- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of Think Tank with Steve Adubato has been provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Here when you need us most, now and always.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

Valley Bank.

The Turrell Fund, supporting Reimagine Childcare.

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

The Russell Berrie Foundation.

Making a difference.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Johnson & Johnson.

And by Caldwell University.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com, keeping communities informed and connected.

And by BestofNJ.com, all New Jersey in one place.

[MOTIVATIONAL MUSIC] - Hi, I'm Steve Adubato.

Thank you so much for joining us.

We kick off our program today with Dr. Marie Nevin who is Department Chair of Endocrinology at Summit Medical Group.

Good to see a Dr. Nevin.

- Hi, Steve.

Thank you for having me.

- Well, our focus today is on diabetes and also the connection between COVID and diabetes.

First, define diabetes, if you will.

- Diabetes is an abnormality in blood glucose or blood sugar level.

It comes about from either the body not making enough insulin, as in type one diabetes, or in type 2 diabetes, it comes about because the body isn't able to use the insulin.

- Why is it a serious health problem?

It's affected our family and that's the only reason I'm aware of it, and we're one of millions across the country, across the world.

Why is it important?

- Well, it's important for the patient because they may not feel well if their blood sugars are high.

You know, they may not be thinking well, they may be urinating too much.

They may be, you know, a little irritable, their family might say, if their blood sugars are high, and also diabetes has far-reaching effects in the body other than how the patient feels.

If the blood sugars are high over a prolonged period of time, you know, it can cause blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, nerve damage.

So unfortunately, it has its tentacles in all of the body, you know, wrecking havoc, if the blood sugar's left, you know, high.

- Let me ask you this.

There were some of our friends who are, have been diagnosed as quote "pre-diabetes."

So if you're pre-diabetic, or you don't wanna be connected to diabetes at all, is it first of all, it's a complicated question, if you're pre-diabetic, can you avoid getting on medication by diet, exercise, et cetera?

I know it's case to case, I know.

- Well, that's a great question.

It's a really important question.

I would back one step and try to have everybody, you know, try to assess, do they have risk for diabetes?

- What are the risk factors?

- The risk factors would be, you know, family history.

That's probably the biggest risk factor in addition to weight.

So, you know, if your mom, your dad, your brother, your sister had type 2 diabetes, it needs to be on your radar that this is something that you might be at risk for.

If you're overweight, you know, if you try to look towards a, you know, achieving a healthy weight, follow the Mediterranean diet, you know, that's eating all those fruits and veggies that are colorful with protein, staying away from simple sugars.

Try to drink water instead of soda or fruit juice.

So all these are risk factors.

Nice.

And they can be, you know, lower your personal risk for having diabetes.

Also, you know, again, know your history.

If you're a woman and you had gestational diabetes, that puts you at personal risk when you're older for developing type 2 diabetes.

So I mean the most important factor besides, you know, exercising, trying to get out there, especially in our lives today that we're sitting behind the desktop or the laptop, is try to push away from the computer.

Before you sit down for the day, try to walk and try to do it at lunchtime.

Give yourself that mental break and that will make your own insulin work better, lowering your risk.

- Doctor, the connection between COVID and diabetes, everyone knows, if you're following the news, let me try this way.

Why are people with diabetes more quote "susceptible" to COVID and its impact?

- So, you know, looking at the question, you know, the studies, the information that we have at hand right now is that people who have diabetes, they may not be necessarily at huger risk for getting the illness, right, but they are unfortunately at greater risk for complications.

So if they have diabetes, and especially if their blood sugars are high, out of control, they may have a really tough time, you know, fighting COVID so they can have pulmonary complications, meaning lung, you know, cardiac.

They can have a heart attack more easily than someone else or kidney damage, renal failure.

So unfortunately we want to encourage all of our patients who have diabetes to, you know, get a handle on their blood sugars to give them a fighting chance should they develop COVID.

- Real quick before I let you go, and by the way, Summit Medical Group, supporting our healthcare program, I wanna be really clear about that, telehealth matters and still relevant, even after the vaccine?

