Transcript: Mayor Adams, Health Commissioner Dr. Vasan Launch Ambitious Whole-of-Government Campaign To Extend Lifespan Of All New Yorkers

November 1, 2023

Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom, Health and Human Services: Hello, everyone. I should tell my husband that I want him to play theme music when I come in the house every night. [Laughter.] Don't you think? That's kind of cool, right?

And I can never tell whether or not I'm supposed to dance or not, but I am a New Yorker, so I dance every time I hear it. So, I know you're shivering out there, but I have something and we have something that we want to tell you today that is going to definitely warm your hearts.

We are gathered here today to reaffirm the city's commitment to support every New Yorker from every new neighborhoods across the city to live their healthiest, fullest and longest life. And mayor, when I think about it, I know you want me to live longer so I can work harder.

Mayor Eric Adams: That's right.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: I want to live longer so that I can have more enjoyment, more fun, more happiness and more love in my life. I'll let the mayor get into the details, but I want to acknowledge who's standing with us today.

Along with the mayor, we have the city's doctor, Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the commissioner of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; Councilmember Lynn Schulman, Chair of the Council's Health Committee. And I also want to acknowledge the leaders from the agencies across New York City government including DSS Commissioner Molly Park. NYC Aging Commissioner Lorraine Cortés Vázquez, New York City Health + Hospitals Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Machelle Allen.

We also have Dr. Morris, who's out there, give a wave, you're not up here with us. New York City Parks Deputy Commissioner Margaret Nelson, Mayor's Office of Food Policy Executive Director Kate MacKenzie, NYC EDC Vice President Leslie Wong, Senior Director of Community Health Engagement for Greater New York Hospital Association, Benjamin Gonzalez, Vibrant President and CEO, Kimberly Williams, Community Healthcare Association of New York State President and CEO Rose Dunham.

And I think that is… Fid I forget anybody? And I said it so quickly, right? Oh, and Emblem health is also here. So, thank you to all of our guests, and now let me turn it over to our mayor, Mayor Adams.

Mayor Adams: Thank you. Thank you.

Thanks so much, and I really want to thank Dr. Vasan and the deputy mayor. And we're really in the park, because when you think about health, there needs to be a real holistic approach, and the parks play such a vital role in doing so. And Dr. Vasan took this initiative on his shoulders and say and did analysis and saw how life expectancy has declined at a significant rate.

It was something that the former mayor, Mayor Bloomberg, clearly understood, and we saw the life expectancy increase under the former mayor. And it's a real "all hands on deck" holistic approach, and both Councilwoman Schulman and I both understand how personal this journey is and looking at health and how it impacts our lives.

Chronic disease hijacks your life. Anyone who's going through a chronic disease, you think about it all the time. Your families are impacted. You sit down at your desk and you stare at your computer worrying about the next examination, really scheduling your life around what pill you're taking, what needle you're injecting inside yourself. You think about hospice care. It just really engulfs you.

And we want to alleviate that concern, and that's why we are rolling out today something that I'm really proud of, what we are calling HealthyNYC. When we came into office, we promised that we would ensure that the prosperity would be felt across the entire five boroughs, and [for] far too long the outer boroughs have been really left behind when we engaged in conversations of a holistic approach to government; and the health of our people, we believe is a key part of that prosperity.

New Yorkers deserve to live healthier and longer lives, and not just surviving but thriving, enjoying the beauty of this amazing city. And I'm really proud of what the commissioner of aging is doing, Commissioner Cortés-Vázquez, and even something as simple as the Talent is Timeless. You know, just seeing the energetic, the movement of our older adults and listening to the older adult cabinets is part of this all hands on deck approach we are doing.

HealthyNYC is our plan to increase life expectancy in this city to 83 years by 2030, because despite coming out of a once in a century pandemic, life expectancy has not recovered. It just has not recovered. Covid had a major impact on all of us. But it's not only Covid alone. You know, when you look at between 2019 to and '20, overall life expectancy in New York City fell to 78 years; and, it fell even further in the Black and brown communities and communities that are dealing with economic challenges.

