- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by Delta Dental of New Jersey.

Everyone deserves a healthy smile.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Let'’s be healthy together.

NJM Insurance Group.

Serving New Jersey'’s drivers, homeowners and business owners for more than 100 years.

PSEG Foundation.

The New Jersey Education Association.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Prudential Financial.

And by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Working for a more a healthier, more equitable New Jersey.

Promotional support provided by BestofNJ.com.

All New Jersey in one place.

And by ROI-NJ.

Informing and connecting businesses in New Jersey.

- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The way we change Presidents in this country is by voting.

- A quartet is already a jawn, it'’s just The New Jawn.

- January 6th was not some sort of violent, crazy outlier.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- I mean what other country sends comedians over to embedded military to make them feel better.

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

-_ It'’s not all about memorizing and getting information, it'’s what you do with that information.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Hey everyone, I'm Buki Elegbede and we are back for season two of "Table For All."

This season we are diving deeper into the rich cultures that make New Jersey and the Tri-State area so diverse.

And oh, the places we're gonna go.

A little Jamaican kick.

- Yeah, it's got a little kick.

(bright music) - Show me how to bust to a move, Nicaraguan style.

- Okay, here we go.

- We are turning up the volume on what we have always known, that everyone always has a seat at our table.

(bright music fades) - That guy is good.

That's Buki Elegbede who is host and executive producer of "Table For All."

Kicking off the second season on the great NJ PBS.

Buki, how you doing?

- I'm doing well Steve, how are you?

- I'm great, are you living the dream?

When you see that promo and I've watched so many of the, by the way checkout "Table For All" on NJ PBS.

When you're doing the show, you living the dream?

- I really am, I can't even deny it.

I can't even be, you know, shy about it.

When we're filming, when we're in the thick of it, we are literally living the dream.

And, you know, eating amazing food along the way.

- And, you know, for someone who has such a basic palette otherwise known as my wife says, "boring," I watch you and I'm thinking "he's got guts and he'll try anything."

And go back for a second, the creation of the series Buki, talk about it.

- Oh well so it's a little bit of a story.

I've always worked in television, I've always worked behind the scenes and on air doing other things.

And I took a job at NJ PBS and while I was working there just saw that there might be a little hole for something like this, so I pitched the idea to everyone who would listen and thankfully my wonderful Wizard of Oz, Joe Lee, loved the idea and green lit it, and here we are.

- And Joe Lee, the general manager at NJ PBS and also Buki, one of the contributors who books terrific guests for us, he was easy to book on our end because you're watching this show, you just you gotta love it.

Let me ask you this, I actually texted you the other day, 'cause I was going through some of the shows and I saw you at Giant Stadium for the tailgating.

How wild is the tailgating scene at Giant Stadium?

And then by the way, I think the next day I'm not sure when was it, the next week, you went to a Jets thing it wasn't tailgating it was inside.

It was much more fancy, let's say.

- Yeah that was the sweet life which I was born for.

But yeah, lemme tell you, those Giants fans they know how to party.

It was loud and chaotic and crazy.

And we wanted to start off the season with that episode because I mean, it really is a culmination of everything that we're talking about.

When you're a football fan, when you're a Jets fan, a Giants fan, they don't care where you come from, who you worship, what you're doing in the bedroom, as long as you're rooting for that team, you are family.

And that is a culture that we all can get behind.

- Have you always loved food?

- You know what's actually funny?

I like to cook more than I like to eat.

It's just something I've always grown up with.

I was always in the kitchen so I would rather cook than eat.

And I'm trying to lose all these COVID pounds from three years ago so I'm really trying to like not do it.

- By the way, no one's gonna buy that, but that's okay.

Food and culture make the connection.

- So, it's the reason why we started this show.

I mean food is a through-line of connection.

I mean, in Italy they're called zeppoles, but in Nigeria it's called puff-puff, it's all fried dough.

