Top Priorites for Bergen County in 2018

Bergen County Executive, James Tedesco, and Steve Adubato sit down to talk about the success of the Bergen County Care Fair and some of the top priorities for Bergen County in 2018.

9/29/18 #3123

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"We are pleased to welcome, once again, the County Executive of the great County of Bergen, Jim Tedesco. Good to see you Jim. Thank you Steve. Thanks for having me. We'll talk about some public policy questions in just a second... state, federal decisions that impact county government, but real quick. There's something called the Bergen County Care Fair, which took place back on May 6th, 2018? Right. What was it? And why did it... does it matter? Sure. It's the second one we've held. My philosophy about government is that it's there to help people. And when you're a caregiver or when you're looking at having to become one... I had to take care of my late wife, and it presented a real challenge. And then my mother-in-law... I didn't know where to go for everything. And so what we decided to do was put all of these providers that have... that provide care, or provide services for caring, all under one roof. And... Right. There were hospitals there? There were hospitals, there were people that provide, actually, homecare, there were people that provide services to special needs... children in special needs families. And adults as well? And adults as well. Correct. And the folks at...? I also happen to know, only because we do a lot of work with the Adler Aphasia Center. They were there. And they were involved as well? Yup. They were. And as a matter of fact, we transport people there everyday to get the rehabilitation and things that they... Who are dealing with Aphasia? Yeah. With Aphasia. Yeah. Why do you care so much about this personally? Is it largely because of your personal experience Jim? So... And what you know others are facing? Yeah. I mean I went through it with my wife. I'm a cancer survivor. And I had to research that and know what it's like to go out and try to, you know, find all the services and everything you need, and so putting everyone under one roof... At the fair? At the fair, and having people be able to talk one on one, and really explain their personal experience to what's happening with them, and having somebody say, "You know what? That's something that we can do with... and we can do this, this, and this for you," they leave there, my God, smiling. There is hope. There is something that can... there are people out there that can help me, and really that's what... that's what we wanted to accomplish. Is it an annual event? So it's... this was the second one. We had almost 1,500 people come for... Really? Yeah. Was that on the campus of Fairleigh Dickinson? Right? FDU, at the Rothman..."