While Covid 19 was the driver of this, as I indicated, it wasn't alone. Mental health crises, violence, chronic disease and overdose crises have caused life expectancy to fall further, taking too many New Yorkers too soon. And even when our family members transition physically, the emotional toll is something that we can't count. There are no indicators that would tell you how much it impacts an entire family when you lose a loved one prematurely. And we can no longer ignore this crisis, and this is what Dr. Vasan is bringing to all of our attention, and his entire team at DOHMH.

With HealthyNYC, we are getting clear goals to reduce the greatest drivers of premature death, including chronic and diet related diseases; and we are, with our school foods and how we are feeding people in our hospitals with plant based diets feeding into our overall healthcare system.

And looking at overdose. The fentanyl and other overdose in our cities from opioids and others is really having a major impact on the overdose crisis we are facing. And maternal mortality, violence, Covid 19 is something that we often have ignored and overlooked, suicides. Our babies are really having suicidal thoughts, and the number of cases is really alarming and troubling.

And we're going to create a healthier city. And you know, this is extremely personal, as I stated, for the Councilperson and many of us who are standing here, we have our own healthcare stories to talk about. And so our goal is to make sure that we regain not only our lives but the narrative around what it is to be healthy in this city.

We can't have a sick care system, we have to have a healthcare system that is more proactive and not reactive. A solid healthcare system is not merely getting a pill or an injection. And you know, I don't have to talk about my journey, everyone knows my journey. But my mom's journey speaks for itself, diabetic for 15 years, she was diabetic. Seven years I watched her inject herself with insulin. And when she changed her diet and her lifestyle, mom was able to live until she was 83. I believe if we would have caught some of the chronic diseases she was facing, she would have even been with us even longer.

We don't have to move into the later years of our lives and look forward to just having a pill box or an injection to define our lives by, and that's what this is about. That's what we're doing by doing those small things in a big way. It means addressing health equities in our communities of color, it means taking on the maternal mortality rates in the city with programs like our city wide doula initiative that we really are proud of. And it means reducing violence. Young people, life expectancy when you have violence in those communities of color, it really impacts on the longevity of their lives.

And it means addressing the fact that only high income communities are having access to healthy food. You can't continue to have a city where one community has healthy food and another community is surrounded by junk food, fast food, overprocessed, sugary, overprocessed, oily food. That's just unhealthy.

Increasing life expectancy across our city requires, as I stated, an all hands on deck moment, and that's where we are. Every agency in the city will be examining to make sure that we're all on board to have a healthy NYC. Thank you, Dr. Vasan and the entire team, and thank all of you who are here with us as well. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: Thank you. I was sitting here thinking that when I came this morning, I said to Dr. Vasan, so is this good news or is this the bad news, because I feel like things are so heavy right now. Everybody's feeling it. We feel overwhelmed. We feel like there's so much going on.

But I actually feel like in the midst of all of that challenge, the fact that this administration can still be having a bold vision about what we see and what's in front of us and the hope, that's what keeps us inspired, that's what keeps us going, and that's what makes me proud to be a part of this administration and doing this work. And to be able to partner with this young man here, it's my pleasure to bring up the city's doctor, Dr. Vasan.

Commissioner Ashwin Vasan, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Good afternoon. Thank you, deputy mayor. Thank you, mayor, for your leadership, for your support. Thank you to Councilmember Schulman and the entire City Council, my fellow city leaders and all of you here for your partnership.

The name of this campaign is HealthyNYC. The reason it's so important is that right now New York City is not getting healthier, as you can see. Across the city, people are getting sicker and dying sooner than they should. On average, New Yorkers can expect to live two fewer years than they could in 2019, the first marked decline after a century of progress.

And it's not the same for every community. And it's not just the result of Covid, it's a result of worsening health across the board. Think of what those years represent: weddings and graduations, first steps and first words, holidays and holy days, music and art and culture and life lived. Losing years of life in of good health is indeed a call to action, a call for purpose and for collective focus. Getting these years back should be nothing less than our top priority.

