[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We're now joined by Dr.

Cathy Rowe, who's Chair of the Lifelong Strong New Jersey Steering Committee.

Cathy, great to have you with us.

- Thank you for having me.

- Let everyone know what Lifelong Strong is.

- So, Lifelong Strong New Jersey, it's a collaborative campaign of advocates, thought leaders, philanthropists, academics who are urging our next governor to prioritize aging in policy, in all forms of policy, so that we can ensure that older adults can age and thrive in the Garden State.

- And you're also Executive Director of the New Jersey Advocates for Aging Well.

So, you have a great compelling op-ed piece, if you will.

- Thank you.

- Opinion editorial piece and spotlight.

This is a quote, "The next governor, Governor Sherrill, has 1.6 million reasons to prioritize aging."

Make the case.

- Well, it is true, 1.6 million New Jerseyans are age 65 and older, and that number is growing.

Proportionately, as a state, like many states, we are aging and it is time for us to prepare for that.

So during the first term of Governor Elect Sherrill, New Jerseyans are going to outnumber the students sitting in our classrooms.

It's time to strategically make change in how we do things, how we prioritize, and how we share our resources.

By 2034, adults aged 60 and older are gonna be 25% of New Jersey's population, and already 40% of our older residents can't meet their basic needs, so our state is aging, the proportion of older adults is aging, and we need to prepare for it now before it becomes a crisis.

We can get ahead of this curve.

- Cathy, I'm sorry for interrupting.

What does that agenda look like?

Top two or three items.

- Well, as Mikie Sherrill campaigned, affordability is a top issue in New Jersey, and that is the same for aging, so housing affordability, property tax relief, healthcare affordability.

- Energy costs.

- Energy costs too.

But we have many programs in New Jersey that help older adults or assist them with these challenges, but we can't keep putting a bandaid on this and fixing problems one-on-one, and we also need to look at helping all of our older residents, not only the most vulnerable, but all of our older adults.

- Cathy, why have you said, it's interesting you said that ageism is the only ism, racism, sexism, a lot isms.

- Yeah.

- You've said that it's sort of acceptable.

- I think it's more than sort of.

I think for some reason, it is still acceptable.

And ageism is discrimination against our future selves.

I mean, unless we all picture ourselves being put on the shelf somewhere, well, we're talking about ourselves, we're talking about our own futures, not just our grandparents or our aging parents.

What do we want as we age?

So if we continue to keep our ageism tendencies, we're just, we're not preparing for ourselves.

We're treating, we're othering ourselves, we're treating ourselves differently, and then we're not part of the conversation about what we want and need in our futures.

- Well, let me push back a little bit.

Some of us who are aging, are in the category you just talked about, we try to deny it.

Some of us lie about our age, others just deny it to ourselves.

That's not actually a strategy, is it?

If that makes any sense.

- No, I can- - In that world, it's not gonna happen.

It's not happening.

It's happening as we speak, so avoiding it, cosmetic surgery, whatever, all those things, you can't avoid it, so are you saying lean into it?

- Exactly, lean in and prepare, and you know, yeah, we do cosmetic surgery, change the way we look, the color of our hair, we can do that, that's all topical.

We're talking about the substance behind it.

What do we need?

Let's expect to age well into our 80s, into our 90s, and think about what we need.

We need housing, we need transportation, we need economic security.

We need social connections and actually things to do.

We're not gonna sit around in a rocking chair.

Let's blow up that ageism stereotype.

So let's lean in and think strategically about what we want and what we need to get there.

- You know, as I talk to my mom, who I know watches on a regular basis, who is 90, Ma, you can't lie about your age 'cause I've said it before on the air.

So my mom often will say to me, and because she loves going out and being around people, that one of the worst things for her, because she's so sharp, so smart, so engaged, so aware, is sometimes feeling isolated.

That's not uncommon, Cathy, is it?

- You are absolutely correct, it's not, and you know, for some reason we are rightfully focused on social isolation among our younger population, how social media has impacted that.

- That's right.

- That conversation about older adults who are socially isolated because their partner may have died or might not be this same person they've lived with all the years, their family has moved away, their friends are no longer mobile or nearby, so I think it's age, we know that this has a huge mental health impact on younger people.

It affects all of us at every stage of our life.

It's not that anything gets magically better when we turn 60 or 65.

All of the same issues are there, some are more pronounced, and we know now, from our previous surgeon general, that social connection and fighting loneliness is the equivalent of giving up smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.

This isn't just something nice, this is something necessary.

It affects our mental, physical, and social wellbeing.

- Hey Cathy, let's make sure we continue talking about issues impacting older New Jerseyans and Americans' ageism, and last time I checked, even though some of us tried to deny it by doing all sorts of things, and working out is great, and all those things are terrific, but in the end, I don't think any one of us can avoid getting older.

Let's do it together and let's lean in as Cathy said.

Hey, thank you, Cathy, appreciate it.

- Thank you for having me.

- We'll continue the conversation.

Stay with us.

We'll be right back.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by The Fund for New Jersey.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

Garden State Initiative New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

PSEG Foundation.

Holy Name.

The Adubado Center for Media Leadership.

Seton Hall University.

And by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Promotional support provided by Insider NJ.

And by NJBIA.

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