Speaker 1: It's nice eyes, Dan Ray, i'mdelling you mazy Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Beg you very much, Madison, as we start a Wednesday
Speaker 2: night edition of Nightside. And wasn't it cold today? Boy,
Speaker 2: it showed doesn't feel like May, it feels like March.
Speaker 2: Let me get some of that global warming going here.
Speaker 2: My name is Dan Ray. It's gonna warm up. Don't worry.
Speaker 2: June will be here before you know it. It's May
Speaker 2: twenty first. I am the host of Nightside. Rob Brooks
Speaker 2: is the producer of this program. He's back in the
Speaker 2: control room. He'll begin to take phone calls at nine o'clock.
Speaker 2: At nine o'clock, we'll be talking with the Auditor State
Speaker 2: Auditor of the Commonwealth, Diana Disauglio. She has released a
Speaker 2: seventy four page report and audit of the Executive Office
Speaker 2: of Housing and Liverpool Communities. Well, that has generated a
Speaker 2: lot of conversation today. And then we'll talk tonight at
Speaker 2: ten o'clock about coyotes not just in the suburbs, but
Speaker 2: coyotes in Brookline, Massachusetts, which is really very very close.
Speaker 2: It's a suburb of Boston, but it's sort of surrounded
Speaker 2: by Boston itself. So anyway, we'll get to that later
Speaker 2: on tonight, and who knows, maybe a couple of other topics.
Speaker 2: We have four topics to deal with here at the
Speaker 2: beginning of the program, in the first hour, we want
Speaker 2: to introduce first of all, Major Kevin Pallito. He's a
Speaker 2: major in the Salvation Army and works out of the
Speaker 2: Milford Core Community Center. I believe, is that correct, Major Polito?
Speaker 2: It is correct.
Speaker 3: Thanks, it's great to connect with you.
Speaker 2: Nice to have you with us. So you're in the
Speaker 2: midst now of a program that runs, I guess from
Speaker 2: yesterday through the end of the week here the twenty
Speaker 2: fourth which is called through the weekend called Fly the
Speaker 2: Flag program, and you're going to install some five hundred
Speaker 2: American flags to provide support to residents in need. Uh,
Speaker 2: I'm unfamiliar with this, So tell us how the flag
Speaker 2: the Fly the Flag campaign works specifically in Milford, Massachusetts,
Speaker 2: and I guess also hope they'll and mend it as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I mean, first, can you tell me if
Speaker 3: there's been any coyotes spottings in Milford? I hope not.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you they're a lot closer to you are
Speaker 2: than than I if you got to kind of keep
Speaker 2: an eye open. I suspect it's probably a good amount.
Speaker 2: If coyotes are in Brookline, I think that they probably
Speaker 2: have at least passed through and maybe set up shop
Speaker 2: in Milford as well.
Speaker 3: I know, extra careful when I'm putting out flags at dusk,
Speaker 3: I think. But that's a good tip.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So that the Fly the Flag program is it's
Speaker 3: a program, a fundraiser that's unique to the Salvation Army
Speaker 3: in Milford and it's been, uh, you know, it's become
Speaker 3: quite the labor of love for a lot of allolunteers.
Speaker 3: For both my wife and I who give leadership to
Speaker 3: the Salvation Army in Milford. We do put out almost
Speaker 3: five hundred flags all around the communities of Milford, Mendon
Speaker 3: and Hopeedel at different residences or businesses that will sponsor them.
Speaker 3: And it helps us to raise critical needs to help
Speaker 3: neighbors in our community that are that are in need.
Speaker 3: So it's a great partnership.
Speaker 2: So you folks identify people in your community surrounding community
Speaker 2: as well who we're proud to fly the American flag.
Speaker 2: And this, of course is the two hundred and fiftieth
Speaker 2: anniversary really of the beginning of the revolution. Yeah, as
Speaker 2: particularly of time when I think a lot of people
Speaker 2: feel the need to fly a flag, and so do
Speaker 2: you bring them to their homes, into the businesses. Does
Speaker 2: does certain flags generate a certain amount of money or
Speaker 2: is it something where all contributions are gratefully accept it?
Speaker 2: How does it work?
Speaker 3: Yeah? So basically, you know, we have we send out
Speaker 3: enrollment forms to you know, those house those residences and
Speaker 3: businesses who have supported us in the past. We of
Speaker 3: course tried to do some advertising and we have an
Speaker 3: online website that it's Salvation ARMYMA dot org backslash Fly
Speaker 3: the Flag where people can go out and sign up online.