We need to try a different course towards a healthier New York City. We know that we'll only get there together. Ask any doctor or any nurse in America about our collective health, and they'll tell you healthcare isn't our biggest problem, even if it takes up most of our attention and our resources. Health is as much about your food, your environment and your social circumstances as it is about any check up or prescription.

If you don't have stable housing, you can't get enough sleep, and that affects your moods and your muscles. If you don't have transportation, you can't get to doctors' appointments to get routine screening done. If you don't have green space or safe and solid places to come together and to gather, if all you have is phones and screens, you're more likely to suffer from loneliness and mental health issues.

New Yorkers know this, but for too long government at every level has acted like and certainly spent like health is an individual choice. Well, it certainly is a choice, but it's one that we have to make together not just as everyday New Yorkers, but as institutions and organizations that make up this great city; and not just in government but in sectors across all boroughs.

Today we are making a choice to be the healthiest big city in America. This is a campaign to take back the years stolen by Covid and all of the worsening crises like heart disease and diabetes, suicides and overdoses. And the pain hasn't been felt equally, so we're going to focus our campaign in the communities that have lost the most.

Instead of talking about life expectancy as a concept, we need to talk about what New Yorkers in every corner of the city should expect. You should expect safe streets and subways where you can go about your day without worry. You should expect fruits and vegetables to be just as accessible and affordable as a bag of chips or soda no matter what neighborhood you're in, as the mayor said.

You should expect that if you or a loved one struggle with addiction, you'll be met with care and compassion from professionals. You should expect vision, you should expect leadership and you should expect accountability, and that's what HealthyNYC offers.

Right now, so many of these issues seem out of our hands. People don't pick which grocery stores are in their neighborhoods, the quality of the air they breathe or whether they can afford mental healthcare. These problems require collective action, institutional action.

So, at the end of the day, that's why we have a city government, to tackle the issues that are too big to tackle on our own, to maintain the standards not to live just a long life but a healthy life, and to align the many stakeholders within and outside of government around this common cause.

So, I've lived and I've worked in places where it's not safe to assume that babies will reach their first birthday. And that doesn't change because you build a few hospitals or clinics, it changes because of investments in things like nutrition and clean water, in housing and in sanitation and in disease control. It changes because of widespread access to vaccination, access to food. It changes because of investments in childcare, paid family leave, transportation and support for working parents.

It changes because of intentional decision making based on health. These are the kinds of decisions we must make. The mayor understands that when we're talking about things like transportation or education or housing or violence, we're really talking about health. Health is our big why, the reason we're here, to live out our dreams, to seize opportunities, to fall in love, to build families and relationships and to seek happiness. If it's not health, what's it all about?

HealthyNYC is how we ensure everyone, from government to the private sector and nonprofits, consider health in every decision. It's how we link all of these decisions to the most important single metric we have: how well and how long we live; and at the end of the day, that's the most important test of how we're doing as a society.

I want to be clear, this is hard work and it can't happen overnight. We are making planning around health a permanent feature of our government, one that lasts from mayor to mayor and administration to administration. Thanks to the speaker and to Councilmember Schulman, HealthyNYC will be an organizing force for government in New York City for years to come.

I'm so grateful for the mayor's commitment to this issue. I'm grateful for the partnership of every single city agency and every single stakeholder around the table, and I cannot wait to get to work. Thank you.

Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom: So, you all often hear me talk about my sister deputy mayors; well, today I have the pleasure of bringing up my sister Councilmember. Commissioner Vasan talked about when things are too big and we can't do them by ourselves, we have to do them in partnership, we have to collaborate.

And it's so important to have people that we can count on and leaders to work with, and so it is my pleasure to bring up my sister Councilmember Lynn Schulman.

Councilmember Lynn Schulman: Good afternoon, all. Thank you for joining us today as we embark on an extraordinary journey towards building a healthier and more vibrant New York City. I'm Councilmember Lynn Schulman, chair of the health committee, and I'm from one of the outer boroughs, by the way, Queens.