We all have a connection through food We all have a connection through food and it's a way to learn about each other.

I may not understand who you worship, I may not even understand your language, but I understand that your food is incredible.

And that's how we start building those bonds and bridges.

- And just to be clear, we're starting a series simply called "Food for Thought" about all different aspects of food in the state of New Jersey.

And Buki's program and NJ PBS is a big part of that.

Cultures you've covered, first of all, it says different countries and then it says football.

Football, philanthropy, Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Jewish food, Nigeria, West Indian.

Eclectic, I gotta ask you this, because I started out by telling how boring I am and my palate, are you ever reluctant to try something?

- No, I mean, I grew up in a Nigerian household and we were eating everything from chicken feet to cow foot, tripe, and people would, you know, they would yuck my yum.

So I love tripe, but a lot of people.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on.

They would what?

- They would yuck my yum.

So if you like something and somebody doesn't really appreciate it you say, "don't yuck my yum, 'cause it's delicious to me."

So, I understand that it's delicious to you, so I'm not gonna yuck your yum.

So of course I'm gonna respect you enough to try it.

- I love it.

Hey, when you're out there with a great team and I know the team behind the scenes never gets enough credit but they're out there with you.

Some of the toughest challenges you face out there.

- The funny thing is that people wouldn't know this, but I eat a lot of cold food because we're trying to set up the shots and get the lights together and everything and by the time that all happens, the food is cold.

But we still have to shoot it anyway.

It's a lot of back and forth.

It's a lot of planning it takes to get into Giant Stadium to get and do these things.

And also too, we want to be as respectful as possible to people's traditions and cultures.

And we don't wanna encroach or we don't want anyone to feel like they're being used or anything like that.

So, I feel like those are the challenges.

To really balance the respect but to really also try to get the job done.

- How open are people?

I mean you obviously let people know beforehand.

But then it strikes me as I watch it that some of it's on the fly, some of it's happening in real time.

How receptive are people to you just going up and talking to them about their food?

- I mean, I feel like people are very receptive.

I mean, you know, that's our job.

We have to settle those walls and we have to really get the core of what it is and be approachable.

And it's more so if I'm open, they'll be open.

- What can we expect this season on "Table For All" on NJ PBS.

By the way, when is it shown?

So everybody knows.

- Wednesdays at 8:00 and you can also see it on NJPBS.com and your PBS app.

- By the way, we'll put up the website as we talk here.

What can we expect this season, Buki?

- You can expect a whole lot of fun, a whole lot of food, a whole lot of culture and learning.

My favorite part about this show is that a lot of people come up to me and say, "oh, I never knew that before, that's something I just found out."

So a lot of history.

We give you history, we give you culture we give you food and we give you understanding.

And we hope that it just opens up your heart a little bit more.

- Your confidence to be so bold, just go right up and do your thing and a series like this, which is so groundbreaking comes from where, your confident?

- That's a really good question because I was a very shy child.

I used to literally grab onto my mom and hold on for dear life.

I don't know, I just think when you find something that really is in line with who you are and it just flows, that the confidence comes.

- Yeah, hey Buki, you are a treasure to the public television family and I want make sure everybody checks out "Table For All" on NJ PBS.

We thank you very much.

And to Joe Lee and the team there and for signing off on the show second season as we speak.

Thank you Buki.

- Thank you Steve.

- Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- We're now joined by Dr. Michal Herman, who is COO of KinderSmile Foundation.

Good to see you, Dr. Herman.

- Good to see you, as well.

Thank you for having me.

- It's our pleasure.

We'll put up the website for KinderSmile Foundation.

Tell everyone what it is, because you do important work.

- So the mission of KinderSmile Foundation is to provide underserved children and families with access to oral health education and dental care.

We were founded in 2007, and in the last 16 years, we've offered dental care to over 43,000 children.

- How much did the pandemic hurt the effort to provide quality accessible dental care, particularly for younger people in underserved communities?

