professional work environment for all employees is a top priority of mine. Our employees, supervisors and headquarters staff continue to make Amyx an exceptional place to work.”

Amyx secured the award based on the company’s employee feedback gathered through an anonymous third party survey which measured several aspects of workplace culture, including alignment, execution, management and connection.  

The recognition has also recognized the workforce’s employee engagement, analyzing the level to which workers are devoted to their jobs based on their opportunity for advancement and how they are treated. 

According to the Washington Post, there were a record number of employees participating in the survey this year, “making it clear that these organizations have made cultivating an atmosphere of support and respect a priority.”

In addition, this year’s recognition factored the company’s ability to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, Amyx announced new initiatives to help in the global effort to maintain the spreading of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) by supporting front-line response agencies, enabling the procurement of critical medical supplies and supporting the military’s urgent and critical medical response activities. 

Amyx has provided support across the federal government since the pandemic hit the nation. The company has supported daily operational support to the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) by developing real-time status of COVID-19 impacts to the government’s supply chain operations.  

The company has used visualization tools and an internal SharePoint instance to enable situational awareness and collaboration for the Operational Planning Team. Amyx Geographic Information System (GIS) developers have also begun development of a Common Operating Picture (COP). 

COP will utilize customized dashboards for critical COVID-19 response activities, including embedded data from the World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Department of Transportation (DOT), Johns Hopkins, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and governmental agencies.