Series Two, developed in partnership with the Society for Health Communication, focuses on preventive care, maternal health and community resilience

WASHINGTON, Aug. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — HCN Global is expanding its Leadership for a Culture of Health webinars with a second series of programming developed in partnership with the Society for Health Communication (SHC). The new series will bring health communicators, community leaders, health workers and advocates together to explore structural barriers to preventive care and maternal health—and practical ways communications can help communities navigate those barriers and advocate for change.

Leadership for a Culture of Health is part of HCN Global’s broader Culture of Health / la Cultura de Salud initiative, which initially started as a multicultural, bilingual multimedia program addressing social determinants of health affecting Latino and Black communities across the United States.

Series Two builds on the first Leadership for a Culture of Health installment, launched earlier this year to help community leaders recognize, discuss and address structural racism and its impact on health. The next phase turns to two additional areas where systemic barriers continue to drive inequitable outcomes: access to preventive care and maternal and reproductive health. Across both topics, the series will also examine the effects of chronic stress and systemic barriers on mental health, well-being and community resilience.

“Culture of Health / la Cultura de Salud has always been about turning awareness into action, and this next peer-to-peer learning series does that. Community leaders and health communicators are on the front lines of these conversations promoting equitable solutions every day. Our job is to make sure they have the tools, the language, and confidence to meet the moment,” says Alison Rodden, CEO, HCN Global.

Webinars Focused on Health Equity and Action

Hosted by the Society for Health Communication in partnership with HCN Global, the two webinars pair expert perspectives with practical frameworks and real-world examples that participants can apply in their own organizations and communities. Both sessions are free and open to health communicators, community leaders, health workers, advocates, and others working with communities affected by health inequities.

Preventive Care & Healthcare Navigation – August 28, 2026
This session will examine how factors including health coverage, language access, transportation, and immigration-related concerns can affect access to preventive care. Participants will explore ways community leaders and health communicators can help reduce barriers, improve navigation, and connect people with trusted information and resources.
Register: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nKtYoT6uSYWUbJqX6JrAnQ

Maternal & Reproductive Health – November 2026
This session will explore disparities in maternal health outcomes, with particular attention to Black and Latina mothers and infants, and examine communications and systems-level approaches that support healthier outcomes. Speakers and registration details will be announced closer to the session.

Extending the Impact Beyond the Webinars

The partnership brings together HCN Global’s longstanding experience in culturally grounded health communications and community engagement with SHC’s national network of health communication professionals.

Through the partnership, SHC and HCN Global will extend the reach of the series across professional and community networks, including La Red Hispana, Melanin Thriving, and LatinEQUIS, while connecting participants with resources that can support continued learning and action beyond the live sessions. Both webinars will also be recorded and made available on demand.

“Preventive care and maternal health are two of the clearest examples of how structural barriers show up in everyday outcomes — and health communicators have a real role to play in closing those gaps. This partnership with HCN Global gives our members culturally grounded examples and tools they can use, not just another conversation about the problem.” – Dana Chomenko MA, PMP, Executive Director, Society for Health Communication

HCN Global has dedicated webpages that continue to house resources designed to help community leaders and organizers continue this work beyond the live sessions. Resources for Latino and Black audiences are available through LatinEQUIS at wearelatinequis.com/leadership-for-a-culture-of-health and Melanin Thriving at melaninthriving.com/leadership-for-culture-of-health. Additional Spanish-language resources can be found on La Red Hispana at laredhispana.org/liderazgo-para-una-cultura-de-salud/.

About HCN Global. HCN Global is a human-centered, award-winning, data-informed, full-service marketing, communications, advertising, public relations and grassroots activation organization. For more than 40 years, HCN Global has worked alongside communities to develop culturally grounded campaigns, programming and content designed to inform, connect and inspire action. Through La Red Hispana, LatinEQUIS, and Melanin Thriving, HCN Global reaches 10+ million people weekly across multicultural and rural multimedia, trusted local leaders, and health worker networks in the US and beyond. For more information, visit, hcnglobal.com.

About the Society for Health Communication. The Society for Health Communication is a member-driven association uniting public health, healthcare, digital health, academia, and research under one professional home. By breaking down silos and connecting health communicators at every career stage, SHC is building a powerful, unified voice that shapes and advances the field of health communication nationwide. For more information, visit, societyforhealthcommunication.org/.

Contact: LeShaundra Cordier
Email: leshaundra.cordier@hcnglobal.com
Phone: 770.634.5377

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SOURCE HCN GLOBAL, LLC

The round led by Business Development Bank’s (BDC) Growth Venture Fund lifts Helcim’s valuation to $250 million CAD, with participation from Curql Collective, Gold House Ventures, and existing investors.

CALGARY, AB, Aug. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Helcim, a Calgary-based payments company that powers small and mid-sized businesses across North America, today announced it has closed a $53 million CAD Series C funding round led by Business Development Bank’s (BDC) Growth Venture Fund. The round also included participation from new investors Curql Collective, a strategic investment fund backed by more than 160 North American credit unions, and Gold House Ventures, alongside continued investment from existing backers Headline, Aquiline, Information Venture Partners, Vesey Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, and Alberta Accelerate Fund.

The financing brings Helcim’s total equity raised to $100 million since its 2022 Series A and lifts the company’s valuation to $250 million, up from $97 million at its Series B in 2024. It follows a year in which Helcim crossed $150 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR), grew its team to 200 people, expanded its merchant base to more than 22,000 active businesses across Canada and the U.S., and is on track to process nearly $10 billion in annual payment volume.

