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

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Here when you need us most.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Let'’s be healthy together.

MD Advantage Insurance Company.

Valley Bank.

PSC.

Where your story is our business.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

And by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

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

Promotional support provided by CIANJ, and Commerce Magazine.

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Part of the USA Today Network.

- This is One-On-One.

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

- The jobs of tomorrow are not the jobs of yesterday.

- I'’m hopeful that this is the beginning to accountability.

- Life without dance is boring.

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

- I did do the finale, and guess where my trailer was?

A block away from my apartment, it couldn'’t have been 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) - Hi everyone.

I'm Steve Adubato.

We're honored to once again be joined by Dr. Perry N. Halkitis who is the Dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health.

Good to see you, doctor.

- Hey, Steve.

Happy, happy New Year.

- Happy New Year.

We're taping on Valentine's Day as well.

This will be seen later-- - Happy Valentine's Day.

- Let's do this, three years plus into this pandemic.

I mean, you have been an incredible resource for those of us in the media, particularly our partners and colleagues at NJ Spotlight News.

Check out Perry's past interviews with us, Dr. Halkitis on the air with our colleagues.

Most significant lessons about public health communication would be, Perry?

- I think the most important lesson for me and I'm writing about this right now in this new book that I'm putting together, is, you know, we have to focus on how human beings behave.

You know, we went into this pandemic like we do with many medical conditions thinking that human beings make rational decisions about their health.

You know, and we know that people do not do that.

And you know, I'm inspired by this train of thought that talks about the brain having two parts, like the part that's the pleasure and is a gut reaction and a part that's rational and decision making.

Every public health model we've built over the course of the last century assumes the latter.

And we know human beings don't act that way.

So, looking forward, what do we need to do?

Put people at the center of our public health responses, think about what's driving them, and don't just assume they're gonna get vaccinated, or put on a mask, or, you know, continue to not eat well throughout the course of their lives.

Because people don't always make rational decisions.

- And by the way, give everyone the name of the book, Perry.

- The book is called something like "People, Pandemics and Politics: How Human Beings Created HIV, COVID-19, and Other Pandemics."

- Got it.

So let me ask you this, for folks watching us right now, folks in New Jersey, folks across the region and the nation, who basically look at public health this way or the role of government and public health.

You don't tell me what to do with my body.

You stay out of my decision about my health and the health of those closest to me.

You have the floor doctor.

- Yeah, so I think, look, I hear that all the time.

And what we have to do more effectively is use different forms of communication and convince folks like that to make them feel empowered to be able to make the decisions by themselves.

Just think about a child, if you keep telling a child don't do that, don't do that, don't do that, like don't touch the stove, the child is intrigued by that and goes and touches the stove and burns itself, right?

And so we need to build models that give people their own motivations.

What motivates me, Steve, is different from what motivates you, is different from what motivates a 13 year old kid living in Camden, right?

And so, talk to the community, see what are the motivators, find the pure leaders in that community, and then use those messages.

One message will not work for everyone and that's what we just assume that everyone acts the same way.

- Okay.

So let's go back to the role of public officials here.

Our former president of the United States, Donald Trump, early public statements, it'll go away by April, 2020.

I think he's doing this with his hand.

It's going down, it'll be gone, and it'll be a cold.

Our current president, Joe Biden, not sure where this came from, and not for the Centers for Disease Control or some other folks, pretty much we're done with this, with the pandemic, and we are taping on February 14th, 2023.

He was wrong.

The previous president was literally dead wrong.

What is the role of government officials, not just healthcare professionals, but government officials when it comes to publicly communicating about public health?

- The biggest role of government officials is not to use politics to send their messages to actually use facts.

So both presidents are being motivated in their messaging by the political situation in our country.

And so that is what is misleading, right?

They are both forms of misinformation in some ways, right?

Maybe not exactly the same, but that same manifestation.

Let's be clear, if you put people who are like public health workers, like heads of departments of health, in front of the camera and let them do the talking and ask our politicians to say, "Look, I am not the expert here.

