(upbeat light music)
Hello and welcome to our first episode
of "Horizon Health Works."
Today our home base is Holy Name Medical Center
in Teaneck, I'm Laura Jones.
Our brand new monthly series will highlight
innovations and initiatives to improve health care,
expert advice and health tips.
We'll feature the people of New Jersey
who are making a difference all over the state.
This month, advice on how to discuss racism
with your children.
An inside look at a unique insurance program
that uses community health workers
to reach people who need more
to achieve their best health.
An inspirational Rutgers basketball player
who is making a big difference.
But up first my discussion with Holy Name's
Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Adam Jarrett,
who says delaying checkups
and routine preventative tests because of Corona virus
can be risky.
Doctor people have put their lives on hold
and with that so many regular annual appointments,
checkups, physicals screenings,
people have put aside
and almost been afraid to go to the doctor.
If you've got something going on
and you are just really kinda scared,
what advice would you have?
Well, the most important advice
that I give to all people
is that you need to have a good primary care doctor,
or a clinician that you trust,
someone that will be available to you
that you can pick up the phone and ask questions to,
that you can go see,
who has a schedule that is flexible enough
that doesn't make you wait weeks to get in to see them.
And in, during the pandemic,
we added to that by allowing telemedicine visits
to become a more frequent thing.
And so not only could you go and make an appointment,
you could actually get on the phone
and speak to someone face-to-face
via a telemedicine link.
And in northern New Jersey
it's really at the point now
where it's safe to go get routine care.
So for people who are saying,
"You know what, I think I'll just put it off
until next year's annual,
I'll just put it off,"
what would you say?
So I think that's a major mistake.
The guidelines that are put out
by the professional organizations and the experts
in terms of how often you should have a colonoscopy,
and a mammogram, and a pap smear,
those guidelines are there for a reason.
There is so much information for people to take in
and to try and understand and process,
and then figure out what is best for them.
So if you were writing a prescription
for people who are watching and listening to you,
what would that prescription be?
That's a good question.
I would say that they should try
to resume their normal life
knowing that things are not normal.
So we need to start doing the things
that we need to do to stay healthy.
We need to go outside and exercise,
we need to communicate and,
and reconnect with our family and friends
in a socially distanced safe way.
But getting back to going to visit your parents,
if you haven't done that
because you were concerned
that you were putting them at risk,
I think now is a safe time to do that.
And so we need to resume some level of normalcy,
but at the same time, keep wearing our masks,
keep staying socially distant,
keep staying six feet away
from each other whenever possible
and also watching and listening
to what's going on in the community.
Some people think that they're doing the right thing
by staying home, I'm not sick, I'm healthy,
I'll get my checkup in six months, what's the danger?
There's the person who was having some back pain,
or some belly pain, or some chest pain,
and they're like, well, it's not that severe
I'll just let it be.
And if people are putting those things off,
because they're worried about COVID, I understand that,
but I'm worried that we're going to delay making diagnoses
that we really need to make as soon as possible
so that we can get the patient the right treatment.
Because those screening appointments
are incredibly important at keeping you healthy.
What about a regular traditional flu shot?
Would you still recommend people
get a regular traditional flu shot?
More important than ever.
Literally getting a flu shot
not only can save your life,
but it can save the lives of the people around you.
And in the midst of this pandemic,
when the flu season comes upon us,
we are gonna have a really tough time
if people don't get their flu shots.
Tough because we're gonna see a lot of sick people,
and tough because we're,
we may have a difficult time differentiating flu
from COVID-19, and so the more people
who get flu shots the better.
They are very, very safe.
There's no such thing in life
as anything that's 1,000% safe,
but people should take their flu shots.
If you're willing to get in your car and drive down the road
and take the risk of getting in your car,
a flu shot is as safe, if not safer than that.
Thank you, Dr. Jarrett, that is great advice.
I'm gonna take that prescription and fill it.
Horizon and Rutgers University
have a long-standing partnership
supporting the health and wellbeing of student athletes.
A great example from this program
is basketball star Paul Mulcahy,
who is leading the Scarlet Knights on and off the court
by starting the Grateful4 Foundation, watch this.
Our mission is to spread the idea of gratitude
and inspire a chain reaction of selfless acts.
So no matter somebody's age, race, or socioeconomic status,
we believe that everybody can feel a sense of gratitude
and no matter what's going on in somebody's life,
we feel that there's always at least four things
to be grateful for.