How bad was the impact?

- It was large.

So during the pandemic, we originally closed for three and a half months, just like the rest of the dental field.

And usually pre-pandemic, we used to go to schools and community centers and offer preventive care at schools and community centers.

And for those three years, we hardly did any visits.

This year, we finally were able to go back to our community, and already this year we've served almost a thousand children at schools and community centers.

So during the pandemic, kids were more sedentary, they ate more snack foods, they were less active, and, you know, cavities really expanded.

And access to care has, you know, been difficult for a lot of those children.

- Doctor, to put this in perspective.

Help people understand why oral care for young people is so incredibly important, because it isn't just, I shouldn't say that, it's beyond cavities.

- So we say that oral health is the gateway to total health and wellbeing.

We know that oral health affects the entire body.

So periodontal disease can affect heart disease, diabetes, it could affect lots of things in the body, including leading to death.

So when KinderSmile first founded, it was founded after the death of Deamonte Driver who died in Maryland.

He was 12 years old and died from infection, a tooth infection that traveled to the brain.

And that was kind of the catalyst to why this foundation was first founded.

- Wait, there was a 12 year old boy, where?

- In Maryland - And it was what?

- It was a tooth infection.

He had an abscess and they lacked access to care.

They lost their Medicaid.

Mom tried to take him to different places.

It just wasn't the right timing for them unfortunately.

And he ended up in the hospital for two weeks with a brain infection and ended up dying from a brain infection, from a tooth infection that traveled to the brain.

And he's just one case, so there had been others.

But this is the one that was the catalyst for this foundation, and for a lot of changes that happened in Maryland since then in terms of access to care, and changes in Medicaid and everything that happened in that state.

- Doctor, you talk about Maryland, is it state by state, you know, oral care, dental care, for the underserved community?

Is it state by state or is it national policy?

- Nationally, Medicaid is required to cover dental care, but each state makes their own decisions about how that dental care is covered by Medicaid.

So in New Jersey we have five MCOs, which are the Managed Care Organizations that cover the Medicaid children.

In Maryland, that was changed to one, one Medicaid provider after that death.

Here we have five Medicaid providers, MCOs and each reimbursed at a different rate.

And the rates of those reimbursements are much lower than the rate that New Jersey allows for Medicaid reimbursements to be.

So unfortunately, we don't have enough Medicaid providers to be able to provide access to all the children that are covered by Medicaid.

- So we're gonna continue to put up the website for KinderSmile, KinderSmile Foundation.

Question, what are dental homes, A?

And B, where are they?

- A dental home is a place where a child is linked to for permanent dental care.

So having a dental home eliminates the need for families to go to emergency rooms for preventable dental diseases.

So dental disease is preventable and a lot of people who are not linked to a permanent dental home, meaning they don't have an actual dentist of their own, end up going to the emergency rooms for the dental needs, for emergency pain, infection, swelling.

Those visits cost the taxpayers $749 per visit for up to $2 billion in the United States every year.

- How'd you get involved in this?

- So when I went to dental school, my whole entire dental career, I always wanted to do public health.

I always wanted to be involved in public health.

My residency was related to public health.

And when I came out of school after my kids were born, and I was ready to go back to school, I found KinderSmile and I started volunteering with KinderSmile as a provider in schools and community centers, yeah.

And then went to do another job for, you know, in schools and community centers.

And then came back to KinderSmile as a program dentist and then became COO.

- Where's your funding come from?

- A lot of it comes from reimbursements.

Even though the reimbursements per patient are very minimal for Medicaid reimbursements, about 80% of our patients, or 75% of our patients are reimbursed by Medicaid.

We also get grants, donations, fundraising, and yeah.

And volunteer providers.

Some volunteer providers.

- Could you do that real quick?

Volunteer providers.

So these are dentists, dental oral health professionals who decide they are going to volunteer their time, correct?

- Yes.

