- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of State of Affairs with Steve Adubato has been provided by The Turrell Fund, supporting Reimagine Childcare.

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[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC] - Hi, everyone, Steve Adubato.

We welcome Jean Stennett, Vice President of Oncology Services at Holy Name, to disclose, one of our healthcare underwriters.

Jean, good to have you with us.

- Thank you, thanks so much for having me.

- You know, the question of cancer screenings, where are we as we move forward in 2023 compared to pre-pandemic, the pre-pandemic situation in terms of who's getting screened, how often are they getting screened, and what's the problem, loaded question, I know, with a lot of folks not getting screened?

- So I mean, I do think people are coming back to screening, but there is concern nationally that there will be an increase in later detection of cancer because people did not get screened during the pandemic.

So at Holy Name, I haven't personally seen an uptick in cancer diagnosis or late stage cancer diagnosis as a result of fared screening, but people do consider that a national concern, and it may be the case.

I think patients will make a decision about coming back.

I think during the pandemic, we were certainly in a situation where we were treating patients both virtually and in-person.

And I think many organizations are actually doing the same.

But I think that it still remains to be seen the impact of people not getting screened during the pandemic.

- So let's go through each one of these areas.

Breast cancer screenings, what is the best advice?

I know everyone's different, everyone's got a different family history, whole bunch of issues.

Breast cancer screening, best advice, please.

- So the first thing to do is to talk to your primary care provider and/or gynecologist in the instance of breast cancer and/or mammography, which is typically starting at age 40, but in many cases starts much earlier dependent on family history and sometimes genetics.

But mammography is the gold standard still for detecting breast cancer, and the earlier you do it, the better, so age 40 would be the time to start.

Even earlier than that is breast self-exam, which many women are encouraged to do starting at the age of 20 or beyond.

- Prostate cancer.

- Prostate cancer is still screened via blood test.

Starting age can be between 40 and 55.

Again, the most important thing is to talk to your doctor, 'cause they'll help to guide you and help you understand what your personal circumstance means that you should do in terms of getting that testing.

But certainly, the blood test, it's called PSA, it screens for a hormone that helps you to understand the levels of the prostate activity.

- So let's do this.

I disclose a whole bunch of issues, particularly who our underwriters are, but let me also disclose that I know that I'm scheduled for a colonoscopy.

Hope that is valuable in its public service in some ways for those watching.

What is the considered best practice when it relates to colon cancer screenings, colonoscopies?

- Mm-hmm.

So the guidelines now, and there are guidelines for each screening, are that some type of colon cancer screening should start at age 45.

In many instances, there's also a non-invasive test, a stool test called Cologuard.

The issue with Cologuard is that if it turns out to be something, you have to do the colonoscopy anyway, but it again, in collaboration with your primary care physician, they'll help to guide each patient on what the best thing to do to get screened for colon cancer is, but certainly starting at age 45.

- With technology changing so rapidly, are there quote, home tests for any of this?

- Cologuard is actually a test that you do at home.

- It is?

- Yes, it's a stool test, and you mail it in to the company that runs the test, but you still have to go to your doctor to get the packet or have the packet shipped to you.

- You know, it's so interesting, as I'm listening to you, Jean, it strikes me that a healthcare professional, a public health expert like yourself, you're here with us trying to provide valuable, important information about people's health, protecting themselves and their loved ones.

But the larger question from my perspective that I struggle with is how many people don't trust the quote, public health infrastructure?

And I don't know if that means government, people in government engaged in public health, whether it's private hospitals like yours and others.

To what degree do you believe that public health and medical advice has become so politicized for so many that's hard to just give, hey, this is what the science tells us, please?

- I have to admit that I think people have responsibility to take care of themselves, right?

And so regardless of where society leads you, regardless of what society makes you think, your responsibility is to yourself.

And that means engaging in the right things to keep yourself healthy.

And screening for cancer is one of those things for sure.