Paul, thank you very much for taking the time today
to talk to us, how did this idea come about?
Okay, so it's been an idea
that I've had for the last three or four years.
So it was an idea that you've been thinking about
and it took a pandemic to kind of make it happen.
So there is something positive
that came out of something not so positive.
Yeah, yeah,
it was kind of ironic that I know during a time like this
people tend to focus on all the things they don't have,
or they can't do, and I thought
this was just a nice way to, you know,
shed some light on, you know, take a step back,
self-reflect, realize there's so much in,
in my life, and your life, and everyone's life,
to be grateful for and then once we understand that
we'll realize there's people in less fortunate situations
which hopefully we're inclined to, you know,
go out and make their day in whatever way we can, you know,
and start a chain reaction.
So when you got this idea and kind of passed it,
so to speak, to some of your other teammates.
Yeah, everybody's super on board.
I'm really, really thankful for my teammates,
my coaches, everybody's been,
a lot of positive feedback from that.
I'm Stevo Bednarsky,
a rising senior at Lehigh University
and the four things I'm grateful for:
my friends and family;
Lehigh University and all my teammates;
having a fresh meal and a place to sleep every single night;
and then Paul Mulcahy for starting this message
and showing the power in gratitude.
What I'm grateful for:
first and foremost my family and friends;
secondly, my life;
thirdly, the people that helped me
when they didn't have to;
and last but not least, the roof that's over my head.
What are you grateful for?
Rutgers Nation is extremely a tight-knit group
and a lot of people have reached out through that
so I'm really thankful and grateful
just to be surrounded by people like that.
So were there any responses
that just blew you away, or that you weren't,
weren't expecting?
One, one response I thought was really cool was Eric,
Eric LeGrand.
What's going on everybody?
I wanna give a quick shout out to my guy, Paul Mulcahy,
for in times like this starting a foundation called,
The Grateful4 Foundation and I'm gonna give you
the four things I'm grateful for.
And number one is my God;
number two is my family and my friends and supporters;
number three is health;
and number four is being able to wake up with the ability
to inspire the world on a daily basis.
Football player for Rutgers
paralyzed after a terrible accident,
was it during a game, right,
wasn't it?
Yeah, I met Eric
two or three years ago
and we'd been in touch and I shot him the idea
and 15 minutes later he sent me his video
and he put it out there
so I thought that was, that was really cool.
Where do you go from here
with the Grateful4 Foundation?
Longterm I would love to turn it into a legit nonprofit
where we can help people from a monetary standpoint,
but I want a headquarters in Bayonne, New Jersey
where I live and have that be a safe place for people.
I love it, and also have the headquarters
here in New Jersey, so paying it forward in New Jersey?
Yeah, yeah I, absolutely.
New Jersey has been huge
in making me who I am
and hopefully I put myself in position to, you know,
give back in the future.
What a forward-thinking idea
from one of the Scarlet Knights best forwards.
Remember to use the hashtag Grateful4Challenge
when you post your own grateful message.
Rutgers men's head coach, Steve Pikiell,
wrote us saying,
"The Grateful4 Foundation
is just making the world a better place.
I am excited about the vision of the Grateful4 Foundation
and believe it can generate a lot of good
in the state of New Jersey and around the world."
We'll be back right after this.
I'm Kayla and this is what I work for.
To teach him, to protect her,
and to take care of me too.
I need health insurance that does the same,
that makes it easier to see a doctor
so I don't have to worry.
This is my life and this is how
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
works for me, and him, and her.
Welcome back to "Horizon Health Works."
Our new monthly series will bring you news
you can use about your health
and stories about people who are making a difference
for New Jersey.
We are at Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck.
When the coronavirus struck earlier this year,
New Jersey was hard hit.
The pandemic took an especially hard toll
on communities of color
and on people with the most roadblocks
to getting healthcare services.
The environment in which people live, work, and play,
can contribute to as much as 80%
of a person's overall health.
Horizon has launched a major initiative
using community health workers hired locally
to help address those issues.
It's a program called, Horizon Neighbors and Health,
and our next guest, Cheryl Towns,
is on the front lines of that effort in her community.
Well, it's really good to talk to you and to see you.
What you do every day is have,
you have to deal with so many different programs
so can you tell me a little bit about
this program with Horizon?
What is it about this that sets it apart
from everything else?
We're able to reach people, families,
who otherwise probably wouldn't seek help,
wouldn't ask for help, or may be too proud to accept it.