- Telehealth was really, I would say, a bright spot, you know, in the landscape of the pandemic.

It really rocketed in terms of importance.

It had been stagnating for awhile, but it really, within a day or two, we left our offices and we were seeing, you know, patients on various platforms on our computers, so it really helped us reach out to our most vulnerable patients.

You know, our elderly patients, pregnant patients, patients who were sick, either with COVID or other acute illnesses, or people who had chronic illnesses that really need that touch point with their physician or other healthcare providers.

So I hope that after the pandemic is over and things look brighter next year- - Yes.

- That we'll have an opportunity to reach out, especially to our most vulnerable patients through this platform.

- Dr. Marie Nevin, diabetes, and everything connected to it, cannot thank you for educating us.

All the best.

We appreciate it.

- Thank you, Steve.

Good luck.

Thanks for bringing all these good information to our patients.

- We're trying, we'll be right back right after this.

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

- We're now joined by Amanda Missey, President and CEO of an organization called Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative.

Amanda, great to have you with us.

- Thank you, thanks for having me.

It's great to be here.

- Tell everyone what your organization is and why it matters so much.

- Well, it matters a lot right now because we are a healthcare center that is providing free healthcare to low-income working Bergen County residents who don't have health insurance.

So COVID has made it even more important that we be here than ever.

- You know, what's really interesting to me is people hear Bergen County, I'm over in Essex County, people hear Bergen they go, "Oh, it's pretty wealthy county, you know."

It's not that simple.

- It is not.

There are pockets of poverty in Bergen County just like there are everywhere.

They might be a little better hidden there, hidden here than they are other places, but there are absolutely people who do not have the resources to get healthcare or food or any of the other things that many of us take for granted.

- So let's talk about some of the folks on the team.

It takes more than a village, in fact.

125 volunteers?

- Actually we have 150 volunteers.

About half of them are clinical volunteers, so doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners.

And then we have another 75 volunteers who, they might be interpreting, doing clerical work, calling patients, so we've got a lot of volunteers.

- With all the pressure on healthcare professionals facing, dealing with COVID, we're taping this at the end of 2020, be seen in 2021, everyone's fingers are crossed about the vaccine, but it doesn't make everything go away all at once, and these folks have been under pressure for so long.

Why would so many volunteer, in addition to their quote unquote "regular job"?

- Why would they do it?

Yeah, good question.

So many of our volunteers are retired, so they don't have to trudge into work every day and be, you know, just assaulted by COVID, but we do have a number of people who are working and I think they come here because this is medicine like they've always wanted to practice it.

Because the care is free, we're not billing anybody, we are not worried about insurance companies or, you know, submitting insurance paperwork.

It is just one on one with the patients.

They get to spend lots of time with them and I think it's really fulfilling for them.

- You know, we're a not-for-profit, you're a not-for-profit, nonprofits across the state and the nation are struggling to try to keep our doors open, do what we're doing, and if it were not for the corporate and foundation community, I don't know how we would do what we do.

Where does your support come from?

- Well, we get a lot of support from individuals, This year we have gotten lots of support from foundations, which is wonderful.

You know, Verizon Foundation, the Berrie Foundation, Valley Bank, like so many people have jumped in to help us, particularly when the pandemic started, we actually watched the telehealth program in early April.

We'd never done it before.

There was a lot that we had to do to get that going And our foundation and corporate supporters just really stepped up and helped us.

- And by the way, only because they support us as well.

PSEG, is it the foundation there that supported?

- Yes, it is the foundation at PSEG that supports us.

We have just been, the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund came to our rescue this year.

- With the First Lady.

I'm sorry for interrupting.

The New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund that the First Lady Tammy Murphy is leading.

Take a look at our website, SteveAdubato.org.

You'll see the graphic there.

We've done several interviews with the First Lady about that initiative and why it's so important.

So a big part of your job, as it is for me, is fundraising, right?

- Yes, a very big part of my job is fundraising.

