- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by Wells Fargo.

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- This is One-On-One.

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

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- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Hi, everyone.

Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program with an important conversation with Kenneth Esser Jr.

Otherwise known as Kenny Esser because we've known each other a long time.

Kenny is Executive Vice President of Behavioral Health at Hackensack Meridian Health, a long time underwriter of our program, and also president of HMH's Carrier Clinic.

Ken, good to see you.

- Great to see you, Steve.

Appreciate being on the program.

- You got it.

Our focus is on behavioral health.

Make the connection between Carrier Clinic, behavioral health, and your role, please Ken.

- Yep, great question.

Great way to start us off.

So when we talk behavioral health, we're talking about the whole gamut.

We're talking about psychiatry, mental health conditions, but we're also talking about substance use disorder and just other stresses that somebody may have in their life that's causing mental or physical impact.

And so it can be something as severe as needing medication and going into an inpatient psychiatric facility like Carrier Clinic, but it could also just mean something as basic as some marriage or family counseling sessions that are necessary to work through an issue.

- Kenny has the world of mental health and PS checkout, the previous I interview we did with Kenny's colleague Dr. Eric Alcera, who really talked extensively about mental health issues regarding adolescents in particular.

Kenny, let me ask you something.

To what degree do you believe COVID has changed the world of behavioral slash mental health forever?

- Yeah, I think I'll answer it in two ways, Steve.

It's really hard to parse out how much of it's COVID and how much of it's just the impact of social media and phones on young generation 'cause both of those things have kind of happened at the same time.

But on the positive side, COVID forced us to do some things like telehealth and telepsychiatry services that we weren't using nearly as much pre-2020.

And when you compare to the other specialties, that's the one area where people continue using telepsych services to access those care pathways.

And in a world where 50% of the people who need help are not getting help, making that easily accessible through telepsych services, I think is huge.

- I'm curious about this.

I've done a fair amount of leadership and communication coaching at HMH as well.

And this issue of telecommunication comes up a lot.

I work with some physicians and other folks who communicate this way.

And I often wonder when it comes to telepsychiatry or therapy, if you will, this way, do you and your colleagues, particularly the clinicians, Ken, in this field believe it's the quality is any different or the experience is any different?

If so, how?

- Yeah, I mean, without a doubt, the experience in any interaction between two humans is different in person versus on Zoom.

So I think we start there.

I think really one of the underlying factors here that's important to realize is that we have a shortage of psychiatrists.

We have a shortage of behavioral health practitioners across society right now.

And what we need to do is do whatever we can to tear down those barriers, to give people access, to make it easy to access.

So when you have somebody, and this is a nationwide problem, when you have somebody sitting in an emergency room, you know, for dozens of hours waiting to be seen by a psychiatrist because there's a shortage of psychiatrists, that's certainly not something that's acceptable in certainly my America or healthcare system.

So how do we make that available?

And one way we can do that quickly, efficiently is using telepsychiatry 'cause we can pull on psychiatrists from all around the country and get them on that screen in your ED room, and get you at least some direction of what you need.

- Kenny, distinguish a psychiatrist or medical doctors who have gone to medical school and can prescribe medication.

Psychologist, obviously a different background.

How the heck does one know which professional they need?

- Well, I think that's where we need to do a good job in our field to make those decisions for them, right?

You know, Steve, they may come to us in an ED, but they may also come to us in a family medicine practice and talking to somebody.

And how do we connect with that patient as we, as the healthcare system, make that easy to make those connections to patients.

We're doing some things like the pediatric site collaborative and some other things, but I really think that that onus is on us of the healthcare providers to make that transition seamless so that the patient gets to who they need to see.

- Go back to the issue of younger people dealing with mental health issues.

The organization has begun a $40 million Carrier Clinic, a construction of a new facility dedicated to younger patients as young as seven.

Talk about that facility.

- Great project, Steve, $40 million project.

It's gonna be a 52 bed unit.

All new construction here at Carrier Clinic.

Unfortunately, the reality of the patients we're seeing across the system, we do feel like we're gonna need to set aside some rooms to treat patients as young as seven years old.

And as much as that breaks in my heart, it's just a reality of the world that we live in today.

With that said, it's gonna have some beautiful views of the Sourland Mountains, all new equipment, state-of-the-art facility, and I think it's really gonna give our adolescent population you know, the type of care that they deserve and really world-class treatment.

- And Kenny says this is not only, as a professional in the field, but I, as a dad with young children, I know this is particularly relevant, and that's why the screen time issue.

Could you give me 30 seconds on the screen time and then I wanna talk about this mushroom issue, Kenny?

Screen time and mental health.