You have some people that's in a certain,
certain income bracket
where they don't qualify for anything,
or this is not an income-based program.
This is what we do, let me help you, it's okay,
I get it I've been there, I understand,
you're not the only one.
It is a job, but there's,
there is a person-human element and you're not missing that,
Horizon, this program, is not missing that.
Not at all, not at all.
We have been able to feed countless of families,
pay for prescriptions,
even help get someone a, maybe I think a laptop,
so they can enroll into classes to start school
and the first thing they say is,
"Through my insurance company, I've never heard of that?"
"This must be a scam."
No, it's not a scam,
it's your insurance company cares for you,
cares for you the member.
You have experience with an individual,
and we'll call her J, for the sake of privacy,
and there was something about her, and her story,
that really resonated with you.
Each member in the Horizon Neighbors and Health,
is assigned a personal health assistant.
I called her, she was very hesitant.
She was, she was very upset
because she is a young mother with three autistic sons.
People would hear her story and say, "Okay, sorry,"
after she, you know, sit down 20, 30 minutes,
you know, and poured her heart out,
the answer was always, "Sorry, I can't help you,"
and I didn't wanna be that next person.
I pulled up to her house,
I went to, there's a, and got her like maybe a month,
two months supply of diapers for one of her kids.
So we was able to give her a $200 gift card from ShopRite
and she like jumped (laughing),
she was just jumping outta her skin
and her boys was just, they are so handsome
and it's just, how could you not, how can you not?
We're so happy to have J with us.
J is a mother who has three children all with autism.
Were you hesitant?
Were you thinking this is a little too good to be true?
You know, I'm just trying to get through the day
so don't waste my time.
If you're not really gonna help,
I don't have time to listen to your sales pitch,
or something like that, right?
You're right though,
there's always hesitation on my part,
given just the lengthy negative experiences that I've had,
particularly with my school district.
So I was hesitant at first,
but this program is new to me with Horizon,
and in speaking with Cheryl we connected instantly.
She was very compassionate, very hands-on,
she said she was gonna do something she meant it.
She got right on the ball, I didn't have to wait,
I didn't have to check in with her,
she kept checking in with me
and she continues to check in with me,
and she's just been a blessing because she's just.
She's taken a little bit off my plate,
which I can always use less on my plate.
And she was just very compassionate and understanding
and you are taken back a little bit, because I did not,
it was unexpected.
Just her genuineness, her compassion, her generosity,
it was completely unexpected,
much needed, but unexpected.
When you're trying to be a mother to your children,
all of whom have individual and special needs,
having something like this
that you know that you can rely on,
do you feel that that makes you a better parent?
Yes, it does.
It allows me to just be able to
be myself.
I'm not myself when I'm anxious
and with all the stressors of what we're going,
what's going on right now in these uncertain times
in conjunction with my years and years and years
of combativeness with my district,
I haven't been myself.
This has lightened the load, it has made me better
so that I can be a better mom to my children.
Right now there are 60 community health workers,
co-funded by Horizon in 11 counties throughout New Jersey.
My next guest is Jeff Rhode,
a multimedia specialist here at Holy Name Medical Center
who used his camera to capture these unforgettable images
from an unforgettable pandemic.
When this started I came to work
as if it were any other day, but I went into the ER first.
I chose to go to the frontline
to document our healthcare workers,
to see what they were doing
and to share it with the media
and sort of share an inside view.
What was it that said,
I wanna see what's going on in the emergency room?
Was that part of your background,
kinda what drives you internally?
Yeah, I had worked for,
"The Star-Ledger" for 15 years and while I was there
one of the experiences that I had
was working on the picture desk while, during 9/11.
This had sort of a similar quality
in that it got bad very quickly.
There was, I'm sorry.
Yeah, it's very emotional.
You don't even have a chance to catch your breath
to realize, my goodness, what have I witnessed?
What did I just see?
You don't always know, maybe days, weeks later,
and you're kind of scrolling through your photos
and you know, a minute can seem like hours.
Yeah, yeah.
Is that similar for you?
Yeah, it was, it was,
that was similar in that I would have to disconnect from
what was going on around me throughout the day,
at night though, when I came to editing
and I was going through the day,
I guess, it was a faster pace when I was editing,
but it was just seeing the selected moments of the day
that really, it, it became emotional.
I did realize initially that I was one of the few people
that was allowed inside of a hospital.
