- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of Think Tank with Steve Adubato has been provided by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

PSE&G, committed to providing safe, reliable energy now and in the future.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Rutgers University Newark.

An anchor institution that is both in Newark and of Newark.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

The Turrell Fund, supporting Reimagine Childcare.

MD Advantage Insurance Company.

And by Johnson & Johnson.

Promotional support provided by AM970 The Answer.

And by The New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

[MOTIVATIONAL MUSIC] - Hi, I'm Steve Adubato coming to you remotely.

Listen, I don't know how long it's gonna be, but we'll keep doing, compelling public policy oriented program and we kick off today with Barry Ostrwosky, President and CEO, RWJBarnabas Health.

Good to see you Barry.

- Same here Steve, thanks for having me.

The co-authoring this book, "Changing Missions, Changing Lives."

How a Change Agent Can Turn one Ship and Create Impact.

What's it about, and why does it matter so much?

You are the co-author of it.

- Well, Steve I think it's about our journey here at RWJBarnabas Health.

About four years ago, we decided, that great clinical healthcare is a terrific thing but it's not enough to make our communities healthy.

And so we invested in an entire platform of social impact programming, and that changed the mission of the organization.

And so we have a very simplistic goal, whatever we do needs to be adjudicated in the realm, of have we made the community healthier.

The data is clear, the academic research is clear, simply having clinical programs is insufficient.

That's only a 30 to 35% impact.

The rest of it for the most part are social issues.

And so we wrote this book to basically say to others, if it's your intent to help people, or if your core business is something other than healthcare but you feel and should feel an obligation, to improve the communities you serve, here's an approach to do so.

You can adopt a mission, that links that would you do directly to the community, and you can build social programs, that will have great impact, on those who live in our communities.

Frankly, we couldn't be happier having done that.

It will take a long time for some of these programs, to show the kinds of results we all aspire to see, but nonetheless it's galvanized our employees, it's motivated all of us to do more, to help our communities, and needless to say, we're talking to each other in the midst of the second surge of COVID, and our communities are suffering now more than ever.

We're delighted with the new mission which is now four and a half years old, but we encourage others to consider the same.

- By the way, I disclosed a couple of things.

Michellene Davis, the co author of that book, a board member of ours, RWJBarnabas Health.

A long time supporter of public broadcasting, including what we're doing.

Barry, you were on the board of NJTV, are you not?

- I am yes.

- Yes, you admit that.

- I do (both laughs) - And you- - I don't have my own show, I don't have my own show, but I'm on the board.

- Well, we're working on it.

(both chuckles) Barry here's the other part of this.

What I often think about is, with healthcare organizations, yours and other large systems and other smaller systems under hospitals, are struggling financially in the age of COVID.

Big time, right?

How do you meet the bottom line needs of a massive healthcare organization like RWJBarnabas Health, but still keep this commitment, to an anti-racism initiative, fighting against the social determinants of health, having social impact.

How do they balance out?

- That is a great question, Steve and it isn't a challenge.

It would be disingenuous for me to suggest, that it's an easy thing to do.

We're fortunate, we've had multiple years of outstanding margin growth, we've accumulated resources, and so the choice is, how do you allocate the resources you have acquired, versus how much money you may be earning at that given time?

And it's been our decision, that we would use that which we've been able to accumulate over time, and make sure that we allocated it to the social programs, and of course our anti-racism journey, that we began not long ago.

Now, no one pays for that.

So we need to pay for it ourselves.

In our case, when we look at next year, and we see there'll be hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue, that we will not collect, we made an overt decision, that unlike the usual industrial response by organizations like ours, to reduce the workforce, we're laying no one off.

That is going to in fact, reduce our ability to create any margin.

It'll reduce our ability to take in maximum revenue, but still it is our commitment, that if we were to lay people off and reduce workforce, just to balance the books, we'd be creating more hurt to our communities.

So in our case, we're effectively using, that which we have accumulated over time.

Now you can find efficiency, and you can in fact go by for a year or two, living at more or less a breakeven or even a bit of a loss.

But in my view, if you retrench from the mission, if you step back from improving the communities, you've lost it.

And so you have to continue.

- You know, what's interesting, the other thing is, I've done a fair amount of leadership and communication coaching at RWJBarnabas Health.

And one of the areas with clinical professionals is around frankly, persuading people.

What I mean by that is, I'm talking about the vaccine.

Now we're taping on the 8th of December.

This will be seen largely in 2021 first quarter, heavily.

Persuading people, convincing people, that, particularly in communities of color, that this vaccine is safe.

Now, I don't know all the details about what the FDA has done or hasn't done.

And that's our job in the media to do that.

But here's my question.

How important is it that you and the clinicians that are RWJBarnabas Health, lead a public awareness initiative around this vaccine?