And while I'm willing to accept and admit that sometimes societal factors impact those decisions, I still think people need to be in touch with themselves and make the best decisions, the best decisions for themselves, the best decisions for their families, and look more internally for the guidance on that and attached to a position that you trust that can help you to make the most appropriate decisions.

- It's interesting you talk about a trust, a physician, but you've also talked, you told our producers about a multidisciplinary team approach if in fact you're diagnosed with cancer.

Explain that in a way that folks can relate to and understand, please.

- It's really the best way that cancer care is practiced now.

And in many ways, I wouldn't necessarily say it's innovative, but it is the best way.

A multidisciplinary approach brings all of the providers together to collaborate, to consider the personal and medical factors of each individual to make the best decisions on the right course of treatment, right?

So in cancer care, there's medical oncology, radiation oncology, and surgical oncology.

And if those team of physicians are getting together to decide what's best for the patient, it's much easier, and much more appropriate, and likely to have a better outcome for the patient in deciding what's the appropriate course of action for them.

That's the gold standard, I'd say.

- Just to be clear, language matters.

Providers, when you say providers, you mean physicians?

- Yes, physicians, and sometimes advanced practice providers are part of those teams.

But honestly, in considering all of the health-related factors, there are social workers, there are nurses- - Lot of players.

- A lot of players in the equation that all get together in these multidisciplinary teams to help decide what's best for the patient to do.

- By the way, I wanna just give a shout-out here and acknowledge that in 2022, you were recognized by ROI, our media partners, ROI Influencer Women in Business, top women in business who have the most influence.

And when they say business, that's one thing, but healthcare to be more specific.

Jean, I wanna thank you for joining us.

- Thank you, thank you, too.

Thanks for having me.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

(grand music) - [Announcer] To watch more State of Affairs with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

- We're now joined by Senator Declan O'Scanlon, Chief Budget Officer for the Republicans in the Senate.

Good to see you, Senator.

- You too, Steve.

How are you?

- I'm doing great.

We had a separate segment with the Senator, talking about a whole range of issues regarding wind energy related issues, and also parental rights having to do with their children in schools, and what they should or shouldn't know, do or do not know about their children's sexual orientation, gender issues, et cetera.

This is a different conversation, Senator.

I keep thinking, I know there's a 2023 election in November for all seats in the legislature, but let's talk 2024 for a second.

Not even political, bigger than that.

I've argued that, as the graphic goes up, "Decision 2024: Democracy in Danger," with no question mark, do you believe that our representative democracy is endangered given where we are, not only in New Jersey, but nationally right now, and why?

- I do, with a caveat.

I really do.

I think you're right.

I don't think you're exaggerating the caustic nature of our politics today where you can't disagree with someone without hating them and want to see their children killed and eaten.

It really is a caustic time in our democracy, and it is a challenge.

Now, having said that, our democracy has gone through periods not dissimilar to this in the past, and we recover, we bounce back.

We've been extraordinarily resilient.

Now, we've only been around for a couple hundred years, so, you know, we have to see if we get through this.

But there are those of us, you, within the media, some of us who are elected representatives, who understand this and I think are trying to pull us back.

I get along well with people, frequently get endorsements from people that I don't agree with across the board.

I work hard to bring people together from disparate positions on a whole host of issues.

I'm known for pulling people from opposite sides of issues to my conference table and my legislative office.

And it's amazing how much you can find common ground when you look someone in the eye.

So we need more of that.

But yes, there is a danger.

- We don't have it, Senator.

Senator, respectfully, I'm sorry for interrupting.

And just to be clear, Senator Declan O'Scanlon and I have known each other for many years.

We've had dozens of interviews.

It isn't a question of what he thinks, or I think, and whether I agree or disagree, it's not my place to do that, but here's the thing.

What, in my view, what Declan O'Scanlon is describing is not the norm.

A friend of mine said to me recently, who happens to be a, I don't even know what a, quote, "MAGA Republican," "Trump Republican" is, loves Donald Trump.

Grew up in the same neighborhood, same ethnic background.

Hardworking lawyer.