- Yeah, I mean, the great book "Anxious Generation" talks a little bit about that intersection of smartphone, social media, and not passing any judgment over protective parenting and how that change of childhood has taken place in this country.

And so I think we've just gotta figure out, just like we had to figure out many years ago with the TV, and with us latchkey kids, we've gotta find a way to get that delicate balance so that it's part of our lives and not running our lives.

and I think we've got a long way to go, but I appreciate that the conversation is starting.

- Kenny, you have a background in government and you understand a little bit about how the legislative and public policy world works.

What is the issue as it relates to legalizing the use of this term magic mushrooms?

Is it official?

I mean, what are magic mushrooms?

A and B, what is the legislature dealing with?

- Yep.

- And finally, how the heck is it connected to mental health?

- So we're talking about psilocybin, which is one of those magic mushroom drugs that causes hallucination, a dissolution of the ego.

It’s combined with...

It's psilocybin-assisted therapy.

So there's therapy session involved here.

That really works to untangle some of the issues that a patient might be going through including treatment resistant depression, eating disorders, some things like that.

The research is very promising and our fingers are crossed that this is gonna provide relief to many of our patients that are suffering from it.

But yeah, the legislation, what it does is just kind of opens the door.

We've got a committee that we're gonna work through and figure out a lot of these details.

- But Kenny, that's in the state.

Federally, it's against the law.

It's illegal.

- That's correct, but we're going through the FDA process.

And we've partnered with one of those psilocybin firms as they go through that FDA process.

Once we get that FDA designation, we're gonna be one of the first systems in line to be able to provide those treatments to our patients.

- Tell folks outside the clinical world who may understand it differently, why this is so important in your view.

- Listen, when we talk about these health conditions, we're in the one field in medicine where the more acute the illness, the more limited treatment options that are available.

So you've got people suffering from treatment resistant depression, and very few tools available to our psychiatrist and our clinical team to try to tackle that illness.

Psychedelics is a potential tool that could be available to us.

And so I think we've got a moral obligation as an industry to get in line and make sure that whatever these treatments are gonna be, whether it's psychedelics or some other treatment that's coming down the pike, that we put ourselves in that position so that we're first in line so we can help our patients out.

- Kenneth Esser Jr. Executive Vice President of Behavioral Health at HMH and president of HMH's Carrier Clinic.

Ken, good to see you, my friend.

- Steve, great seeing you.

Thanks so much.

- You got it.

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 now welcome Frank Siller, who is the chairman and Chief Executive Officer of a terrific organization called Tunnel to Towers.

The website is up.

Frank, it's an honor to have you with us.

- Thank you for having me on Steve, it means a lot.

Anytime I get an opportunity to talk about my brother, you know, his sacrifice he made and about the foundation so people can join us on our mission, it's a great opportunity.

So thank you for doing this.

- Talk about your brother Steven, talk about the tragedy of his death, the hero that he was, and the name Tunnel to Towers please.

- Well, you know, my brother was a New York City firefighter.

He was married, he was a father of five.

He was the youngest of seven children himself.

He was our little brother and he was just finished his night tour on Squad One in Brooklyn, which is an elite fire house for firefighters who train to save other firefighters and to be in very intense situations.

Well, he was just finished his night tour.

He was on his way home to play golf.

My brother George, my brother Russ and myself, the four brothers were gonna play a round of golf, which we didn't always get an opportunity to do that.

So we were really looking forward to the day.

But you know, you know, he heard on his radio scanner that the towers were hit.

He turned his truck around, went back to his firehouse, got his gear, drove through the mouth of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, was closed for security reasons.

So he was faced a decision and what do our first responders do?

What do our military do all the time as they run towards danger, and that's exactly what he did.

He strapped his 60 pounds of gear on his back and ran through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, which is almost two miles long as most New Yorkers know that.

And up West Street and to what we believe the South Tower.

And went up those stairs and while saving others, gave up his life.

And when we found out what he did, you know, as a family, we wanted to honor his sacrifice and the sacrifice of all these great heroes that day.

And that's why we started the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.

- Tunnel for Towers helped so many family members of those who've given their life in the name of service.

What are you doing for those families and how can people find out more as the website is up, please Frank?

- Well, you know, so our foundation was doing many things, but in 2009 when the first quadruple amputee that ever survived (indistinct) war was from Staten Island where Stephen was born.

Where I was born, our family grew up.

We found out that this young man survived losing four limbs.

I went down to visit him at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

And while I was down there, I asked him if we could build him a home.

And he humbly accepted.

And as we were building it, we realized we had to put in all the technology to give him back some of his independence.