So we have a program called "Give Back A Smile" program.

- What's it called?

"Give Back a Smile?"

- Yes, "Give Back a Smile."

And that offers volunteer dentists and dental hygienists the opportunity to come and serve uninsured children.

So whether they do it two hours a month, or one school visit a month, or every week, we appreciate every minute of their time.

- Real quick, before I let you go, I was reading an article in New York Times the other day about that there are fewer dental hygienists, or there people are moving around and so dentists are doing more work that others are doing, and I don't want to complicate things, but has the pandemic impacted your industry?

You're shaking your head.

Go ahead.

- Yes.

Yes.

So there's a huge thing, that's why you read about it in the New York Times.

There's a huge thing right now about workforce development in the dental field.

So dentists, dental hygienists, and dental assistants have all kind of moved away from joining this field it appears because of the pandemic.

So it was a very high-risk profession during the pandemic, 'cause the aerosols that we produced during our treatment, aside from everything else that everyone else was experiencing, the aerosols that we produce were making it high-risk.

- Where are we now?

Where are we now with this?

- Everyone is trying to hire dental assistants and dental hygienists.

So we definitely want more people to join the field.

- Incredibly important.

Dr. Herman, is the COO of KinderSmile Foundation.

Check out their work.

You're doing important work, particularly for those who are underserved and need dental care, because as you said, say that again, the pathway to all other, put that in perspective.

- Oral health is the gateway to overall health and wellbeing.

- Well said.

Doctor, thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Thank you so much, Steve.

- Important work.

We'll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- We now welcome Dr. Michael Salvatore, Senior Vice President of the Administration at Kean University, one of our higher education partners, and co-hosts of the podcast, "Urban Impact", produced by Kean.

Hey, good to see you, Michael.

- Good to see you.

Happy to be here!

- You got it.

Listen, we'll put up the website for the university.

This is part of our series called, "Urban Matters", we're doing in cooperation with Kean University and other supporters of that initiative.

But what is "Urban Impact", that podcast?

- So "Urban Impact" is kind of the brainchild of our president, Dr. Lamont Repollet.

And I actually think it started during COVID, when people were exploring different forms of media.

And he said, "What about the listeners out there?

How are they gonna know, you know?

Let's, why don't we take advantage of our radio show?"

And somewhere along that concept, some, I think people were like, "Do we really wanna do radio?"

You know, "Who's gonna listen to this?"

And we eventually steered to a path of a podcast, which is, as you know, are uber popular.

So we said, "Well, what are we gonna talk about?

You know, this is not gonna be just a music thing.

What is it gonna be?"

And he said, "I think it needs to be around our research agenda."

I mean, we've been talking about urban research.

We're getting the designation at that point- - Hold on, back up.

- Sure.

- Do us a favor, Dr. Salvatore.

Put in perspective the designation about urban research for Kean, please.

- Sure.

So when the president came in, one of the pillars, the things that he wanted to achieve, was to set a research agenda.

But in order to do that, he also wanted to aggressively pursue an R2 Carnegie designation, which meant you had to have legislative support, which also meant that we applied to be, well, we worked with legislators to gain the designation as an urban research university in New Jersey, actually, the first and only urban research university in New Jersey.

- That's important.

And so the podcast you do in cooperation, your co-host is Barbara George Johnson, and Barbara is a leader at Kean as well.

And I guess, what I heard is Lamont, Dr. Repollet, saw the chemistry between you and the rest is history.

But your connection to urban issues, you have real passion and a personal connection.

Talk about that, Michael.

- Sure, it's where I grew up and spent most of my professional career, all of my professional career, in an urban community.

So I- - Where?

- I grew up in Keansburg, New Jersey, and I work- - 117, off the Parkway.

- Yeah, that's what everybody knows about, the amusement park there, right?

That's about it, they know, right?

So a very urban community.

When I went to college, I went to Monmouth University, which is right next to Long Branch, a city.