Having it as one thing administering it to those who need it's another, go ahead.

- You're absolutely right, Steve.

I spent last week, a couple of days, working on programs, that will attempt to persuade everyone in our communities to in fact, be vaccinated.

There's no question about the fact that people are skeptical, of a variety of things having to do with the vaccine.

How it was developed, how quickly it was developed.

There's almost an idea that this is too good news, to really accept.

And so people are rejecting it to a certain extent.

Candidly, my worry is the vulnerable communities.

There the skepticism, is not only about the development of the vaccine, but decades, if not centuries of healthcare, dismissing the needs of black people and others who live in vulnerable communities.

- All right, hold it right there Barry.

If you wanna check out what Barry is saying, check out two words, the Tuskegee Experiment and that will explain a lot.

Pick up from there Barry.

- That's exactly right.

And so, In addition to talking about the legitimacy of the vaccine, we have to break down, and it exists unfortunately rightfully, break down this concern, that the healthcare system, is pushing something onto a vulnerable community that's not yet ready to be absorbed.

We, it's an a must, We must convince people to do that.

Now there's a whole other aspect, that you and I have talked about for years, and you've helped lead our people to understand.

We have to learn how to deal, and talk to the consumer better.

For years it's been a very arrogant relationship.

We're in healthcare, you're sick, we take care of you.

We've never really been sufficiently transparent.

We've never been engaging in the kind of discussions and dialogue that places the patient on equal footing.

And as a result, the patient has never taken responsibility generally for him or herself.

That's our fault, not the consumer's fault.

And so here's a perfect example, where we have to ensure that the consumer, not only trusts us, but understands that what we're advocating, is for the benefit of the consumer.

And that's something frankly we're not terribly good at.

- And by the way, as we leave this segment with Barry, check out an interview I did with the great Alan Alda.

Alan Alda, he teaches and coaches, scientists to communicate in non-scientific terms, clinicians as well.

And a lot of area, my research, my work outside of broadcasting, is communicating to non- clinical, non-technical, non-legal, Barry is a lawyer by training, I'm not gonna go into detail but that's what Barry is referring to.

That being said, we have a job to do.

Those of us in the media and the healthcare world, to keep educating and informing those about the vaccine, and responding to those questions legitimately.

Legitimate questions.

Barry Ostrowsky, President and CEO, RWJBarnabas Health.

- Good to see you Steve.

Thanks so much.

We'll back right after this.

To watch more Think Tank with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

- We're joined once again by the president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, Mr. Joe Fiordaliso.

Joe, good to see you.

- Nice to see you, Steve, thank you.

So Joe, we're taping this at the end of 2020, be seen in 2021.

Some folks might think clean energy, and we're very involved in a public awareness initiative around clean energy.

Oh, that takes a break during COVID, not the case, right?

- Not the case at all.

As a matter of fact, the wheels of the BPU continue to turn and offshore wind, Steve, has become really the centerpiece of our clean energy program.

Of course, along with solar.

- Let's go, I'm sorry for interrupting Joe, by the way, let's also make clear, the Board of Public Utility regulates the utilities, the cable, what do you regulate, Joe?

It's an awful lot.

- Okay.

We regulate all investor owned utilities, water, telecommunications, cable, all the electric companies, Public Service, JCP&L, Atlantic City Electric, Rockaway, Rockland and the gas companies.

So we have a full plate and that really was our primary obligation for many years until 1999 when the legislature designated us as the clean energy office for the state of New Jersey.

- Yeah, so let's talk about this offshore wind development.

Without getting into the weeds of this process, what is it and why does it matter so much particularly for the people of our state and region?

- Well, it matters so much because it brings us one step closer, Steve, to our goal of 2050.

And that goal is 100% renewable energy by that year and an 80% reduction in carbon.

So by 2035, we wanna have 7,500 megawatts of power which would serve millions of homes in New Jersey generated by wind, off shore, 15 miles off the coast, which is not an eyesore and something that is one step closer to bringing us to that reality.

- Why is that so important, Mr. President?

- Well, it's so important, Steve, because climate change is real and there are many smarter scientists than I who are trying to figure out how to keep the earth at a temperature that will help to mitigate climate change.

And that's what we're trying to do here in New Jersey by reducing our carbon output.

And we have to keep in mind that 40% of our carbon output comes from transportation.

So we have to electrify and the way to do that is to, renewable energy and slowly get our reliance off of fossil fuels.

- I only call Joe Joe is because we've known each other a long time but President Fiordaliso, I wanna ask you this, there's a new president, as this program is gonna be seen into 2021, Joe Biden will be the president.

How much difference does it make, Joe, who the president is and what federal policy is as it relates to quote unquote clean energy versus what the Board of Public Utilities, Governor Murphy does on their own?