I defer to this person.

This person's gonna give you the clear message," we will eliminate the politics that have driven so much of this information.

And I will tell you that one of the chapters in the book focuses on this very issue.

How political animals, how political beings shaped the health of our country and how they shaped our response to the Covid 19 pandemic.

So let's ask them just step aside and not to like focus on their own aspirations but the wellbeing of the whole population.

- But Perry, think about this, you have a governor in Florida-- - Yep.

- Whose premise for public office, to a significant extent is based on this public communication about COVID.

Come on down here.

We don't have the rules they have in New Jersey.

We don't have a government that tells you when to put on a mask, how far away you should be from each other.

What's gonna be open, what's not.

We're open, the heck with the masks, hang out together.

That's a platform, that is a public policy, and political platform and ideology that has what to do with public health and science?

- That has nothing to do with public health and science.

In fact, the same thing, you could say the same thing about Florida, you know, with regard to what the governor there has done around LGBTQ health issues and LGBT in schools and talking about, you know, critical race theory.

None of those decisions are based on any fact or reason.

They're based on appealing to like what one psychologist as a system, one of our brain, you know, the pleasure principle, the feeling good principle, for a very small portion of the population at the expense of a larger portion of the population.

- Who the heck are folks supposed to trust?

We in the media and some of our colleagues who are like, "Yeah, let's stop with the COVID stories."

I understand the thinking because there are so many other issues to explore, but we don't have that luxury.

That's number one.

Which is why we're talking to Dr. Halkitis, one of the nation's top experts in public health.

A, how are we in media doing with respect to public health communication?

B, what do we need to do moving forward?

- Yeah, so the media, look, the media's been trying to do its job.

The problem with the media I think often is that it doesn't explain that when a new piece of information comes out it doesn't make the old piece of information wrong or bad.

It just means it's new information.

And that things evolve.

For those of us, Steve, who are old enough, you know, and I'm turning 60 in a couple of weeks, you know, I remember the 1980s, every single day there was a new piece of information about HIV every single day.

So you can't say, "Oh no, but you told me that yesterday."

Right, I did tell you that yesterday.

But new knowledge developed and with this new knowledge we are correcting the old knowledge.

I think one more thing we have to do, and this is the lesson, and I think from the last few years and I think this is what the Biden Administration is trying to do by infusing all this money into the public health workforce, is like you have to find people from within the communities.

People who look like the people who live in those neighborhoods and provide them the tools to become the public health workers.

Because people like me with this suit on and this tie on going to the community is not gonna be as effective as my neighbor, my neighbor John, my neighbor Karen, my neighbor whoever, who's sharing messages with me.

- Got a minute left.

The fight, the continuous fight for medical equity in the LBGTQ population.

Minute.

Go ahead Perry.

- Yeah, I mean, look, I mean we know that one in five people who are LGBTQ in this country avoid healthcare cause they face discrimination.

We are a leader in our state.

I believe that in January we'll begin to collect sexual orientation and gender identity data and intake forms in hospitals and healthcare facilities.

That is a huge step in the right direction because immediately it gives a person a message that your sexual and gender identity matter.

And here at Rutgers, what we're doing right now is we're building the sexual and gender minority institute that you can imagine as a place that does research and policy, but also provides a place for people in New Jersey to be able to get information about where they need to go for care.

So it is about putting it front and center.

It is about normalizing LGBTQ health and LGBTQ health is just health.

And that's what we need to focus on.

And we are slowly making good steps.

- You've been listening to, watching Dr. Perry Halkitis, Dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health.

He has a new book coming out.

And when that comes out, Perry, make sure you join us again and we'll explore this issue further.

And most importantly, on behalf of the public television community, we thank you for all the public service you have done and the important information, accurate, relevant, timely, even when it's changing information about incredibly important public health issues, most specifically COVID.

Thanks Perry.

- Thank you Steve.

Thank you Steve.

- All the best.

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 everyone, I'm Steve Adubato.