He lost four limbs, you know, he needed a lot of smart technology in that home.

And while we were doing it, I said, we have to do this for every catastrophically injured service member in America.

And that's what we've been doing.

We delivered the first one, June 11th, 2011.

And we've done hundreds and hundreds of them, you know, since.

And then in 2014, December 20th actually is coming up on 20 years.

- We're this program right before that.

Go ahead, I'm sorry Frank.

- In 2014 when detectives Lou and Ramos were assassinated in the car just 'cause they wore a blue uniform, we found out they were worried about their mortgages.

And on Christmas Eve I visited their homes and told them that the Tunnel to Towers Foundation were gonna pay off their mortgages.

So now we do that for every first responder in America.

Every single one, but that's how it was born.

- How the heck do you raise that kind of money, Frank, to have such an extraordinary impact for people and their families?

- We do it at $11 at a time, we do it $11 a time.

Go to T2T.org, $11 a month, $11 a month.

You could change these guys' lives and these families' lives that are left behind that made the ultimate sacrifice for protecting us.

And we do it for Gold Star families as well.

You know, veterans or service members that go out and die for us and they leave a young family behind, we're gonna make sure they have a mortgage free home.

And we do, you know, hundreds of them every year, over 1500 so far.

And we're increasing our numbers every year.

And now, you know, Steve, I'm sure you know this, but we made a promise in 2022, we're gonna eradicate homelessness amongst our veterans.

And I use that word eradicate 'cause it's a strong word.

It tells exactly what our goal is, is to eradicate.

No veteran should be on the street after serving our country.

And you know, they couldn't assimilate, you know, couldn't go back into society for whatever reason.

It doesn't matter, we need to take care of them, get them off the street, get a roof over their head, and then get them all the comprehensive services they're gonna need to assimilate back into society.

- I was watching a Yankee game and the Tunnel to Towers connected to the Yankees and the Mets in New York.

But I was watching Yankee game and the spot came up and I had seen it 20 times, 30 times.

And I said, you're just sitting here watching this and being moved by it but doing nothing.

And so like thousands and thousands of others, do the $11 again, Frank, remind people.

- $11 a month, go to T2T.org, T the number two T.org stands for Tunnel to Towers obviously.

And it's $11 a month, most people can do that.

And that's why we ask for, we're 9/11 Foundation.

You know, we're born from my brother's sacrifice, $11 a month, and you know, we have so many people that have joined us on that.

And that's why we keep this promise that we're gonna pay off every mortgage in America.

If you die for us, we're gonna take care of your family left behind you die in the line of duty.

- Frank, the annual 5K run held every September, it retraces your brother Steven steps on 9/11.

It started out on 2002, 1100 participants.

There are over 30,000 participants now.

- No, 40,000, it's over 40,000, in the rain this year.

It's always the last Sunday in September.

But here's the thing Steve and I want people to understand this.

That run is so much more than just a run about my brother.

It's about my brother to me.

You know, because that's why we started it.

But we have 1000 teams, 1000 teams that put their own family.

Some of them are 9/11 families.

Some are Gold Star families, some are fallen first responders have died since 9/11.

A lot of them died of 9/11 illnesses.

And we honor them all, we honor them all.

'Cause we are about never forgetting, always remembering the sacrifice that is made, just not on 9/11, the sacrifice that's made every single day since 9/11.

And that's what we do with this annual run every year.

And it's very spectacular.

2,500 West Point cadets running cadence.

We feed them all.

I call it the miracle of the loaves and fishes.

I get all my firefighter buddies on the street.

We have hamburgers, hot dogs, spare ribs, you name it, we do it because we want to celebrate their lives.

We wanna remember, but we want to celebrate their lives as well.

- Frank Siller, Chairman and CEO of an extraordinary organization, Tunnel to Towers.

Go on the website, find out more.

Frank, you honor us as I said before, we wish you all the best and you have an open invitation.

All the best, my friend, thank you.

- Thank you Steve, God bless.

- You got it, same to you.

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.

- Hi, I'm Jacqui Tricarico, Senior Correspondent for "One-on-One", and I'm so pleased to be joined now by Andrew Christ who is the senior vice president for Real Estate Development and Capital Operations at New Jersey Institute of Technology.

So great to have you on, Andrew.

- Thanks for having me, Jacqui.

- Talk about that, you know, you got your master's and your bachelor's at NJIT, you decide to come back to your alma mater to pursue this role and to really essentially enhance the student experience there.

Talk about your role.

What is it and what are you doing at NJIT?

- Sure.

Yes.

So for the past decade, I've had the pleasure of being able to impact my alma mater in ways that I never would've imagined when I graduated many, many years ago.