I felt an obligation to document it, but I also,
there's no way, it wasn't a choice, I couldn't say no,
I wouldn't want to.
Were there any images in particular
that really stood out and stopped you in your tracks?
Yeah, there was one patient that was on oxygen.
He was in his last hours of life
and the nurses and caregivers were around him
holding his hand, talking to him.
They FaceTimed with his caregiver at home.
Everybody was telling him that they were there for him.
They spent the whole day with him,
he wasn't alone at all.
It was amazing to see how closely
the staff was working with,
with the patients and supporting them.
And I think there was sort of an attitude
of everyone was in this together,
whether you're a patient,
whether you're a healthcare worker,
or whether you're environmental services, whoever you were,
you were working together to, to get through it.
There were a couple of images I was hoping
that you could tell us a little bit more about.
One is called, Pods, do I have that right?
Yep, so the pods were built
in a matter of six days
and it was a space that originally was a storage space
and we needed a solution for, for treating more patients.
Originally, we had an ICU that had 19 beds,
each one of these pods had 18 beds.
The theory behind the pod is that they,
they could use less PPE and treat more patients
more efficiently and keep the patient safer,
keep the healthcare provider safer.
And there are other photos, workers on the front lines,
can you tell me a little bit about some of those images?
So I, I photographed a series of images called,
Phases of the Front Line,
and they were very close, very,
very tightly composed photos of a person's face in PPE
while they were working
because they were all dressed the same.
Everyone wore the same gray scrubs
and all you could see was their eyes
and there was always something compelling to me
about just seeing their eyes
because even though you couldn't see their face,
you could tell what was going on by looking at their eyes.
What was their reaction
when you started sharing some of these photos
with your colleagues and with other people?
I think once they saw the images,
I started to post to social media,
and once they started to see them,
they trusted more what I was doing.
So kind of wrapping up your final thoughts here,
other experiences, or things that,
moments that have stayed with you?
So we had one patient who was intubated for 37 days,
that's a very long time.
And even though he was unconscious,
everybody knew him, and everybody was rooting for him.
And the day-
(clapping)
(cheering)
He was released
and everybody had a big clap out for him,
his family surprised him by showing up,
it was, it was just a really emotional moment.
Thank you, Jeff, quite an emotional series.
To see more of Jeff's photos please use this link.
We'll be back in 30 seconds.
(upbeat music)
Welcome back to "Horizon Health Works."
56 years after signing the Civil Rights Act
protests around the country,
and the Black Lives Matter Movement,
are reigniting the national dialogue
about racism and injustice.
Experts agree that discussing racism
with the youngest members of your family
should start early and happen often.
It's my pleasure to welcome Dr. Nzinga Harrison,
a psychiatrist who is the Chief Medical Officer
of Eleanor Health.
She joins us now to talk about the best ways
to talk to your children.
Dr. Harrison, thank you so much for joining us
and this topic, racism,
a lot of times parents have good intentions,
but they don't know what to say all of the time
and even where to start.
You have five points that you say
that these are a good starting point
and the first one is to begin early.
So how early should parents begin this dialogue?
Thank you so much, so literally in the womb
is where this dialogue starts
and I know that sounds crazy because babies in the womb
you think don't hear dialogue,
but we know that playing different types of music,
from different ethnic cultures,
from different racial backgrounds,
makes the difference
and then actually having a conversation about racism.
Kids can start to understand this
around four and five years old
and that conversation is about people being treated fairly
and people being treated unfairly
and this is how we respond in those situations.
So this has just been a part of the conversation.
One of your other points is to prepare yourself
and what do you mean when you say, you know,
to prepare yourself?
Do some research.
The easiest way when children are younger
is to find resources and there are tons
all over the internet.
If you google anti-racism resources for kids,
you'll actually find resources that are age-based
because you do want to be age appropriate,
but I want you to practice
because this is a difficult conversation
and so you want to come into this conversation
with your child with confidence
and we do that by preparing ourselves.
So when you are having this discussion with,
with your children at whatever age that they are,
it's important to ask them,
you say it's important to ask them their opinion.
I think a lot of times as parents,
we approach conversations with our children,
no matter the age, with this vertical dynamic,
like I'm the expert and I am going to teach you
about racism today and when we leave here
you'll do what I say and it will be great.
And so the asking the question, and the listening,
is about what have your experiences been?