Speaker 3: They can sign up for one, two, three, four. I
Speaker 3: have one particular corporation in our community that gets sixteen
Speaker 3: flags that it's a very large business and they have
Speaker 3: multiple interrances, so they have flags flying at at least
Speaker 3: two or three different entrances there. So, you know, and
Speaker 3: what's great is it definitely you know, raises those critical
Speaker 3: funds that help a lot of our neighbors in their
Speaker 3: need as you know that you know, one out of
Speaker 3: three Massachusetts families struggle with food security that they are
Speaker 3: food insecure. So our pantry has seen probably since we
Speaker 3: got here in June twenty twenty one, there's been almost
Speaker 3: a five hundred percent increase in utilization of that program,
Speaker 3: our emergency food pantry. So you know, we we definitely
Speaker 3: are seeing it. And also I think probably another thing
Speaker 3: is surging utility prices. I'm sure a lot of people
Speaker 3: in your audience know all about that.
Speaker 2: You know, we talked about that drawn up. Is this
Speaker 2: a program that is run by various Salvation Army organizations
Speaker 2: around the commonwealth or is this one that you folks
Speaker 2: have come up with as a fundraiser. Is this is
Speaker 2: your idea?
Speaker 3: This is one that is unique to Milford. I don't
Speaker 3: think there are any other Salvation Armies that in the
Speaker 3: in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that run the program. It
Speaker 3: was a predecessor of mine, Major Dave Irwin, who you know,
Speaker 3: just was looking for a way to come up with
Speaker 3: a creative program and it really took off. And you know,
Speaker 3: now it's become a critical revenue source for us year
Speaker 3: in and year out, and it helps us, you know,
Speaker 3: so enables us to do all the things we do.
Speaker 2: What's the projection? What what this is? Obviously a labor
Speaker 2: intensive effort one to sign people up and then to
Speaker 2: get back.
Speaker 3: And oh wow, it's definitely way Yeah.
Speaker 2: What were you raised by the end of the week.
Speaker 2: I mean, you're going to this apparently runs through Saturday.
Speaker 2: So by Saturday, I assume all the flags will be
Speaker 2: distributed and they'll all be flying and it's too beautiful
Speaker 2: in advanced Memorial Day. Uh, in these communities. But what
Speaker 2: do you think you're going to raise?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean the you know, like a lot of nonprofits,
Speaker 3: our goal is high for we want to raise twenty
Speaker 3: five fouls. Then I would say that we're almost probably
Speaker 3: seventy percent good already towards that goal. But we actually
Speaker 3: do three distribution So flags go out now before Memorial
Speaker 3: Day and then they'll stay out through the July fourth holiday.
Speaker 3: Then we take them down we can spect them. There's
Speaker 3: a lot of behind the scenes work. My one course,
Speaker 3: argant major at our Salvation Army Milford Corps. He has
Speaker 3: like a whole workshop downstairs where he's straightening pulls and
Speaker 3: repairing tattered flags. You know, we want to make sure
Speaker 3: they stay in tip top shape, and then we'll actually
Speaker 3: put them out again prior to nine to eleven. They'll
Speaker 3: stay out for a couple of weeks and then we'll
Speaker 3: bring them back in and then they go out a
Speaker 3: final time right before Veterans Day. So all told, it's
Speaker 3: almost between the field of flags, which is they're installed
Speaker 3: a draper park. It's a partnership with a Citizen for
Speaker 3: Milford group. We put two hundred and twenty there and
Speaker 3: it's a beautiful, wonderful spectacle that really, you know, always
Speaker 3: seems to increase the mood of the community. You know,
Speaker 3: it's a great program for generating a lot of community spirit.
Speaker 3: And then we also put out another three hundred sum
Speaker 3: flags at these businesses and residents throughout the towns of Milford.
Speaker 3: Ended in Hope, Tel Matt.
Speaker 2: Great job, major congratulations to you and all the other
Speaker 2: members work with you, the Salvation Army volunteers and others
Speaker 2: who volunteer. If people want to get more information, give
Speaker 2: us a quick website that folks in the the Root
Speaker 2: eighty five area I can can get involved with.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, Like I mentioned prior, it's the Salvation Army
Speaker 3: m A DOT O r G backslash fly the flag.
Speaker 3: People do have to live in you know, one of
Speaker 3: those three communities. Sometimes we do have people that will
Speaker 3: from outside those communities that will, you know, buy a
Speaker 3: flag and say, hey, donate it to a veteran or
Speaker 3: you know, a neighbor need in your local community, and
Speaker 3: we try to do our best to honor that request.
Speaker 2: So but well, Happy Memorial Date to you and to
Speaker 2: everyone else in the in the organization. Thank you, thank
Speaker 2: you so much.
Speaker 3: Thanks to you. Dan, I wish you all a great
Speaker 3: Memorial Day weekend.
Speaker 2: All right, thanks very much, Major Major Kevin Palito of
Speaker 2: the the Salvation Army based in Milford. Back on Nightside.
Speaker 2: This is a Monday night. We're going to talk about
Speaker 2: a great program that Comcast is running. We're gonna speak
Speaker 2: with the director of Community Impact and the architecture what's
Speaker 2: called Comcast Rise in Boston. I think you want to listen,
Speaker 2: particularly if you have a small business in Boston. There
Speaker 2: may be some help for you coming up from Comcast.