- Are we in some sort of fraternity sorority that, it's not that you wanna be in, we have to be in because you've heard that expression, "no money..." - No mission, no mission, that's right, that's right.

- It's not a cliche, it's true.

- I have to say that that's actually one of the best parts of my job is talking to funders, you know, letting them know what their support can help us accomplish.

- So it's so interesting.

You, not only don't you resent it, you appreciate being able to tell folks how dollars are being spent.

- Absolutely, and we do such a good job with the money.

I mean, every dollar that they invest here goes a really long way.

It actually only costs about $1,000 a year to take care of one of our patients, so- - Explain that to us real quick.

Got a few seconds left.

How does that work?

1,000?

- $1,000 pays for a patient to come here as often as they need to to get whatever kind of medical care they need and that's because we are volunteer supported and, you know, we don't have to pay a lot in salary, so it's just a great way to invest money and get a big bang for your buck.

- And Amanda, we've actually had your website up so if people want to find out more and find out how they can be supportive and helpful.

Part of what we are doing is an ongoing series, it's been over a decade, simply called Making a Difference, tied to the Russell Berrie Initiative called the Making a Difference Awards.

We're trying to make a difference by featuring not-for-profits frankly who are making a difference.

So Amanda Missey, President and CEO of Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative, I wanna thank you so much, not just for joining us, but for really helping a lot of people.

Thank you.

- Thank you very much for having me.

- You got it.

We'll be right back right after this.

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

- All the way from beautiful Vermont, we have our good friend, Aly Richards, CEO of Let's Grow Kids, coming to us.

This is part of our Reimagine Child Care initiative.

Aly are you in fact, in your parents', what, bedroom?

- You got it, Steve.

It's such a pleasure to be with you right from the parents' bedroom.

'Cause guess what?

I'm living it, I'm working it, I'm feeling it.

I got two-year-old, identical twin boys, as you know, Beau and Wesley and they're upstairs now with my parents and my own grandmother.

This is our COVID life.

- Wow.

That's a lot to unpack.

This Reimagine Child Care initiative we're doing in cooperation with our friends up in Vermont and also with the support of the Turrell Fund.

Let me ask you this, you, for those who don't know what Let's Grow Kids is, it's an initiative up in Vermont that is a national model.

What is it?

- High quality affordable child care, for all who need it in Vermont, by 2025 or bust.

And that's what I love talking with you about, Steve, in all that you're doing because we're getting it and the world is now getting it 'cause of COVID.

We all just got a front row seat.

Child care is so essential.

It's not a nice to have.

It's actually an absolute necessity.

We can't reopen our economy without child care.

We can't support our working families without child care.

We can't expect to have citizens growing up with critical thinking skills, and healthy relationships, and a lifelong foundation of health, if we don't get this right.

So Let's Grow Kids focused like a laser on that.

This is our chance to really do one targeted thing.

Do it right, do it well, and enjoy the benefits we're all gonna receive when we get it done.

- You know, in some ways, Aly, as we tape this at the end of 2020 to be seen in 2021, you're actually saying that COVID, as horrible as it has been, fingers crossed for the vaccine, you're saying that one of the positives has been that the awareness, and the understanding, and the commitment to quality and affordable child care is real now and different than it's ever been before.

You really believe that?

- Oh, I do.

And we have to, right?

I mean, look, what do we all crave right now?

This has been such a challenging year, such a challenging year, at every level for so many families and we crave solutions.

We crave change, powerful real change, that we can come together around.

Think about child care, Steve, it's the thing, right?

It's the thing that gets our economic opportunity, that gets us out of our response into recovery, that allows us to reopen, to rebuild.

It's the thing that sits in the sweet spot of equity and anti-racism, everything we're talking about from that lens as well this year.

So actually, if you think, "Okay, what's the one thing that really goes up the pipeline, it's that root cause."

We know it's this, right?

And I will say too, it's within our power to change right now 'cause when you... Everyone always says, right, "Well if we would've had a chance to build it from the scratch, we would have built it differently."