What are your thoughts on racism
based on how you've been treated,
or how you've seen people that you care about,
how you've seen your friends be treated
and developing that compassionate empathy
through their own experiences
to then drive the motivation for anti-racism.
Right, and definitely as this conversation continues,
but you also talk about being direct with kids.
And when you're talking about being direct
sometimes people might confuse that
with keeping it simple or, or is that the same?
Our kids can tell when we're fudging
and so it goes back to what we said earlier,
which is be prepared
because part of what's difficult
about talking about racism
is that we haven't necessarily been given the words
to talk about racism.
Figure out if you wanna talk about racism
against people of color,
or if you wanna talk about racism against black people.
This is the history of racism in this country,
this is what racism looks like today in this country,
this is the commitment that we as a family and people
make against anti-racism
and this is how we honor that commitment.
Just very direct words, and so to your point, yes,
simple, although it's clearly very complicated.
Final point is show them the way that sounds pretty easy,
but maybe easier said than done.
Easier said than done is exactly right,
but what I'm encouraging here is do as I do,
because our children see what we're doing
and they pick that up
and that becomes a part of who they are,
and that becomes a part of what they do.
And so by doing, you're actually passively
teaching your children about anti-racism.
And so often we think like this is work for adults,
but this is work for every age group
and so if you're doing some type of advocacy,
if you're donating money,
if you're intentionally diversifying your social circle,
be out loud and proud
about that anti-racism work with your kids
because then they can do as you do
and as you say.
I know that racism can be scary,
but we can literally change the world
one adult through one child at a time
just by starting early, being direct,
and giving our kids resources
for how they can start practicing anti-racism
from the time they come out of the womb.
So I challenge us to do it because I know we can.
I'm gonna take that challenge.
I love all of this advice.
Doctor, thank you so much.
Every month we will feature a person
who is doing something extraordinary in New Jersey.
I want you to meet Tina Thomas.
In 2014, Tina who works for
Horizon Strategic Initiative Group,
created The Loving Arms Foundation.
They've been doing some incredible things
for the people in the community of Newark ever since.
The Loving Arms Foundation
provides assistance to families in need
and my job is to make sure
that our loving arms are wrapped around
as many families as we can get them around
and to make them feel
that there are people in the world that care.
So we have homeless people all the time that we,
we sit down and we talk to.
We had a mom, a single mom with two children,
and they were actually already living in their apartment.
The children, who were 13 and 16,
were actually sleeping in the same bed as mom.
She couldn't afford to get any furniture
and so we were able to donate beds.
We set them up and they were so happy.
The kids just jumped on the bed,
they couldn't believe that they finally had their own beds.
And so that just, it just makes
all the hard work worth it, you know.
(cheering)
So for Thanksgiving we have a luncheon
for the Hillside Senior Citizens.
They absolutely love it,
we've done it for five years now.
We have entertainment for them
they had such a great time and they do every year,
they look forward to it.
For the past three years I'll say
we have a winter coat giveaway.
The Burlington Coat Factory
donates lightly-used winter coats
and the residents are able to come
as if they're going shopping
and they really have a good time
and they really need the coats.
And we is so grateful for
The Loving Arms Foundation, you know,
because they got us this kitchen set,
they did a lot for us.
The Wilson family is a family
that was living at the North YMCA.
They were able to find an apartment in Newark
and the mama unfortunately is suffering with cancer
and she has children with special needs, four of them,
and we were able to furnish their apartment
and we were able to give them food
and so many things because she can't work
because she's in treatment and that sort of thing.
Even just having food meant everything to them.
Thank God for The Loving Arms Foundation,
for being here for me and my family
in our time of need.
And we periodically call and check on them
to see how they're doing.
Mom is in treatment and she says
that they're doing a lot better.
When I see, and there are many success stories
I'm happy to report, but when I see that
I just know that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.
Sometimes I used to ask myself,
I wonder what my purpose is in life, and I found it.
It is amazing what a difference just one person can make.
Thank you for watching our first episode
of "Horizon Health Works."
We look forward to welcoming you in October
when we will talk about Medicare enrollment month,
a first of its kind partnership with Horizon in New Jersey
that aims to improve healthcare and make it more convenient.
Plus, we look at a wonderful program
that integrates mental and physical health.
We wanna hear from you.
Email us at HorizonHealthWorks@HorizonBlue.com.
Tweet us at Horizon BCBSNJ, or find us on Facebook.
I'm Laura Jones until next time stay healthy,
stay Jersey strong.
(upbeat music)