I started doing school practicums in the city schools there, and eventually came out of school, got a job there as a preschool special ed teacher, one of the few before early childhood expansion.

I worked, became a principal in Gregory City School there.

I worked to become assistant sup.

and then superintendent for 10 years in that community.

And when we talk about urban issues in education, it's something I've lived for a long time, and I certainly understand the, not just the point of advocacy and providing a voice, but putting things into action, putting those insights into action and making things happen.

- You know, the issue of AI, artificial intelligence, you smile when I say that.

We're starting to do more and more programming in that area to try to understand, first of all, what we're talking about and the impact of it.

Why is AI, artificial intelligence, why is that a particularly important issue as it relates to urban matters?

- Sure, so if you dissect the artificial intelligence, it's only as good as search.

So if you realize that the so-called experts, right, who feed the brain of the internet, if you just realize they're people, and they're people from different countries with different priorities, different backgrounds, and different biases, which are really important to talk about.

So if they're feeding that engine, or that brain, and the artificial intelligence is using that as its primary source, we've gotta be really careful, because it's only as good as the information put in.

And we know there's sayings around that.

I work here in data; I live around the data function at the university.

So we typically say, "garbage in, garbage out," but that's what applies to artificial intelligence.

You, it is intuitive, but it's intuitive based upon the experts that have inputted information and designed the algorithms.

So this was one of my favorite episodes.

It was the last episode we did- - Of the podcast.

- Yes- - Yeah, go ahead, I'm sorry.

- Well, we talked about it, because we talked about it from a science perspective, where our research scientists here were really enthused about its ability to write code and be predictive.

And then we talked about it from a literacy perspective, where we had an English teacher talk about how they're using it in their classroom.

And she was really concerned about the ethics behind the so-called experts.

And that was my concern originally.

Whenever we talk about artificial intelligence, you have this idea of when we were kids, looking at these sci-fi movies and the robots taking over the world.

We've just got to be concerned, who's writing the patterns, the algorithms for the so-called brain of artificial intelligence, so- - But what does it have to do with urban... What does that have to do with urban communities?

- So part of our research is, how is that applied to urban settings?

How are designers in urban communities, how are the economics carried out in urban communities, and how are they using these tools to be predictive, or even prescriptive in their approach?

I mean, we are only as good as the information we put in.

So when we're talking about its relativity to urbanization, it's gonna be all connected.

I don't foresee an industry that's not tapping into artificial intelligence.

And what we know is we have, through research, we know that we have to kind of dissect our urban communities and what tools they're using to advance society to provide an education.

And my experience in my other seat prior to coming to Kean University, the tools we were using in urban communities were becoming more predictive and prescriptive than ever before.

You used to have a digital worksheet, that was something fun to use at the turn of the century.

But now, they are measuring your progress each step of the way.

So artificial intelligence is already part of education.

And we've got to be mindful of those inputs and outputs.

- One of the many topics that's explored on "Urban Impact", the podcast produced by Kean University, Dr. Michael Salvatore and the folks at Kean University, our higher ed partner.

I want to thank you so much.

We appreciate it, doctor.

- Thank you.

- I'm Steve Adubato, thanks for watching.

We'll see you next time.

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

Funding has been provided by Delta Dental of New Jersey.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

RWJBarnabas Health.

NJM Insurance Group.

PSEG Foundation.

The New Jersey Education Association.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Prudential Financial.

And by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Promotional support provided by BestofNJ.com.

And by ROI-NJ.

Hey, kids, PBS Kids and Delta Dental want you to have a healthy smile.

So here are some tips for you to remember.

Number one, eat plenty of crunchy fruits and vegetables.

Number two, brush your teeth after eating sugary snacks or drinking sodas.

And number three, drink lots of water to wash away food particles.

When your teeth are happy, all of you is happy.

From PBS Kids and Delta Dental.

Have a healthy smile.