Here you go.

We've been torn down.

We can build it better.

- Let me see if I can make this connection.

Tell me if I'm wrong.

So the Reimagine Child Care graphic's up because that's an initiative we're involved in.

We're also involved in an initiative, an ongoing initiative, called Confronting Racism, institutional racism.

And dare I say a new initiative in 2021, Democracy at a Crossroads.

Are they, is there a confluence there?

I use that multi-syllabic word to say, "It's all coming together."

- Why?

Yep, you start it like this.

Why does Let's Grow Kids exist?

Why am I spending every waking hour, when I'm not with my own children, focused on this?

- Because you lost your child care, I wanna be clear.

- That's right.

- You lost your child care.

That's right.

That's right.

That's right.

Right.

So I lost it 'cause of COVID.

Let me pause there for one second, 'cause here we are.

I'm the CEO of Let's Grow Kids.

I've been working in child care, in a small state like Vermont, for almost a decade now.

And I couldn't find child care 'til my kids were 11 months old.

I had it for sweet, six months and then boom, COVID hit.

Right?

So, and it took me that long to find the first place.

So let's, for a second, say, look, forget about COVID.

What we need to understand is before this devastation, three out of five kids in Vermont did not have access to child care they needed, 30% of household income, for those lucky enough to find it, you're paying 30% of your household income, more than almost anything there, and then to actually offer it, early educators making $13 an hour, no health care benefits on average, right?

So, okay, this is really broken.

And yet, like you said, what's the one thing that actually has the ability to change systemically from day one?

The, you talk about our democratic process?

You know what's really important there?

It's not what you believe right or wrong.

It's not about that.

It's about critical thinking, understanding things for yourself, asking questions, examining it.

You know what?

By age five, you've baked your ability to have a strong foundation for critical thinking.

So you named it.

That is another key one here.

Yes, it hits at that.

Yes, it hits at a lifelong of health, a lifelong of reading, writing, arithmetic, of all of that.

And we start to see skin color and change the way we act to people as early as six months old.

So again, think about the opportunity we have here, Steve.

All these kids in their wonderful formation stages.

Supporting these young families.

Supporting their children with a compensated early educator who's valued and respected for what she in most cases does.

Woo, that's powerful.

- You know, Aly, we were up in Vermont with you, got a few seconds left, it was life changing for us, as a production company connected to public broadcasting, to be up with you and your colleagues at Vermont at the Turrell Day, Turrell Fund Day up in Vermont because their interest is in Vermont as well as in New Jersey.

I look forward, even though this is fine and we'll do what we have to do remotely, I really look forward to us being together again in Vermont or in New Jersey, just being together, continuing our work and our mission to create greater public awareness around affordable, accessible child care.

Aly, all the best to you and your family and your twins, and you're in your parents' bedroom.

- Thank you, Steve, it's such a pleasure.

Really appreciate it.

- It's an honor on our end.

And all the best, Aly.

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 be joined by Steven Gorelick who is Executive Director New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission.

Steve, good to have you with us.

- My pleasure to be here.

- Tell everyone what the commission is and why it matters.

- We have been around since 1978 and we promote the film and television industry here in New Jersey.

It matters because we're looking to create jobs here and to create economic benefit for the state and to make the state an exciting place to be.

- And by the way, pre COVID we're doing this at the end of 2020, it will be seen after that pre COVID.

The Trail of the Chicago Seven saw it, great stuff filmed in New Jersey, right?

- It was filmed in New Jersey and you know what?

It was very pleasing to me because it's the first Phillip Roth novel that actually filmed in Phillip Roth land.

And I was waiting for that to happen.

We were delighted about it.

- Yeah, The Plot Against America, HBO.

Right, that's the one.

But also the Trail of the Chicago Seven also Joker, Joker really, was the Joker in Newark?

- Joker filmed in Newark and Jersey city.

- Yeah.

- And.

- So.

Go ahead, I'm sorry, Steve.

- Yeah, they filmed the big sequences towards the end.