Speaker 2: Just on the other side of the s break, my
Speaker 2: name's Dan Ray. This is a Wednesday night, Stay right
Speaker 2: with us. Back on Nightside.
Speaker 1: Right after this, if you're on night Side with Dan
Speaker 1: Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Well, this is an interesting program that I heard about
Speaker 2: about a week ago. It's called Comcast Rise. Comcast, of course,
Speaker 2: everybody knows Comcast and with us is Becca Fracasa? I
Speaker 2: hope I pronounced that correctly. Becca, Is it beca fracassa
Speaker 2: or is it a heart?
Speaker 4: You? You did it excellently, Thank you?
Speaker 2: Right? Okay, that's good. I was afraid it might have been.
Speaker 2: Just names get pronounced differently, and it's important to me
Speaker 2: to get them right. Becca is the director of Community
Speaker 2: Impact and the architect of Comcast Rise in Boston. My
Speaker 2: understanding is this is a program the Comcast is doing
Speaker 2: across the country in several different communities, but we're lucky
Speaker 2: to have it in Boston. First of all, let's talk
Speaker 2: about the scope of this. It's it's not just in
Speaker 2: Boston this year. It's in four other communities as well. Correct.
Speaker 4: Yeah, We're in Nashville, We're in Seattle, We're in South Valley,
Speaker 4: Utah as well.
Speaker 2: So yeah, Grid, I think Grid Rapids, Michigan is in
Speaker 2: there too, if if my memory serves from from what
Speaker 2: I read here, Yeah, Grand Rapids, Michigan isn't. There. By
Speaker 2: the way, we have listeners in all of those communities,
Speaker 2: so this applies more than just to just to to Boston,
Speaker 2: Greater Boston. But it's housing a great program, So tell
Speaker 2: us about it and uh it to some extent it
Speaker 2: almost sounds too good to be true. That's how good
Speaker 2: it is.
Speaker 4: Go right, Yeah, absolutely, And we get that a lot.
Speaker 4: We're like, is this Real's what's the catch? It really
Speaker 4: is real. We do every year we pick five cities
Speaker 4: in which we do five hundred really comprehensive grants for
Speaker 4: small businesses. As you mentioned, it's coming to Boston this year.
Speaker 4: We've given away one hundred and forty million dollars in
Speaker 4: value over the years for this program. And when we
Speaker 4: talk about it being comprehensive, it really is. It's a
Speaker 4: technology makeover, creative production, a media schedule, educational resources of
Speaker 4: five thousand dollars, monetary grant, and business consultation services. And
Speaker 4: when we think about that locally, we're going to give
Speaker 4: one hundred of those packages away inside the one twenty
Speaker 4: eight belt. So really a very comprehensive package to give
Speaker 4: away here in Boston and then in our community cities
Speaker 4: across the country that we were we just afore mentioned.
Speaker 2: Yeah, looking at more with more specificity technology makeover. So
Speaker 2: there's computer equipment, internet, voice, and cybersecurity services. For twelve
Speaker 2: months you help them develop thirty second TV commercials, which
Speaker 2: which obviously can be can be used whatever community they serve.
Speaker 2: Education resources, twelve month access to online entrepreneurship courses, the
Speaker 2: monetary right who's who's opposed to that? As well as
Speaker 2: coaching sessions. All in all, each of these grants are
Speaker 2: really are we talking like one hundred thousand dollars or
Speaker 2: more in each of these grants, And.
Speaker 4: When we put all of this together per market, we're
Speaker 4: talking about three million dollars of investment, which is really
Speaker 4: a stunning amount when you think about it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's about it's about thirty it's about thirty
Speaker 2: thousand dollars all in for each. If I'm doing my
Speaker 2: math right, it helped me out if I'm not. And
Speaker 2: is this the sort of thing that that this I
Speaker 2: don't know. You know, it says small business, but is
Speaker 2: there a definition says the small business has to have
Speaker 2: so many employees or or only can have so many employees?
Speaker 2: Are there any limitations or is it basically available to
Speaker 2: anyone who thinks of themselves as a small business.
Speaker 4: So there are a couple of limitations so it is
Speaker 4: one hundred employees or less there were that qualifies as
Speaker 4: a small business. You have to have been in business
Speaker 4: for a couple of years two years to be exact,
Speaker 4: and you have to have generated a dollar of revenue
Speaker 4: in the past twelve months. So those are the qualifications.
Speaker 4: Nonprofits do not qualify either. So there, there's there's what
Speaker 4: we've defined as a small business.
Speaker 2: Really I missed I missed the one thing, Becker. You
Speaker 2: said they have to have generated a dollar of revenue
Speaker 2: or or.
Speaker 4: A dollar of revenue in the past one dollar, one
Speaker 4: dollar in the past twelve months.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, I think most people can get past that hurdle. Yeah,
Speaker 2: yeahh So, and my understanding is that people can businesses,
Speaker 2: and obviously some of these I assume we're going to
Speaker 2: be family owned type businesses. They have to apply. There
Speaker 2: is a deadline, though, and the deadline's coming at us
Speaker 2: a little faster than maybe people should be aware of.