We're pleased to be joined by Molly Pratt, cancer survivor and a graduate nurse who will be an official pediatric nurse, 'cause we're taping in the middle of February, 2023.

You are going to be an official pediatric nurse when?

- As soon as I pass my boards which is in a few weeks from now, so.

- That's gonna happen.

Your journey to becoming a pediatric nurse, very influenced by the challenges you have faced, correct?

- Yes, absolutely.

- Talk about that please, Molly.

- So I was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 and I was so inspired by all the nurses that cared for me throughout my process that I decided to be a nurse and go to a nursing school and I've loved every minute of it.

Yeah, the nurses are just so truly inspiring to me.

- Molly, be more specific.

What did the nurses, I've always said this the times I've been in the hospital, the times family members have, yeah, I'm just absolutely amazed, inspired, moved by the work of nurses.

Much closer to patients, no disrespect to physicians.

They spend more time with patients.

They're closer to patients.

They hold their hand at critical times.

And there was one nurse who really had an impact on you.

Was it Karen?

- Yes.

- And Karen was a nurse?

- Karen was my nurse practitioner.

- What does that mean?

- So she is higher up than a nurse, but she's below a doctor.

So she just has more education than a nurse.

But she was a nurse at one point.

- Why did she inspire you?

- It's so hard to put it into words why she inspired me.

It's just all the actions that she did.

And just all the care for me.

She was so loving, friendly, she treated me like, she didn't treat me like a patient.

She treated me like one of her own.

I felt like I was one of her children at times.

She just, I can't even put it into words.

She just cared for me so well and she wouldn't hold back on what she's thinking.

She would always make sure to speak her mind to me and make sure I understood everything that was going on and understood the full picture.

And I was just like, "wow, what she does is amazing."

Like, I would not have any clue on what is going on in my life if she wouldn't be able to explain it to me and everything that she does.

It was amazing.

- Shout out to Karen and all the great nurses, regardless of the level they're at.

Go back for a second, Molly.

When you were diagnosed, how old were you when diagnosed?

- I had just turned 16.

- Unless I have this wrong, you've told our producers that cancer was one of the best things that has happened to her because it helped you find your calling.

That's accurate?

- Yes, absolutely.

- You have to talk about that.

- (laughs) I just had a patient the other day and I was telling them about it.

I was like, "I wouldn't go back and change having cancer in a heartbeat.

Like it sculpted me and it showed me and it guided me."

And I was like, "wow."

I wanted to be an agricultural engineer before I went into nursing.

And I am so glad I didn't go in that path.

And I went in the nursing route because I love people, I love being around people.

I love seeing people, being able to help them get back to their normals and better themselves.

And so I would not have been where I am today without that cancer diagnosis and for that exact reason, I'm very grateful that I ended up having cancer and meeting all these amazing people and helping them show me where I was supposed to be in life.

And it's just, I don't know, they're just a different breed.

Nurses are a different breed.

- You know, speaking of different breeds, I'm gonna tell you this.

I don't think you have any idea how many people you've just inspired right now just being with us for a few minutes.

Who are dealing with a difficult diagnosis and they don't really know what their future is going to be.

We hope and pray for the best for them, for you.

And we're also, I'm also confident in one thing, that when you do become a registered nurse, a pediatric nurse, you are gonna make a huge difference in the lives of many.

We wish you all the best, Molly and thank you so much for joining us.

- Thank you for having me.

I'm very appreciative.

- That is Molly Pratt, she's gonna be a pediatric nurse.

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.

(Tango barking) - (laughs) It's not time to play, silly.

- Looks like Tango wants to play hide and seek, Elmo's daddy.

- Well, she sure does.

Only I need to give her a walk before her checkup.

- Ooh.

Can I help you and take Tango for a walk?

- Well, that would be very helpful.

Thank you.

I know Elmo is busy in Hooper's for Jobs Day.

- Oh, I'd love it.

I was just talking about how much I love animals.

Want to finish your walk with me, Tango?

(Tango barking) - Oh, I'd say that's a yes.