Well, throughout the movie, big, like that climactic scene was filmed in Newark.

And then they did some very big scenes in Jersey City and they used it to represent New York as they envisioned it sort of like in the seventies.

- Let me ask you, how has COVID impacted the work of the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission in attracting films, television to the state.

- Well, we were going great guns since 1978 when the tax, excuse me, since 2018 since the tax credit came into effect which leveled the playing field.

- By the way explain to folks what that is we're talking about the film and digital media tax credit program.

- What is that program?

- It's a program that provides tax credits to production companies filming in the state if they meet certain qualifications.

And the idea is to promote more filmmaking here so that we gain employment, economic development people spending money here and create the growth of permanent infrastructure.

And when, New Jersey has all the advantages I mean, we have the locations and we have the talent pool is second to none.

The cooperation has been fantastic but once we level the playing field because prior to that, you had, Pennsylvania was $70 million a year in tax credits.

You had New York with almost a quarter of at $420 million a year in tax credits.

You had Connecticut on cap so, it was really a little bit, the playing field needed to be leveled, once the legislature and Governor Murphy did that, it opened the flood gates.

To give you an example, prior to 2018, when the tax credit began, we were getting about $67 million a year in revenue for New Jersey, from filmmaking.

In the first full year of the tax credit, 2019, it jumped to 420 million and we're, it was incredible.

- In answer to your question about the pandemic, yes it brought the production industry to a halt around the world, but it was only temporary.

I, yeah, for half a year the industry had closed down just about everywhere.

And then we had, just some very small production shooting here but they're back in full force right now.

- Steven, let me ask you this, the folks at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and also Choose New Jersey, very committed to attracting, keeping film and television activity here, it's big business for the state.

How important is it that government and quasi government entities like Choose New Jersey are really committed to this whole area because you can't do it alone.

- Well, the important thing is that, the most important thing, it's great to have a tax credit but if you don't have cooperation from the state, from the government entities, then you're dead in the water.

It's nice to be able to attract them with a tax credit, but you've gotta be able to get the cooperation from the cities and the towns.

And certainly the state has helped us with that.

Choose New Jersey, all those organizations and the cooperation here is extraordinary.

Today, as we speak right now in Newark they're shooting scenes from the CBS TV series, The Equalizer.

They've closed down Washington Street, they're doing stunts there and such and without the cooperation of the mayor, Mayor Baraka has been fantastic amongst the many mayors we work with.

And that's the kind of cooperation you get here in New Jersey that you don't get everywhere in the country.

- I got about 30 seconds left.

It's but (mumbles) it is...

Yes, I know cause we have a lot in Montclair in my hometown.

Yes, it can be disruptive in the neighborhood.

We get all that, but the advantages far outweigh whatever inconvenience if you want to call it that, is that a fair assessment?

I don't know, promote what you're doing but it seems logical to me.

- I think it's a very fair assessment.

You're talking about one TV series can film here 22 episodes or 16 episodes or whatever, and spend 50, $60 million in the state during one season.

I mean, they're spending money.

They're required to spend the money here in order to get a tax credit so all the merchants are getting it, all the employment is shot up.

- I got to have lunch somewhere and listen, Steven (chuckles) Gorelick I want to thank you.

The Executive Director, New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission, Steven I wanna thank you, all the best.

And we'll keep watching film and television made right here in the Garden State.

I'm Steve Adubato.

- Plenty to look at.

- You got it.

We'll catch you next time.

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

Funding has been provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

Valley Bank.

The Turrell Fund, supporting Reimagine Childcare.

PSE&G.

The Russell Berrie Foundation.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Johnson & Johnson.

And by Caldwell University.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com, And by BestofNJ.com - [Narrator 1] In the fabric of America, they are the toughest threads.

One of the first things they learned was the code that every service member lives by: Leave no one behind.

Now, all of us need to live by it too, because some veterans are being left behind.

20 of them take their own lives every day.

Learn how to be there for a veteran at bethereforveterans.com.

Honor the code.

Be there, leave no one behind.