Speaker 2: It's the deadline is what May.
Speaker 4: Thirty first, Yes, midnight on May thirty first, is when
Speaker 4: you need to have your application in at comcast Rise
Speaker 4: dot com about a go ahead.
Speaker 2: I didn't mean to drop go ahead.
Speaker 4: That's okay, it's about a fifteen to thirty minute application process.
Speaker 4: And you can and you can save it so you
Speaker 4: can go in, you can save your application. You can
Speaker 4: say Okay, I want to tweak it a little bit
Speaker 4: later and get back to it.
Speaker 2: Okay, So what happens? So let's go through the logistics,
Speaker 2: because I think this is so important. People are sitting there. Okay,
Speaker 2: so they have they have to go. I'm sure to
Speaker 2: Comcast dot Now where do we have to Where do
Speaker 2: we got to get these the applicants to get to?
Speaker 4: So Comcast Rise dot com. Where we're going?
Speaker 2: Okay, Comcast Rise r I se dot com. And if
Speaker 2: you if you do, you have to be a Comcast customer.
Speaker 2: Is it open to just businesses?
Speaker 3: Okay, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2: Okay, So you go to Comcast Rise and there is
Speaker 2: it sounds to me like this a written application. You
Speaker 2: need some information? Uh, they fill out the information. Is
Speaker 2: there any essay that has to be Is this like
Speaker 2: a college process where you got to write an essay
Speaker 2: application to be to be admitted. I don't want to
Speaker 2: make it too hard on these my listeners.
Speaker 4: No, no, And when I when we say fifteen to
Speaker 4: thirty minutes, we mean it. There are a couple of
Speaker 4: short answer questions where we ask about the growth of
Speaker 4: we're your business, you know, what do you see as
Speaker 4: your growth growth being? And we're just looking for the
Speaker 4: story of someone's business and how they think these resources
Speaker 4: are to help. Right, we're not judging on grammar. We're
Speaker 4: looking for stories. The other piece we're looking at that
Speaker 4: the other short answer question, besides you know those sort
Speaker 4: of fill in the blank cut things will be centered
Speaker 4: around how do you feel that your business impacts your community?
Speaker 4: And I, honestly, personally, I believe that every small business
Speaker 4: has a great story of how they're important to their
Speaker 4: communities to tell. So that's what we're looking for in
Speaker 4: those short answer questions. And there's just those two of
Speaker 4: them that we're looking for. So yet, not a lengthy
Speaker 4: process at all.
Speaker 2: This is great. Now you are in charge of this
Speaker 2: in New England. When will the winners? When will the
Speaker 2: people who get the grants be announced? How long do
Speaker 2: they have to wait to figure out if they're one
Speaker 2: of the one hundred winners here in the Greater Boston area.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we expect to have an announcement for those winners
Speaker 4: in the middle of August, so that we'll start talking
Speaker 4: about and reaching out to those one hundred winners and
Speaker 4: then really activating around all of the resources. Work very
Speaker 4: collaborative with collaboratively with each winner on our own timeline
Speaker 4: to make sure we're really responsibly activating around each of
Speaker 4: those benefits so that they can utilize them to the
Speaker 4: best of their businesses ability.
Speaker 2: Okay, just one final clarification, Sure, how do we define
Speaker 2: We defined businesses, but how do we define businesses in Boston?
Speaker 2: Do the businesses have to be within the city limits
Speaker 2: or is it more of a Greater Boston concept?
Speaker 4: Did you say it's a little bit of a Yeah,
Speaker 4: it's a little bit of a Greater Boston concept. We're
Speaker 4: referring to it in many places as Metro Boston. If
Speaker 4: you think about the one twenty eight loop and try
Speaker 4: to staying inside of that loop, we've taken it all
Speaker 4: the way up to Gloucester and all the way down
Speaker 4: to Angham. When small businesses go into the application, one
Speaker 4: of the first things that they're asked to fill out
Speaker 4: is their ZIP code, and that will determine whether or
Speaker 4: not they're in that particular geography.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, it sounds to me like a right program.
Speaker 2: I hope all the winners take it full advantage of
Speaker 2: everything that you guys are offering here, and again, thank
Speaker 2: you very much, Beca for the time tonight. I think
Speaker 2: you've explained it well. And I hope that people who
Speaker 2: have listened if they want to get information. If someone
Speaker 2: was listening and their their son or their daughter or
Speaker 2: their brother in law has a small business and didn't
Speaker 2: hear tonight, give us the website where they can go
Speaker 2: to to get all the information. They can listen to
Speaker 2: our interview tomorrow on Nightside and demand. That's easy. But
Speaker 2: give us that website one more time. I know what
Speaker 2: it is, but it yeah, hear it from you?