And I am thrilled, really thrilled to stand before you today alongside some of our city's most dedicated public servants including Mayor Eric Adams, Deputy Mayor Anne Williams Isom and Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan.

Today we gather to launch HealthyNYC, a comprehensive campaign aimed at ensuring that every New Yorker has the opportunity to lead a longer, healthier life. This initiative marks a significant step forward in our commitment to the well being of all New Yorkers.

In a world where health disparities have become all too evident, today we recognize the importance of fostering a society where everyone can access quality healthcare, nutritious food and safe environments. With HealthyNYC, we are laying the foundation for a healthier and more equitable future for every New Yorker regardless of where you are from or what your income level is.

HealthyNYC comes at a critical point for New Yorkers, because over the past few years, the life expectancy of our city has declined. Today's launch is a very significant step in stopping and reversing that decline.

New York City Healthy is not just an aspiration, it's an action with substance and longevity. Tomorrow, I will be introducing legislation that will require a five year public health agenda for New York City that focuses on improving public health outcomes and addressing health disparities to increase life expectancy.

It is a comprehensive plan that seeks to elevate our city's well being in every aspect. It is a five year agenda that requires the health department to review and update every five years until our goals are reached. The reasoning for this time period is that the desire for a healthier New York exists beyond our tenures, all of our tenures in city government.

As we embark on this journey, I want to remind you that it will require the collective effort of all residents, community leaders and organizations to make HealthyNYC a reality. Together we will build a city where good health is not a luxury but a standard for all. Today would not have been possible and I really mean that sincerely, would not have been possible without the collaboration between the mayor's office and city council staff and healthcare staff. And actually, some of the City Council staff are here today, and I want to thank them for their effort.

I want to particularly thank Mayor Adams for his steadfast focus on healthcare; Commissioner Vasan, with whom I spent many hours working to shape this initiative; and, Deputy Mayor Williams Isom whose support and input was crucial in pulling this together; and, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams for her encouragement, her commitment to the health of New Yorkers and for making this legislation a priority.

I now look forward to rolling up my sleeves alongside Mayor Adams and our city's health department to realize the vision of New York City Healthy and make New York the healthiest city in the country. Thank you, and let's get to work.

Mayor Adams: Any questions for the doctor or anyone here? Great. Great.

Question: [Inaudible].

Commissioner Vasan: I think I heard your question, it's around mental health as a contributing factor from Covid. Absolutely, but make no mistake, we had a mental health crisis before Covid that Covid just made worse. We saw increases in rates of what are called deaths of despair from alcoholism, from suicide, from overdoses that started well before...actually over the last decade well before Covid hit, and Covid really just made things worse.

So, we think of mental health as we think of things like climate change and access to healthcare and housing and education as cross cutting, they affect all of these drivers, all of the issues you heard the mayor talk about, Black maternal mortality, diabetes and heart disease, Covid; of course, suicides and violence. They're all affected by these cross cutting drivers. And what we're saying today is that we are aligning the city government, we're aligning our resources, we're aligning our programs to reach these goals.

Question: [Inaudible].

Commissioner Vasan: I don't know if I heard your question. I think you...

Question: [Inaudible].

Commissioner Vasan: Yes. I think New Yorkers who know New York know that there are communities that have been left behind that have faced the intersecting challenges of social economic strain of the legacy of racism and the impacts on health. And so we know those exist in every borough. There are communities in every single borough that are facing health challenges disproportionately to other communities.

But you know, I think about places like the South Bronx, I think about the places like Central Brooklyn, I think about places like Queens, parts of Queens, South Queens especially. I think about the Far Rockaways. I think about East Harlem, right? So, they're… Just name it, you see these intersecting challenges.

And part of what we're saying with HealthyNYC is with data, with focus and with collaboration we're going to drive our resources into the neighborhoods and into the issues where they're needed the most.

Mayor Adams: Thank you.