Gets to a certain level, and he says, "You know, Steve, we're about to have a quote, 'civil war' in our country, and we're gonna have to all decide, quote, 'which side we're on.'"

And I couldn't believe the conversation I had with this guy, who I'm very close to.

Do you believe that when it comes to the political polarization and the demonization of each other when we disagree, we do this all the time, you and I do this for well over a decade, that we are bordering on either an actual or metaphoric, if you will, civil war?

Pick sides.

Who side are you on?

- Well, we already have the metaphorical civil war.

I mean, if you look at how polarized we are, how polarized Congress is.

I mean, there was a time when you had the Newt Gingrich's of the world, and the Bill Clinton's of the world, the Tip O'Neill's and the Ronald Reagan's of the world figure out how to govern, figure out how to come together, and that time is not now.

Now, I'm not gonna say it's passed forever, because we're gonna have to get back to where we can work together, to govern better.

- How?

Senator, how?

- Look, what we're doing right now, Steve.

You unmask it.

You talk about it.

Look, you said you're still friendly with your friend who is a MAGA, there you go.

You can continue to have those conversations.

And look, I'm telling people right now, very publicly, it doesn't matter whether you love or loath Donald Trump, the Republican Party's job isn't to redeem him, isn't to make up for a past election.

It's to win elections, and it's to govern, and it's to put our philosophy in leadership in the country.

That's what we have to focus on.

I have to do that within my party.

I gotta do a better job at it, 'cause we're not there yet.

But there are those of us who are saying that.

- But, Senator.

I'm sorry for interrupting, Senator.

Everything you're about, and this is, I'm sure that I have to balance my objectivity on this, 'cause it's not about Trump for me.

It's just that I know for a fact, it's not my opinion, it's a fact that everything that you've been publicly, as a senator, as a public official, the way you've comported yourself, everything you're about is class, dignity, respectfully disagreeing without demonizing or name calling.

That is not what, we'll talk about Biden in a second, that is nothing that Donald Trump is about.

You can't be comfortable with him by simply saying, we've gotta help him win because he could be the Republican nominee.

You're not okay with that.

That's not my opinion.

It's a fact.

You know it and I know it.

- Steve, I haven't said that.

In fact, I've endorsed Governor Christie, so I've endorsed Donald Trump's opposition.

I've said that publicly and I've made the case.

- Christie's out.

Do you wind up supporting Trump just because he is the nominee of the Republican party?

- I have to see what the lay of the land is then, but I will not commit, as Governor Christie has not, as a number of other Republicans have not.

We have to see what the lay of the land is.

At some point, you have to put country's best interests first.

If the Democrats nominate Joe Biden, then you got a problem.

- I'll tell you what, he'll be 86.

Sorry, Senator.

He'll be 86 and some Democrats are, I can't believe that the social media stuff that I've been getting and private messages from Democratic friends, "Steve, why do you do this?

Why do you bring this up."

That I've talked about this.

The President, by any objective standard, at times seeming to be challenged.

People, "What's the difference if he knows which way to go after a speech?

"What's the difference if he falls?"

First of all, I don't want him to fall.

I don't want him to go the wrong way.

I want him to be focused.

I want him to be effective, because he is the leader of the free world and president of our nation.

But to argue that at his age now and the way he is, and at 86 on the end of a second term if he wins, that that's not problematic, many would argue that's another reason why democracy is in danger, you say, particularly if it's Biden.

- I say that's exactly right.

Both sides need to sober up and understand the importance of the choices that we are making.

You don't put Joe Biden back out there just 'cause he's the sitting president.

If he's incapable of projecting the strength, and dynamism of this country, and articulating our policies, and not having the obvious that he's challenged, as you said, both sides need to come together, do some soul searching, and choose party representatives, the pinnacle of party representatives that are in the best interest of this country and can bring us together, with, by the way, still embodying passionately their perspectives.

That's what we need to do.

That's what needs to happen.

- Before I let you go, I can ask our team to put "Democracy in Danger" without a question mark up there, but I have to ask you, to what degree are you hopeful moving forward?