Speaker 4: Go ahead, yeah, please come visit us at Comcast Rise
Speaker 4: dot com. So it's Comcast ri se dot com and
Speaker 4: you'll get all of the information that you need and
Speaker 4: have access to the application.
Speaker 2: Sounds great. Well, thank you for the generosity from Comcast
Speaker 2: to the businesses to thank you for your time tonight.
Speaker 2: Thanks very much, better much. Maybe what we can do
Speaker 2: when you pick some winners when the one hundred folks
Speaker 2: are selected next August, maybe we can have one or
Speaker 2: two of them come on and talk about exactly what
Speaker 2: they're going to do with these grants.
Speaker 4: We'd love to have that conversation. Thanks so much, Dan, Okay,
Speaker 4: thank you very much.
Speaker 2: All Right, the news awaits at the bottom of the hour,
Speaker 2: so let's get right to that right now. My name
Speaker 2: is Dan Ray. This is Nightside, and we will be
Speaker 2: back on the other side. We have a couple more guests,
Speaker 2: and beginning at nine o'clock tonight, we will talk with
Speaker 2: State Auditor Diana Dezaglio. She released a seventy four page
Speaker 2: think one of the papers described it as a scathing report.
Speaker 2: Today we'll talk about that coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1: You're on night Side with Dan Ray on waz Boston's
Speaker 1: news radio.
Speaker 2: All right, thank you very much. Madison. Let us continue
Speaker 2: here on the night before the big storm. I hope
Speaker 2: that some of you can maybe take a mental health
Speaker 2: day tomorrow. It's going to be nasty, nasty weather day.
Speaker 2: We'll be talking with someone one of the ACU weather
Speaker 2: actually weather meteorologist beginning at about quarter of nine. But
Speaker 2: right now we're talking to doctor Shivani Kumar. He is
Speaker 2: a vascular surgeon at Tufft's Medical Center and doctor Kumar.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Nightside. First of all, thank you for joining
Speaker 2: us tonight.
Speaker 5: Thank you so much for having me pleasure to be here.
Speaker 2: And we're going to talk about a new non invasive
Speaker 2: technology which I've never heard of, using a device called Tamby.
Speaker 2: I don't know, is that the correct pronunciation ta mbe tamby.
Speaker 5: That's the correct planciation of the acronym. The long name
Speaker 5: is a thorical abdominal branch endoprop thesis, so so we
Speaker 5: abbreviate that to campy.
Speaker 2: I'm going to call it tamby. You can call it
Speaker 2: anything you want, but this is intended to treat a
Speaker 2: certain type of aortic aneurysm that previously required major open
Speaker 2: heart surgery. First of all, for those of us who
Speaker 2: are not spot about this, as you are in a
Speaker 2: order aneurysm, I think most of us know what an
Speaker 2: aneurism is. I think some of us have an idea
Speaker 2: where our order is. But I'm sure you can explain
Speaker 2: it much better than that.
Speaker 5: Go right ahead, sure, So our order is the biggest blood,
Speaker 5: that's all that comes off of our heart. It supplies
Speaker 5: blood all over our body. And an aneurysm you can
Speaker 5: think of as a bulge, dilation of ballooning of the order,
Speaker 5: and the bigger that gets, the higher the risks that
Speaker 5: that can rupture and cause internal bleeding and death.
Speaker 2: And so when kids blow bubble sort of like when
Speaker 2: kids blow bubblegum, you know, the bubble keeps getting bigger
Speaker 2: and bigger, and you know at some moment that bubble's
Speaker 2: going to burst and that the kid's going to have
Speaker 2: bubble gum all over his nose and his chin and
Speaker 2: his cheeks.
Speaker 5: Go right ahead exactly like that, exactly, And so that's
Speaker 5: the problem that carries high high mortality. And this particular
Speaker 5: type of aurism that we're treating is one that involves
Speaker 5: blood flow to the major organs in the belly, your liver, spleen,
Speaker 5: small vowel, stomach, kidneys, and so in the past, the
Speaker 5: way we've had to repair these is by doing you know,
Speaker 5: really the biggest surgery we do in vascular surgery, which
Speaker 5: is opening someone up from the chest down to their
Speaker 5: navel and move their organs out of the way, clamp
Speaker 5: their reorda need to have some partial bypass to provide
Speaker 5: blood flow to these vital organs while we're operating, and
Speaker 5: it carried a lot of you know, risk with it,
Speaker 5: with the tamby. We now have a this is a
Speaker 5: first and only kind of FDA approved minimally invasive solution
Speaker 5: for these aneurysms, and that got to proved an August
Speaker 5: of twenty twenty four. And now we have a way
Speaker 5: to treat these patients with one small incision like up
Speaker 5: on the chest and then two needlesticks in the groin
Speaker 5: and patients can recover and go home from the hospital
Speaker 5: on post operative day two or three.
Speaker 2: So have there been a lot of these surgery, these
Speaker 2: so called TAMPI surgeries? You said that's only been approved
Speaker 2: since last August, But how's the track record at this
Speaker 2: point to this.
