New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has named longtime talk radio host and famous sex therapist Ruth Westheimer as the state’s first “ambassador to loneliness.”
The governor’s office said Thursday it awarded the title to the 95-year-old Bronx resident “to help New Yorkers of all ages address the growing issue of social isolation, which is associated with multiple physical and mental health issues, including cognitive decline, anxiety, depression, cardiovascular disorders, weakened immunity, Alzheimer’s disease, and premature death.”
“As New York works to fight the loneliness epidemic, some help from honorary Ambassador Ruth Westheimer may be just what the doctor ordered,” said Mrs. Hochul, a Democrat.
The governor pointed to research showing that “individuals experiencing loneliness had a 32% higher risk of dying early.”
New York is the first state in the nation to create such a position, she added.
The famed radio host suggested taking on the honorary role last year, the governor’s office said.
“I am deeply honored and promised the governor that I will work day and night to help New Yorkers feel less lonely,” Ms. Westheimer said.
A German-born Orthodox Jew orphaned by the Holocaust, she immigrated to the United States in 1956 and became a naturalized citizen in 1965.
After training as a sex therapist at Cornell University and earning a Doctor of Education in family studies from Columbia University, Ms. Westheimer became famous as a talk show host giving serious and candid sexual advice in the 1980s and 1990s.
Married three times, she has lived for decades in a three-bedroom apartment near the synagogue she attends and where she raised her two children.
The governor’s announcement comes as studies show more Americans living alone and health officials warn that health risks associated with loneliness increased as people stayed home during COVID-19 lockdowns.
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in April issued an 81-page report declaring loneliness a “public health epidemic” in the pandemic era.
The Census Bureau reported in November 2021 that 28% of all adults lived alone as the pandemic raged in early 2021, up from 13% in 1960. The bureau said there were 37 million one-person households in the United States, up from 33 million in 2011.
On Thursday, Gov. Hochul’s office said the New York Office of Mental Health was implementing $1 billion in funding to expand state mental health services.
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.
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