- I am hopeful.

The country's been resilient in the past.

Our Founding Fathers were the smartest people to have ever existed, I think, certainly within the framework of our country's history.

I am hopeful that we will come to our senses, that we will move forward and get past this period, I am.

I remain convinced that we're the best country in the world, the most effective democracy, and the people here will make sure it stays that way.

- Without turning this into a commercial for those of us and connected to public broadcasting, as long as we can do this, Senator, whether in person or remotely, we got a good shot.

That's Senator Declan O'Scanlon.

Thank you, Senator for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Thanks, Steve, and agree with you totally.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

(grand music) - [Announcer] To watch more State of Affairs with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

- We're joined once again by Jonathan Koppell, who is the President of Montclair State University, my alma mater.

Good to see you, Mr. President.

- Very good to see you, Steve.

Thank you for having me.

- You got it, listen, I happen to live in an area right around Montclair State and Bloomfield, what was Bloomfield College, historic significant merger between Montclair State University, Bloomfield College, what is it?

What's the new name on their end?

And why is it potentially a national model, please?

- Yeah, it's an important thing.

So Bloomfield College, as you know, but just to give a little background for the viewers, Bloomfield College was on the precipice of having to shut down.

It just was not, it's not a sustainable business model to operate a very small college independently, and then the one-two of COVID and financial difficulties, it's just a lot.

And so the president there said, "Hey, we're not gonna make it.

"The mission is too important "for us to sorta stand on pride.

"Is there anybody who has ideas "about what we could do together?"

And we and others answered the call, but the fit was so important and just didn't, it just didn't seem right for us.

Montclair State University, as you know well, an institution that prides itself on being inclusive, being accessible, creating high quality educational pathways, and we'll come to that in this conversation, that transform lives, for us to sit there and watch the state's only predominantly Black institution.

We don't have any HBCUs, this is the closest we have to it.

- Absolutely.

- To just say, "Well, that's a shame."

That didn't make any sense, so we set about incorporating Bloomfield into Montclair, complex process.

We had to get laws passed by the legislature.

We had to go to the federal government.

We had to deal with the NCAA.

I mean, it's a lot, and we're well into that process.

Bloomfield College of Montclair State University, as it is now known, it's still operating, it's still enrolling students.

We did it in such a way to minimize the interruption to students.

We were able to retain most of the faculty and staff, not 100%, unfortunately, but this is reality.

And we are excited about not just maintaining it, but actually building something that's even much stronger, and that is a distinctive liberal arts college that thrives precisely because it's part of this big comprehensive public research university, so there are now more opportunities than ever before.

- And let me also do this, a shout out to Montclair State University, "US News and World Report," number seven nationally.

And finish that sentence, number seven, I don't wanna get this wrong, Jonathan, number seven, as it relates to?

- Social mobility.

This is the key, this is the key.

This is what we're about, right.

This is making the American dream real.

So we're ranked number seven because the success of our students who are Pell eligible, which means they come from a low income family who are the first in their family to go to college, the success of our students exceeds all but six other institutions nationally.

- In the nation.

- And it puts the lie, and I know you wanna talk about this, it puts the lie to the idea that, oh, college isn't worth it, and it doesn't make it.

That's something that people who have college degrees say.

- Let's, Jonathan, I'm sorry for, I'm not gonna promote this anymore.

It's an opinion, it's a comprehensive piece "The New York Times Magazine" piece put out, not you.

Okay, it's catchy, but the total message here is that economically, it doesn't make sense anymore.

It did 10, 15, 20 years ago, but with college debt being what it is, college tuition being what it is, it's not the deal it was before and not that big a deal to get a college degree.

For those of us who have it and advanced degrees, I'm convinced, I'm not gonna do a commercial for college, but I'll say this, there's no way I would have the career that I have, whatever modicum of success there is without.

Go ahead, I'm sorry.

- No, people are mixing, people are mixing a lotta different things together.