Speaker 1: Procedure so far?
Speaker 5: Very well? Actually, I was speaking to the medical team
Speaker 5: the last few days and now we've hit one thousand
Speaker 5: implants across the country since approval.
Speaker 2: So this is this involves an implant.
Speaker 3: Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2: And my question is, and you know, for those in
Speaker 2: the audience maybe who are more medically knowledgeable than me,
Speaker 2: maybe they'll sound like a silly question, but oftentimes when
Speaker 2: you hear of aneurysms, you hear of brain aneurysms. Are
Speaker 2: these aneurysms, these aortic aneurysms, Are they before you can
Speaker 2: intervene in this part of the body more.
Speaker 5: Easily, So yes or no, They're easier to identify because
Speaker 5: oftentimes patients come into the er with abdominal pain or
Speaker 5: another problem, and they get a capped inner an ultrasound,
Speaker 5: and so we oftentimes find them incidentally, you're sort of
Speaker 5: by accident, and that allows us to kind of track
Speaker 5: them and treat them when appropriate, when they reach that
Speaker 5: size that's big enough, like that bubblegum about to burst. Okay,
Speaker 5: we also, you know, the United States Prevented Task Force
Speaker 5: also recommend screening for aneurisms of specific patient populations, men
Speaker 5: over the age of sixty five who have ever smoked,
Speaker 5: people who have a family history of aneurysms, and women
Speaker 5: with high risk factors.
Speaker 2: Now, doctor, I want to give medical advice over the
Speaker 2: over the radio, but I want you to know I
Speaker 2: am on the wrong side of But I'm happy to
Speaker 2: tell you I have never smoked a cigarette in my life.
Speaker 2: And I actually do my annual physical tomorrow morning with
Speaker 2: my doctor. So when I say to him, do you
Speaker 2: think I have it? I could possibly have an aortic aneurism.
Speaker 2: Is he going to look at me like I have
Speaker 2: two heads, or do I then have to tell them. Well,
Speaker 2: just last night I was talking to doctor Kumar. I
Speaker 2: love it when you say people who haven't smoked, and
Speaker 2: I've never. I just never liked to have it, to
Speaker 2: be honest with you. And so does that help protect
Speaker 2: me about people who haven't smoked with both aortic or
Speaker 2: with other aneurisms and other parts of the body.
Speaker 5: Yes, that's definitely a protective factor for you, you know, and
Speaker 5: patients who have never smoked, the prevalence of an aneurysm
Speaker 5: is about one to two percent, so it's pretty rare.
Speaker 2: I've enjoyed this conversation. You know why I never smoked.
Speaker 2: I don't know. You know what your experience has been.
Speaker 2: But my dad was a two packa day smoker, and
Speaker 2: I can remember as a kid in the house, I
Speaker 2: hated smoke. I hated the smell of smoke, hated everything
Speaker 2: about it. And when the Surgeon General's report came out
Speaker 2: in nineteen sixty four, he went cold turkey. It's very,
Speaker 2: very stubborn or adamant, whichever adjective you want to use.
Speaker 2: But I credit him for making sure that I had
Speaker 2: never picked up the habit. I just thought it was
Speaker 2: a dirty, you know, a filthy sort of habit, and
Speaker 2: it never appealed to me. I have other vices, but
Speaker 2: not that. So you've made me happy. What should people
Speaker 2: do who are listening and maybe have smoked over the
Speaker 2: age of sixty five? Should they ask their primary care
Speaker 2: physician to consider what or not they could have an aneurism?
Speaker 2: What advice can we give generally to people who maybe
Speaker 2: would be in the category who are susceptible?
Speaker 5: Absolutely, I think anyone over the age of sixty five,
Speaker 5: especially men who have ever smoked in their lives, even
Speaker 5: if it was five years remotely, they have an increased
Speaker 5: risk of an aneurysm. So they should talk to their
Speaker 5: primary care doctor about doing a one time screening. It
Speaker 5: is covered by insurance, and that screening is painless. It's
Speaker 5: an ultrasound down of the belly and that detects if
Speaker 5: you have one or not, and if you do, you
Speaker 5: can be referred to a vascular surgery who can then
Speaker 5: follow your aneurism with appropriate imaging an appropriate timeline depending
Speaker 5: on the size.
Speaker 2: Okay, so I think the yeah, I'm sorry, but I
Speaker 2: think what I heard you say was that even if
Speaker 2: someone had given up the cigarettes, five years or ten
Speaker 2: years ago. That's a good thing, but they still if
Speaker 2: they had smoked for any period of time, they got
Speaker 2: to be aware of this when they talk to their PCPs.