- Like can New Jersey separate itself from everyone else?

- No, no.

And Governor Murphy has done a remarkable job.

He has laid out a vision here that New Jersey can follow and become an example for other states in the United States.

And does it mean a difference when we have a Joe Biden as president?

I can't overstate that enough.

- What could they do?

By the way, what federal agencies, Joe, are actually involved in the kind of energy policy we're talking about?

Is it the EPA or the Department of Energy?

- The EPA gets involved but the Department of Energy is the primary agency, department that we can cooperate with.

And it all depends on what emphasis the President of the United States puts on clean energy and President Elect Biden is going to put that emphasis on clean energy.

And I am so thankful for all of us, particularly for your children and my grandchildren, Steve, that we're going to have a president who puts such an emphasis on clean energy because we have to mitigate the effects of climate change.

We have a moral obligation to future generations to do that.

- Joe, do you think, and by the way, I'm gonna ask our folks to put up our slogan.

We have an initiative called Democracy at a Crossroads and someone might ask, well what the heck does energy policy have to do with a representative democracy?

And I'll try to make it clear.

There's a lot of folks who believe they have the right to have this thing called alternative facts, okay?

They have a different reality and, okay, you have a different opinion but the facts around climate change, can you have this thing called alternative facts?

You listen to a certain network, they're telling you the climate change is not real, certain elected officials, not that big a deal, or are the facts the facts about climate change, question here, I promise.

And that is part of a representative democracy, dealing with reality.

- Indeed it does.

And data doesn't lie.

(Steve laughs) The facts don't lie.

They tell you the truth.

And if we're smart enough to jump on that truth and do something about it, because I believe we can do anything we want as human beings.

And if we are smart enough to jump on this and say we need a national effort, not just New Jersey, but a national effort.

And under President Elect Biden, we're gonna get that national effort, I believe.

And because we can do everything we wanna do here in New Jersey.

But as we know, the wind comes from west to east.

And if some of our state friends west of us are burning coal, it affects our air.

So we need a national approach.

- By the way, Joe Fiordaliso mentions, he refers to Vice President Biden as president elect.

This will be seen while he's president elect and after, while he's president.

Before I let you go, Joe, how about this.

Real quick, can I get a minute or less on how COVID has impacted the effort here?

Because you said the effort doesn't stop but COVID, first of all, the meetings are remote.

It's got an impact, right?

- Well, it does to some extent, Steve but I'm very proud of our staff.

They have really not skipped a beat here.

You're talking about outstanding public servants who see and have bought into the vision because it's right.

The data shows it, the facts show it, the scientists show it, and that's what we have to rely on.

And if we don't rely on that, then we're going haphazardly into different directions and we can't do that, it's too important.

- That is Joe Fiordaliso.

By the way, we put up the website for the Board of Public Utilities to find out more about what they are doing in a whole range of areas.

We're committed to public education and awareness around these energy related issues.

Joe Fiordaliso is the president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

Mr. President, I want to thank you so much for joining us, all the best, Joe.

- And all the best to you and thanks so much for having me.

- You got it, I'm Steve Adubato, we'll be right back.

To watch more Think Tank with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

- We're pleased to welcome Nadia Hussain, who is a maternal justice campaign director at MomsRising.

Nadia, great to see you.

- Great to see you, thanks for having me.

- Tell everyone what MomsRising is as we put up the website.

- MomsRising, I call it a movement and not just an organization of over a million members who work on advocating for policies that impact moms, children, and families.

- There's some stats that are just so alarming.

You know them better than anyone, I'll put them out there.

In New Jersey alone, black women are seven times more likely to die from pregnancy complications than white women.

Still?

No real progress?

- Nationally, the rate is black women dying at three to four times the rate of white women, that's even including education, economic status.

So it's independent of all of that.

And this is a rate nationally, that's gone unchanged for decades since at least the twenties.

And in New Jersey, it's actually worse than even the national average.

- Okay, so you're gonna see our team's gonna put up the Confronting Racism graphic because this is about institutional racism, racial disparities on so many levels, social determinants of health, et cetera.

How about this one?

On average, 47 women die for every 100,000 live births in New Jersey compared to 20 women nationally.

- New Jersey women unfortunately die at two times the rate of women nationally.

And yet we do have a national crisis around maternal health.

So the obvious question Nadia is, I'm not sure there's not one reason.

What are some of the main reasons for this?

- I'll be honest, one of the biggest reasons is access to healthcare.

It's estimated that 60% of maternal deaths could be avoided with better health care access.

That's preventable.

There's no reason-- - 60, wait, hold on, I can't let you just get past that.

60% of maternal deaths preventable, how?

- Access to healthcare.

