Nationwide Well Beings Campaign Leverages Power of Public Media, Collaborators, and Extended Digital Series to Highlight Caregiving Challenges and Advances

 

PRINCETON, N.J. – May 8, 2024 – Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., announces that the company is the lead, founding sponsor of Caregiving, a two-hour documentary dedicated to portraying the challenges and triumphs of caregivers through their personal stories. The project, executive produced by Bradley Cooper, is slated for release in Spring 2025 and is the next feature film of WETA’s award-winning Well Beings campaign that addresses critical health needs in America.

In the U.S., more than 53 million family caregivers are providing approximately 34 billion hours of unpaid care annually, amounting to an estimated $67 billion in personal lost earnings.[i] Caregiving will reveal the vital impact of the caregiver’s role on the family, in the workplace, and the country’s economy. The documentary will examine caregiving from multiple perspectives: the creation and evolution of the care system; the social dynamics that shape our approach to caregiving today and the future possibilities; the lives of caregivers and their relationships with those in their care; the interpersonal and economic pressures faced by caregivers; and the broader societal context in which caregiving operates on the margins.

“The act of giving and receiving care touches the lives of every American. Caregiving underscores the challenging and fulfilling work of individuals who are the bedrock of the nation’s long-term care system,” said Sharon Percy Rockefeller, president and CEO of WETA Washington, D.C. “The selfless act of caregiving is a most worthy cause to activate the power of public media to connect and galvanize providers and supporters to join forces and bring attention to the urgent support system needed to protect this often-overlooked population.”

Otsuka is committed to working with key stakeholders including government officials, policymakers and advocacy organizations to address the gaps in support and provide needed resources for family caregivers and their loved ones. In 2023, to further this commitment Otsuka launched a long-term corporate initiative to recognize and respond to the needs of caregivers.   

“As part of our relentless commitment to mental health, Otsuka was honored to be the lead, founding sponsor for WETA’s award-winning “Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness” documentary, presented by Ken Burns in 2022,” said Tarek Rabah, president and CEO, Otsuka North America Pharmaceutical Business. “At some point, many people become a caregiver to a loved one in need. Along the journey, they will likely endure countless challenges, self-sacrifice, and moments of doubt. It is critical that caregivers receive acknowledgement and the resources necessary to thrive in their lives. At Otsuka, we’re committed to leading an industry-wide shift in the ways caregivers are valued and supported in their service to others. This is why I am thrilled that Otsuka is also the lead, founding sponsor for WETA’s upcoming Caregiving project to help shine a bright light on this critically important—yet often overlooked-- community within the healthcare industry.”

Beginning with Alzheimer’s disease, Otsuka’s caregiver commitment will expand to other conditions over time and offers a wide variety of educational and support resources as part of its corporate caregiver commitment, which include: 

  • The Agitation In Alzheimer’s Screener For Caregivers (AASC™) – a tool to assist family caregivers with screening for agitation in Alzheimer’s disease. 
  • A strong focus on storytelling, which includes a docuseries featuring the lived experiences and personal stories of caregivers, and an animated video to help explain Alzheimer’s disease from the perspective of a child.
  • Hosting ongoing caregiver roundtables to cultivate a sense of community and to help educate others about their unique, unmet needs as caregivers.  
  • A new Otsuka employee caregiver benefit that provides comprehensive support throughout the caregiving journey to Otsuka employees. 
  • Creation of a new website and Instagram page, @otsuka_us, dedicated to caregivers.  

Rabah noted, “We are committed to caring for caregivers, standing with them, the way they stand with their loved ones, and offering the tools they may need for the health of others and themselves.”

 

Caregiving Project Extends Impact as Newest Initiative from Well Beings Campaign

The Caregiving launch will include a national and local audience engagement campaign to explore how caregiving impacts everyone in America. The engagement campaign will develop relationships between a large network of committed partners and PBS member stations to produce in-person and virtual engagement events and provide resource guides, among other educational materials, tailored to the specific needs of their unique communities.

Starting in Fall 2024, the multiplatform online strategy will launch with a preview of Caregiving and provide additional film details and video content on the Well Beings digital platform, including the website and social media accounts. The campaign will feature original short-form content and an interactive digital series focused on family caregivers.

 

About Otsuka Pharmaceutical

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is a global healthcare company with the corporate philosophy: Otsuka–people creating new products for better health worldwide. Otsuka researches, develops, manufactures, and markets innovative products, with a focus on pharmaceutical products to meet unmet medical needs and nutraceutical products for the maintenance of everyday health.

In pharmaceuticals, Otsuka is a leader in the challenging areas of mental, renal, and cardiovascular health and has additional research programs in oncology and on several under-addressed diseases including tuberculosis, a significant global public health issue. These commitments illustrate how Otsuka is a “big venture” company at heart, applying a youthful spirit of creativity in everything it does.

Otsuka established a presence in the U.S. in 1973 and today its U.S. affiliates include Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. (OPDC) and Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. (OAPI). These two companies’ 2,250 employees in the U.S. develop and commercialize medicines in the areas of mental health and nephrology, using cutting-edge technology to address unmet healthcare needs.

OPDC and OAPI are indirect subsidiaries of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd. headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The Otsuka group of companies employed 34,400 people worldwide and had consolidated sales of approximately USD 14.2 billion in 2023.

All Otsuka stories start by taking the road less traveled. Learn more about Otsuka in the U.S. at www.otsuka-us.com and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter at @OtsukaUS. Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.’s global website is accessible at https://www.otsuka.co.jp/en/.

 

ABOUT WETA

WETA is the leading public broadcaster in the nation’s capital, serving Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia with educational initiatives and with high-quality programming on television, radio, and digital. WETA Washington, D.C., is the second-largest producing station for public television, with news and public affairs programs including PBS NewsHour, PBS News Weekend, and Washington Week with The Atlantic; films by Ken Burns and Florentine Films, such as The American Buffalo and the forthcoming Leonardo da Vinci; series and documentaries by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., including Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and GOSPEL; performance specials including National Memorial Day Concert and A Capitol Fourth; and health content from Well Beings, a multiplatform campaign. More information on WETA and its programs and services are available at weta.org. Visit facebook.com/wetatvfm on Facebook.

 

 

Media Contacts

Otsuka In U.S.                                                                       

Robert Murphy                                                                     
Corporate Communications                                                  
Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.                                   
robert.murphy@otsuka-us.com                                             
+1 609 249 7262                                                                   

 

Otsuka in Japan

Jeffrey Gilbert (Outside the U.S.)
Leader, Pharmaceutical PR  
Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Co., Ltd.
gilbert.jeffrey@otsuka.co.jp
+81 3 6361 7379, +81 80 8728 6039

 

WETA

Lameka Lucas
llucas@weta.org

 

[i] Statistics sourced from American Association of Retired People (AARP) and the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC). Caregiving in the United States in 2020 (June 18, 2020)

 https://www.aarp.org/pri/topics/ltss/family-caregiving/caregiving-in-the-united-states/

and AARP. Valuing the Invaluable 2023 Update: Strengthening SUpports for Family Caregivers (March 8, 2023) https://www.aarp.org/pri/topics/ltss/family-caregiving/valuing-the-invaluable-2015-update/

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