Speaker 5: Absolutely absolutely, Land and you kind of touched on it,
Speaker 5: but smoking succation and stopping smoking is also very important
Speaker 5: for aneurism growth. You know, smoking is the number one
Speaker 5: risk factor for aneurysm development and then for that aneurism
Speaker 5: to grow to that bubblegum size you were talking about
Speaker 5: that Pops.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I'll tell you really, I so appreciate you
Speaker 2: coming on. We're very fortunate with the number of medical
Speaker 2: professionals and experts we have in the Greater Boston area
Speaker 2: who will give us a few minutes on this program
Speaker 2: and talk about to you know, tens of thousands of
Speaker 2: listeners about medical issues. And I just want to say thanks,
Speaker 2: very thank you very much for what you do, and
Speaker 2: congratulate everybody over at Tough's Medical Center. It's a great
Speaker 2: medical facility. We're blessed to have so many great medical
Speaker 2: facilities here in the Greater Boston area. And I learned
Speaker 2: a lot tonight from this interview, and I really do appreciate.
Speaker 5: You taking the time our pleasure. Thank you so much
Speaker 5: for having me and bringing some more awareness to this
Speaker 5: disease process.
Speaker 2: Okay, doctor Schavani Kumar, there's there's no particular website that
Speaker 2: you want to refer folks to here. I assume this
Speaker 2: that they can google. I guess aortic aneurysms if they
Speaker 2: fall into that category, I get some more information. But
Speaker 2: there's no nothing particularly that we can refer people to.
Speaker 2: Let's say, you know, Tamby dot com.
Speaker 5: Or something like that, right, you can google Tamby that
Speaker 5: will come up. You can also, you know, I think
Speaker 5: googling abdominal aoricaneurism is helpful, but there's no particular website
Speaker 5: dedicated to aneurismal disease. But that's a good idea and
Speaker 5: maybe something that we can work on as ascular surgeons.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Doctor chavann Kumar. Talk again, I hope,
Speaker 2: thank you very much. When we get back. We're going
Speaker 2: to talk about the reality of the weekend and the
Speaker 2: reality of tomorrow is a big time rain. It's as
Speaker 2: simple as that. I don't think we're going to escape it.
Speaker 2: I'm sure we're not going to escape it. And I
Speaker 2: hope to be talking with acute Weather Media A just
Speaker 2: Brian Thompson, not only about Tomorrow, Thursday and Friday, but
Speaker 2: what the rest of the weekend might hold. This is
Speaker 2: the first long weekend of the summer. It doesn't feel
Speaker 2: like the summer. It doesn't feel like the start of summer.
Speaker 2: But hopefully, hopefully we can turn around now and at
Speaker 2: least give you some hope that Saturday or Sunday might
Speaker 2: be better. We'll be talking with Brian Thompson right after
Speaker 2: the break.
Speaker 1: Night SI with Dan Ray. I'm telling you Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: Well, if you were out today rowing on the Charles
Speaker 2: or sailing on the Charles, or walking along the public garden,
Speaker 2: I mean, eighty five degrees isn't a bad weather day.
Speaker 2: Of course it wasn't eighty five degrees, but maybe in
Speaker 2: your imagination today was a nasty day. I mean it
Speaker 2: felt like March more than May. And to explain all
Speaker 2: of this, first of all, why we're having a deal
Speaker 2: with this type weather is our good friend acuweather meteorologist
Speaker 2: Brian Thompson. Hey, Brian, what did we do wrong that
Speaker 2: had the weather gods so angry? Have you figured that
Speaker 2: one out yet? No?
Speaker 6: I haven't done. It is it's not unusual to have
Speaker 6: days like this in mid to late May. It's it's
Speaker 6: not it's not particularly common to get this many days
Speaker 6: of chilly weather. And it's going to stay pretty chilly
Speaker 6: through tomorrow, Friday, even Saturday is going to be a
Speaker 6: bit on the cool side. So we're talking about highs
Speaker 6: in the fifties, which again is not uncommon. It does
Speaker 6: happen this time of year, especially with the water still
Speaker 6: being so chilly, but it's just an unusual for it
Speaker 6: to be a string of days like this.
Speaker 2: It seems like it's been. It seems like it's been
Speaker 2: the entire month, and I don't remember April being that
Speaker 2: grade either.
Speaker 6: Well I actually believe it or not. We're running three
Speaker 6: degrees above average for the month. We've especially early in
Speaker 6: the month, we did have some warm days got to
Speaker 6: eighty four. That was way back on May third, it
Speaker 6: was nearly three weeks ago. Yeah, but we've certainly had
Speaker 6: some chillier stretches in between. And this is actually some
Speaker 6: of the cool weather of the month we're seeing right now,
Speaker 6: so unusual, kind of backwards the way you think of it,
Speaker 6: You normally think the cooler weather of May would be
Speaker 6: in the beginning of the month to get warmer tour
Speaker 6: Memorial there.
Speaker 2: So what's going on. We got a whole bunch of
Speaker 2: tornadoes running around in the Midwest, and this apparently is
Speaker 2: what we're not that we're going to be seeing tornadoes
Speaker 2: because I think it's probably too cool, too cold for tornadoes.
Speaker 2: If I think I learned that somewhere, and what you
Speaker 2: know when I read it somewhere tornado.