So first of all, does everybody need to go to college?

No.

Can you have a very successful, prosperous life without going to college?

Yes.

- True.

- And the examples that people often give, you could go, you could be an electrician, you could be a builder, you could go into- absolutely true, absolutely true.

All that being said, the basic premise, are you more likely to have success, as you just said, Steve, are you more likely to have success?

Does it pay off in the long run if you go to college?

The answer is unequivocally, 100%, yes.

Now, there are issues, right.

If you start college, but don't finish.

All right, now you might be in trouble.

So you gotta be sure that you choose the right place and that the college is doing everything in its power to make sure you succeed.

That's why I'm so proud to be part of Montclair, because we take that responsibility really seriously.

Like, if we accept you and say, "You're capable of finishing college," it's on us.

It's on us to support you and get you there.

But if you do, every study shows the payoff is unambiguous.

And that ranking that you talked about.

- Social mobility.

- Exactly at that, right.

Like what's the payoff on the degree?

You get the degree, and "The Wall Street Journal" also studied us and said we're the 4th best school in New Jersey, the number 37th public, because the time to pay off the debt that you accumulate is among the least nationally.

Like, you can slice and dice this a lotta different ways, but as I say, many of the people who say college isn't worth it have college degrees.

- Yep, real quick follow up on this.

The Executive Producer of our programming today of "State of Affairs," Jackie Heyer, a Montclair State graduate, someone who I happened to teach when I was teaching a media journalism course there.

Jacqui Tricarico, our Executive Producer of "Think Tank" and co-anchor of our series "Remember Them."

Listen, when we're talking about college, it's not about me or us.

We also met, they met me, I saw something in them.

What we're also missing is the connections, the relationships that get developed with faculty members and others, and it's not just about Montclair State, but those introductions, those relationships, those connections matter.

Please, Mr. President.

- So first of all, it's not just about Montclair State University.

New Jerseyans should be really proud that many of our public institutions ranked highly nationally.

This should be a point of pride for our state, and I don't want it to just be about us because my colleagues deserve a lotta credit.

I don't mean just presidents.

I mean the faculty, the staff, the people who have done this great work, and the point needs to be reinforced.

You don't need to leave New Jersey to get a great college degree.

We have amazing institutions here.

And you're 100% right, the payoff is you're building your professional networks.

You're meeting the people who are gonna be your contacts, who are gonna get you jobs.

And let me be a little more philosophical for a second.

Part of going to college is also to start to see new possibilities for your life that you might not have even known existed.

You might not have known that you could go into a job that would allow you to travel, or that would allow you to be a writer, or that would allow to use your creative side, because we are all, to some degree, limited by what we see and what we know.

And part of college is broadening out your experiences.

And, if we deny people that, sure, can they live a productive life?

Of course, they can, but they might not realize all the things that they could be without that experience.

- It's well said, and this has been part of, this interview with Jonathan Koppell, the President of Montclair State University, is part of a long standing series, that we started and is not gonna end any time soon, simply called The Future of Higher Education.

And the next time you join us, Mr. President, let's talk about the impact of the Supreme Court, United States Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, because it's gonna play out over time, and we need to understand that on every level.

Thank you so much, and to you and the family.

- I appreciate you spending so much time on this.

There's nothing more important.

- Agreed.

I'm Steve Adubato, that's the President of Montclair State, Jonathan Koppell.

We'll see you next time.

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

Funding has been provided by The Turrell Fund, supporting Reimagine Childcare.

PNC Foundation.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Newark Board of Education.

NJ Best, Delta Dental of New Jersey.

NJM Insurance Group.

New Brunswick Development Corporation.

And by Veolia, Promotional support provided by NJBIZ.

And by CIANJ, and Commerce Magazine.

NJM Insurance Group has been serving New Jersey businesses for over a century.

As part of the Garden State, we help companies keep their vehicles on the road, employees on the job and projects on track, working to protect employees from illness and injury, to keep goods and services moving across the state.

We're proud to be part of New Jersey.

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