The role I'm currently in, I have a lot of different responsibilities, campus planning, design and construction, some of the operational components, the police department.

It's a very all encompassing operational role that allows me to impact the students in many, many ways.

None really bigger than being able to provide the facilities that we need for the students of today, as well as the students of tomorrow.

- Talking about that, the students of today, NJIT is known for having such a diverse population and students coming from all around the country and the world to NJIT in Newark.

Describe some of the projects that you're working on that is really helping to enhance the student experience, and especially for those populations.

- Sure, well, NJIT just recently received our Hispanic Serving Institution designation, so recognizing the level of diversity that we have here.

Previously, we had received the Asian American, Native American Pacific Islander designation.

So an incredibly diverse group of students here at NJIT.

And it's truly an opportunity to understand a lot of different cultures, what we need to provide for students of all different races, creeds, ethnicities, et cetera, and be able to foster their belonging here at NJIT through the facilities that we create, whether that be residential facilities that allow them to come from all over the globe and be able to reside here on our campus in Newark or the classroom spaces or the student center and places like that, that we are looking right now at modernizing to provide even better facilities for that diverse population.

- We've spoken to other folks on our programming about this 494 Broad Street project.

I know it's in partnership with the Fidelco Group.

Fidelco Group is also a funder of our programming.

Describe what it is and how it is directly impacting NJIT, but also the Newark community as a whole.

- Well, so one of the things that we're very concerned about here at NJIT is growing in a sustainable way.

So we've been very lucky over time that despite the decrease in demographics, you know, the numbers of high school students are shrinking that are graduating and coming to college, people are questioning the value proposition.

So while we wanna continue to expand and we have some incredible plans to do that, we also want to do it in a way that's very fiscally responsible.

So one of the ways that we're dealing with, some of the near term space needs is by relocating some of our administrative functions to that 494 Broad Street space, which we're now calling our administrative center, which will allow us to free up a couple of floors in one of our primary campus buildings so we can renovate those spaces into teaching, learning, and student engagement spaces.

So it's an incredible project for NJIT, but it also takes us from the University Heights and brings a couple of hundred of our employees to the downtown.

We'll be right across the street from Rutgers Business School.

Right immersed in what Audible is doing at 33 Washington, which is an incredible renovation of that area.

So it'll bring some customers, some foot traffic, some additional vibrancy to that area.

So we're extremely proud to be able to do that for our host city.

- And, you know, there are initiatives, like you mentioned Audible, where they're talking about the people that are working at Audible, but they want them working, living, eating, relaxing, doing all the things within the city that they are working in essentially to really help the economy and make sure that Newark continues to thrive and grow.

What other ways are you seeing that with NJIT immersing itself within the Newark community?

- So we have a lot of different initiatives.

Our police department is a true role model for policing on college campuses.

They really are more about community engagement than they are about community policing.

So they're out engaging the community in many events, participating all over the city, and really showing the city that NJIT is a good partner.

As part of our 2030 strategic plan, we actually call out a specific strategic priority to become even more community engaged than we are currently.

So that whether that's our students going out into the city and helping tutor high school students, whether that's doing community cleanups, whatever we can do to continue to foster our relationship with our neighbors and not necessarily just be that ivory tower up on the hill.

We want to truly be a part of our city, which is Newark, and make that a better place for all of us.

- Lastly, Andrew, how rewarding has it been for you to be back at NJIT in this capacity over all these years?

- It's been a true dream come true.

I never expected when I graduated with a civil engineering degree that I would have the opportunity to come back to my alma mater and make such a prolific impact on the campus for the last decade and hopefully another decade going forward and being able to build $600 million worth of new facilities and renovated facilities.

Really providing a new place for the students of today that's so much more improved over the time when I spent here at NJIT and allowing them to really be able to grow and flourish and that's the best part of my job.

When I get to interact with the students, I get to hear from them.

I get to hear the impact that we're having.

I have an incredible team that effectuates all this incredible work and it makes me extremely proud to be able to do it at my alma mater.

- That's great.

Growing and evolving.

So important.

Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today, Andrew.

I appreciate it.

- Thank you again for having me.

- Thank you.

- Thank you to our Senior Correspondent Jacqui Tricarico, and for Jacqui, and our entire team here at One-on-One, we thank you so much for watching.

See you next time.

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

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by Wells Fargo.

The Fidelco Group.

PSE&G, EJI, Excellence in Medicine Awards.

The Russell Berrie Foundation.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

New Jersey’s Clean Energy program.

And by New Jersey Children’s Foundation.

Promotional support provided by Insider NJ.

And by New Jersey Monthly.

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