Our healthcare system in this country as we know, is broken.

Now, there's been obviously movement to improve it.

The ACA has helped, the affordable care act.

- The affordable care act, right.

- Expanding Medicaid.

Where in the affordable care act, one of the main things it did was expand Medicaid, ensure that if you had given birth before that wasn't a pre-existing condition, which is ridiculous.

But expanding Medicaid help save so many people who give birth.

but as we know, it wasn't mandated that everybody do this.

So, so many States haven't expanded the Medicaid.

Another thing with expanding Medicaid, which is one of the things that MomsRising and many other organizations are working on is that so many women actually die as soon as Medicaid ends.

So in many States within that two month period when Medicaid ends, you see an increase in maternal deaths.

So actually, increasing Medicaid access to not just when you gave birth, but a year after birth, that postpartum period is really crucial to impacting these numbers.

- Let me ask you this, because so much of our work as broadcasters focuses on public policy, less politics and elections but that matters because it influences, I mean elections matter, and public policies impacted.

So here's my question.

How much of what we're talking about, from your perspective at MomsRising is addressed by federal public policy around these issues versus state or is it a combination of both?

- I will be honest.

I think both are, not I think, I know that both are equally as important.

In the federal level, in 2018, we were actually able to pass something called the preventing maternal deaths act.

That was kind of the first really big piece of legislation to even begin addressing this issue.

And what that did was just open up some research and data because the issue was, in over 10 years we didn't even have accurate data of what was happening to women.

How do you even address the issue or even work on these policies without that data?

So that's what that did.

And that was the first step because you mentioned the racial disparities.

Right now in Congress about a year ago, with this blue wave that happened again, not making this political, but just being honest, a lot of women entered Congress, a lot of mothers entered Congress, and The Black Maternal Health Caucus was established.

And that caucus, one of the reasons it was established was the leadership of black women led organizations like Black Mamas Matter Alliance who had the lived experience to really inform this.

That organization, sorry, that caucus started something-- - The congressional caucus.

- The congressional caucus, it's literally called, it's called The Black Maternal Health Caucus.

It's actually a caucus around black maternal health.

And they established something called the Black Maternal Health Momnibus.

Which is a momnibus bill, it's an omnibus meaning it's a bunch of bills but it's called the momnibus because it has a packet of bills that will really be addressing these disparities we're seeing on that national level.

And it does that by actually giving money to a lot of the States to implement some of these policies.

- But Nadia, I wanna be clear because we're doing this at the end of 2020.

There'll be a new president Joe Biden on the 20th of January, this will be seen after.

You're saying that there was bipartisan support for this in Congress and it was supported by the Trump White House at the time.

- Yes, President Trump signed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act into law.

And I will give so much credit to the organizations on the ground, the organizations on the hill, including MomsRising, that really, one of the things MomsRising does is we share our stories, right?

We have members in every single state.

So it was bipartisan, and we reached out to Republican and democratic members of Congress to let them know what was happening in their districts.

And you won't believe, maybe you will believe how many members of Congress have personally felt impacted by maternal deaths.

Actually, the co-sponsor, the lead co-sponsor of the bill, the preventing maternal deaths act was a Republican woman out of Washington state, a Republican member of Congress.

- And by the way, it's interesting.

This is not political, but in fact, it is a fact that of the women who were elected, of the Republicans who were elected to the House in the 2020 election, a disproportionate number of them are women.

Is that reason to be more hopeful in this regard?

- I think what women are able to do and studies have shown this is we're actually more likely to reach across the aisle, be more bipartisan, come up with more solutions, introduce more groundbreaking pieces of legislation, because regardless of political party, many of us as either mothers or women are just, we have lived experience and we know what other mothers and women go through.

- 30 seconds left, impact of COVID on this initiative, on these issues?

- COVID has been devastating as you can imagine, the racial disparities have only gotten worse.

A new report just came out, showing that comorbidities with a pregnant woman getting COVID, her death rate goes up, and that also falls along racial lines, there's a lot of work to be done.

When the pandemic hit, people were not able to bring in their doulas into their rooms.

And so that's been another problem.

Another thing I will say really quickly is the reproductive justice access to maternal health.

That together is another way to improve all of this.

- Nadia, we learned a lot from having you and I assure you we'll have you again, you and your colleagues at MomsRising.

Nadia Hussain, I wanna thank you so much for joining us.

- Thank you so much.

- You got it.

I'm Steve Adubato, Thank you so much for joining us, and we'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] Think Tank with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

PSE&G.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Rutgers University Newark.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

The Turrell Fund, supporting Reimagine Childcare.

MD Advantage Insurance Company.

And by Johnson & Johnson.

Promotional support provided by AM970 The Answer.

And by The New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

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