- You were just watching a clip from Sesame Street.

That was Gabrielle, and the puppeteer behind Gabrielle is with us right now.

Megan Piphus Peace, who is a puppeteer on Sesame Street making history over on Sesame Street.

Great to have you with us, Megan.

- Thank you for having me.

So excited to talk with you.

- Well, it's exciting to have you.

Let me ask you this.

You are the first African American woman puppeteer to perform on Sesame Street.

Give us your version of that journey, not only why it took so long, but more importantly for you, some of the barriers that you had to overcome.

Please.

- Yeah.

So puppetry has been a huge part of my entire life.

I grew up watching Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers and Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop.

Shari Lewis was so good that I actually didn't know that she was a ventriloquist until I became a ventriloquist myself.

And I appreciated and adored her even more after I learned the art of puppetry.

But I always lived in a very imaginative and creative world.

So puppetry spoke to me in being able to make something that's inanimate come to life.

So I started puppetry and ventriloquism when I was 10 years old.

And I started off by performing for classmates at school.

I was trying to make new friends and I thought being a ventriloquist would help me do that.

Now that I'm older, I realize that's probably not how most people make friends but my parents were very supportive and helped me find a puppet.

And I started performing at school and it gave me so much joy to make other children laugh and smile.

So it became my passion and I started performing at other schools, at my church, other churches, and it really became my outlet to opening up as a person and the journey to Sesame Street.

So I was first inspired to become a puppeteer and ventriloquist when I was introduced to female puppeteers and ventriloquists.

So seeing myself represented on stage made me wanna become a ventriloquist.

So now that I'm with Sesame Street, I know that my presence there as an African American woman is gonna inspire other young ladies and boys to pursue very unique career paths.

- But you know, Megan, real quick on this my notes, our producers who did a great job on this shared with notes with me that tell me that you auditioned 2017.

Okay.

Talk about grit, talk about persistence, perseverance and dealing with rejection or even being ignored.

You don't get a call back till 2020?

- That's right.

I've had a lot of setbacks in my career.

I've been, you know, performing since I was 10 years old and always waiting for, you know, the great opportunity of being able to be on a television show.

And that opportunity didn't happen until 2020 when I was I think 28 years old.

And I had already been performing for 18 years.

I went on America's Got Talent when I was in college and hoped that that would lead to a television show role, but it didn't.

I didn't give up.

And Howard Stern was a judge at the time.

- And what did Howard Stern say?

- So I got all yeses from the judges in the first round.

The second round I was eliminated and I was very disappointed.

I thought, you know, my career is over.

My ventriloquist days is over.

I'm gonna need to be like, an attorney or something.

And Howard Stern, he said, you know I think you're a wonderful ventriloquist but I get nos all the time.

People still tell me, no, failure is not a no.

Sometimes it's a step to where you're meant to be.

And so I took that as an impetus to, to keep going.

I worked in real estate for seven years but never gave up on my dream of still doing puppetry.

I would perform on the weekends.

I'd get up early in the morning to write and to practice.

I connected with the Sesame Street puppeteer through Instagram in 2018 and just told her, you know, how much I loved her work.

She's the performer of Abby Cadabby.

Her name is Leslie Carrara-Rudolph.

- And she- - We know that character.

Is that the first, I don't wanna get this wrong, is that the first puppet on Sesame Street with autism?

- No.

Abby Cadabby is a fairy.

So you're thinking of Julia.

Julia has that.

- Julia, we did something.

I apologize.

My bad.

- No, that's okay.

Yeah.

So I've always loved Abby Cadabby.

I've watched Sesame Street as an adult and so that's how I knew the character because she wasn't around when I was younger but I told her how much I loved her character and she responded to me and said, hey, I checked out your work.

Would you mind if I send some of your materials to the producers at Sesame Street?

I said, of course.

And I wasn't expecting to hear anything back.

But in March of 2020 when I least expected to receive any opportunities in the entertainment... - The pandemic exploding.