The raise lands at a pivotal moment for the industry: several of Canada’s largest banks have recently sold off or outsourced their merchant services businesses, leaving a vacuum for small and mid-sized companies in need of a partner built specifically for them. Helcim is moving to fill that gap for small businesses – and, increasingly, mid-market companies – with three commitments: transparent pricing, an open merchant platform for accepting in-person and online payments, and great customer service.

“There’s a real void in the market right now – merchants are coming to Helcim faster than ever, looking for a modern alternative,” said Nic Beique, Helcim’s Founder and CEO. “This round lets us act on this at scale: expanding our platform, growing our team, and moving up-market so no business outgrows what we can offer them.”

Helcim launched as its own payments company in 2020, building its end-to-end infrastructure from the ground up rather than reselling another processor’s technology. That decision is what lets Helcim offer volume-based interchange plus pricing today instead of the inflated flat-rate fees many providers pass on to merchants.

In January 2026, Helcim released an AI-powered Payment Extension that lets merchants self-integrate Helcim’s payments processing into the software they already use, giving merchants the freedom to choose their preferred payment processor rather than being locked into a single embedded-payments provider. Adoption of the tool has scaled quickly since launch, and it’s one of the clearest signals of the demand now underpinning this round.

“Helcim is having a unique moment, growing fast and building a real advantage in the market,” said Jack Fraser, Partner at BDC Capital’s Growth Venture Fund. “Their recent AI-powered integration tool is a good example of the kind of fast-moving innovation we’re backing, and exactly what it will take to capture that opportunity.”

Helcim plans to use the new capital to continue investing in its payments platform and to grow into additional financial services for its merchants. The company is also expanding partnerships with regional banks and credit unions that are moving away from traditional providers themselves, in search of a modern payments platform for their small business members.

“Credit unions need to continue to upgrade their product offering for their small business members in the communities they serve if they want to remain relevant, compete and retain deposits,” said Nick Evens, President and CEO at Curql. “Helcim’s payment hub is the best we have seen and their value proposition for the CUs is far more robust than what is currently in market.”

To learn more about Helcim, visit helcim.com.

About Helcim

Helcim is on a mission to build the world’s most loved payments company. Launched in 2020 and headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Helcim provides an all-in-one payments and software platform – including point of sale, invoicing, online checkout, a smart terminal, and embedded payments tools – built specifically for small and mid-sized businesses. Helcim serves more than 22,000 active merchants across North America and processes billions in payments annually. For more information, visit helcim.com.

About BDC

BDC focuses on small- and medium-sized business owners, providing them financing, investment, and advice. As Canada’s development bank, they also support entrepreneurs who don’t fit the traditional mold working with a network of partners and help develop underserved markets to unlock economic potential. Their mission is to build strong, resilient businesses that drive Canada’s economic growth. BDC is a perennial Canada’s Top 100 Employer and B Corp certified. Learn more at bdc.ca or connect on social media.

About Curql Collective

Curql, a collective of over 160 credit unions jointly investing in fintech, brings timely solutions to the credit union industry. With over 50 fintech investments in the portfolio, Curql ensures that technology is designed specifically for credit unions, allowing them to better serve their members and remain competitive in an evolving financial landscape. Interested in learning more about how Curql brings fintech to credit unions? Visit curql.com

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SOURCE Helcim

The lawsuit alleges the Madera Community Hospital failed to implement the enhanced security measures necessary to protect from unauthorized access to personally identifying information and protected health information.

MADERA, Calif., Aug. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Zakay Law Group, APLC filed a class action complaint against Madera Community Hospital, for allegedly failing to properly safeguard patients’ personal information and protected health information stored within Madera Community Hospital’s information network. The class action lawsuit, Case No. MCV099791, is currently pending in the Madera County Superior Court of the State of California.

According to the lawsuit, Madera Community Hospital was allegedly negligent, committed breaches of implied contracts, fiduciary duties and confident, and violated the California Unfair Competition Law (Business and Professions Code §§ 17200, et seq.), California Customer Records Act (California Civ. Code § 1798.80), California Consumer Privacy Act (California Civ. Code §§ 1798.150, et seq.), and the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (California Civ. Code §§ 56, et seq.).

Organizations like Madera Community Hospital that provide comprehensive emergency and other medical care regularly store personally identifying information and protected health information. Therefore, cybersecurity breaches like this one are concerning, as individuals whose information was exposed experience harms such as invasion of privacy, identify theft, fraudulent financial activity, exposure to phishing and scams, loss of time and resources spent securing one’s identity and medical information, and the ongoing anxiety and loss of peace of mind resulting from knowing that one’s most sensitive personal and medical data is no longer secure. Given such severe consequences, individuals who used Madera Community Hospital’s services reasonably expect that their data will be properly safeguarded.

If you would like to know more about the Madera Community Hospital data breach lawsuit, please contact Attorney Jackland Hom today by calling (619) 255-9047.

Zakay Law Group, APLC is law firm located in San Diego, California that serves employees and consumers across California and dedicates its practice to fighting for employees and consumers who have been wronged by having their sensitive personal information exposed due to businesses that failed to properly safeguard their information. Contact one of their attorneys today if you have had your personal information breached.

-THIS IS AN ATTORNEY ADVERTISEMENT (Rules Prof. Conduct, rule 7.2)-

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SOURCE Zakay Law Group, APC