- With the pandemic.

Yeah, I had a toddler son, I was six weeks pregnant, so it was not the the best of circumstances, but two puppet captains, Matt Vogel performer of Big Bird, and Marty Robinson performed Snuffleupagus.

They messaged me and said, hey, because production stopped because the pandemic, we've had time to go through old submissions and saw your tape.

Would you be willing to give us a try?

So my patience and persistence and not giving up definitely paid off in that moment.

- Real quick, Gabrielle on Sesame Street, describe her character as a Muppet.

- Gabrielle is a six year old black girl Muppet who loves her family and her Sesame Street family.

She has a great sense of herself.

She loves to sing and dance and play with her friends, Elmo and Abby Cadabby.

And she has something special coming up where she will explore nature with her friends.

- Is it fair or unfair of me, Megan, to ask you... can- her voice, is it fair of me to ask?

- Oh yeah!

I can be Gabrielle!

Hello!

(giggles) - On and off.

Just turn it on and off.

- Yeah, I can turn it on and off.

I do it all day long on Sesame Street.

- I'm a student of leadership, try to understand it, and I always tell folks make mistakes at it all the time, and try to learn from it.

But one of the things I've learned is that the best leaders have tremendous grit and tenacity and strength.

Where do those traits come from in you?

- Oh man.

So I actually, I guess I do have a puppet with me.

- Go ahead.

- My tenacity and grit comes from the Lord.

(laughs) - And that's where it comes from.

- Yeah.

Comes from the Lord.

You know, it comes from up above.

I do a lot of prayin' and meditation.

- From the beginning, you were exposed to the church.

- Yeah, that's right.

So I grew up, you know, with a very strong community... - Where?

- I grew up in Lincoln Heights and I grew up around a community of just people who had strong faith and values.

And so I just learned by proximity to the people that I grew up around.

- Wait, you said that town as if I know.

Where is that?

- It's in Cincinnati.

- Okay, come on- - Yeah.

- Listen, I'm from New Jersey.

We're very provincial around here.

So I'm thinking, is there a town called Lincoln Heights, is it?

- Yeah, Lincoln Heights in Cincinnati.

- Real quick before I let you go, I'm curious about this.

Growing up you're 10 years old, you've got this talent, you've got this extraordinary talent.

You said your family was supportive.

Siblings around?

- Yeah, I have an older sister, she's six years older.

- Everyone was supportive of you.

- So my sister, I'll be honest, she was a little creeped out.

(Megan and Steve laugh) And I was not the nicest in knowing that she had a fear of my puppet.

So there would be times, if she had her door closed, I would sit up my ventriloquist doll, who probably was a good four feet tall, and I would sit him up on a stool and just put him in front of the door so that when she opened the door he would just be staring at her.

- That is awesome.

Listen, we are glad that you have the grit, the tenacity, the faith, everything that you need to, and the toughness to stay in the game and to be the puppeteer behind Gabrielle.

Everyone can find Gabrielle and her friends, I'm reading obviously off the script over here, on Sesame Street episodes.

HBO Max, that's where it's streaming.

I wanna get that right Megan, right?

- That's right.

HBO Max and PBS Kids.

- And you are a pleasure to work with, and to all the folks in Cincinnati outside Ohio, they're proud of you.

What's your town again?

- Lincoln Heights.

- Yeah.

Just want a shout out for Lincoln Heights.

That is Megan Piphus Peace.

Wish you all the best.

Thank you very much.

- Thank you.

So nice talking to you.

- Same here.

Thanks folks.

I'm Steve Adubado.

That's Megan.

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 Johnson & Johnson.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Let'’s be healthy together.

MD Advantage Insurance Company.

Valley Bank.

PSC.

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

And by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Promotional support provided by CIANJ, and Commerce Magazine.

And by Northjersey.com and Local IQ.

Part of the USA Today Network.

Every person and organization has a story to be told.

Not just famous people, but business leaders, public servants, doctors and nurses, educators and coaches.

At PSC, your story is our business.

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