Speaker 6: It's not impossible to get tornadoes and cooler weather. It's
Speaker 6: rare though, because to get the to get the instability
Speaker 6: you need for severe thunderstorms, typically it needs to at
Speaker 6: least be on the milder side.
Speaker 2: Okay, So, so what happens these tornadoes. We've just seen
Speaker 2: them down in Oklahoma and Missouri and Kentucky. As they
Speaker 2: come up towards New England, they they're losing that that
Speaker 2: wind power. But the cold is staying and the ra
Speaker 2: is the rain's coming up nonetheless, and we're gonna look
Speaker 2: at a really nasty day.
Speaker 6: Tomorrow from yeah, yeah, tomorrow is gonna be the worst
Speaker 6: day of the stretch. It was it was cool today,
Speaker 6: it was cloudy, was damp, it was drizzled. But we're
Speaker 6: gonna have a lot more rain tomorrow that's gonna certainly
Speaker 6: make it worse when you tied in with the severe weather.
Speaker 6: The storm system that has helped to fuel that severe
Speaker 6: weather has been moving through the Ohio Valley, and this
Speaker 6: weather map looks very similar to something we'd see in
Speaker 6: the wintertime, because we've talked about the storm being a
Speaker 6: kind of a nor'easter type storm here, because you have
Speaker 6: a storm that's moving into the Ohio Valley and you
Speaker 6: have another storm that's developing along the east coast, and
Speaker 6: that there's kind of an energy transfer that takes place.
Speaker 6: The storm along the coast kind of takes over as
Speaker 6: the main storm and then moves up again. We see
Speaker 6: this a lot of times in the winter months. That's
Speaker 6: where we sometimes get the big snowstorms. And that's what
Speaker 6: we're going to see into tomorrow. The storm along the coast,
Speaker 6: it develops, that intensifies, and that's going to put us
Speaker 6: in the in the area of some heavy your rain
Speaker 6: and some strong winds as well.
Speaker 2: And I think at least one of the weather forecasts
Speaker 2: I saw in the last day or so talked about
Speaker 2: some snow up in Maine and eastern New Hampshire.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's very possible. I mean we're talking about temperatures
Speaker 6: most of the day tomorrow that will be in the
Speaker 6: forties around here, and when you get up in elevation,
Speaker 6: it won't have to get super high to be talking
Speaker 6: about some snow in northern parts of New England.
Speaker 2: When is it going to break? Okay? So tomorrow is
Speaker 2: a washout, Okay, but tomorrow's Thursday. It's not Saturday or Sunday.
Speaker 2: Is Friday going to be a transition day or is
Speaker 2: it just going to creep and get a little bit better?
Speaker 2: At no point? I mean the song from Annie the
Speaker 2: Sun will be up tomorrow. That's not playing tomorrow at all.
Speaker 6: Right, that is not playing tomorrow. I don't think it's
Speaker 6: playing Friday either. Maybe Saturday. I think there's some hope
Speaker 6: to see some sun. To your point of Friday making
Speaker 6: a transition day, I think it will be to some extent. Again,
Speaker 6: it's going to be cloudy. It is still going to
Speaker 6: be very chilly on Friday. I don't think we get
Speaker 6: past the mid fifties in most spots, but it won't
Speaker 6: be nearly as wet as tomorrow. We'll have a couple
Speaker 6: of showers still around Friday, but kind of transitioning out
Speaker 6: of the wetter pattern. I think Friday is going to
Speaker 6: be that transition day, and Saturday kind of falls into
Speaker 6: that category too. Now I think Saturday we have a
Speaker 6: better chance of seeing some breaks of sun than Friday,
Speaker 6: but we'll still have a couple of showers around. But
Speaker 6: as nasty as the next thirty six hours or so
Speaker 6: are going to be, I don't think it's a bad
Speaker 6: holiday weekend.
Speaker 3: Again.
Speaker 6: It'll start off kind of cool Saturday, and overall it
Speaker 6: is going to be on the cool sign for a
Speaker 6: Memorial Day weekend. But by the time we get to
Speaker 6: Sunday and Memorial Day, highly back into the sixties again,
Speaker 6: and as possible, attempts may get well into the sixties
Speaker 6: on Memorial Day. I know it's not the summer preview
Speaker 6: that some people want, but it's going to be an
Speaker 6: improvement certainly, and if you have outdoor activities, I don't
Speaker 6: think I think most of the weekend is going to
Speaker 6: be dry. I don't think we're going to be dealing
Speaker 6: with rain a lot at the time. Again, the chance
Speaker 6: for a shower two Saturday, maybe a stray shower either
Speaker 6: Sunday or Monday, but again, a lot of the time
Speaker 6: looks dry at this point.
Speaker 2: Now I know that, and I just I don't want to,
Speaker 2: you know, put any pressure on here. But when we
Speaker 2: talk about New England, New England's it's a small place
Speaker 2: on a map, but it's a big place if you
Speaker 2: have to drive around. Who's going to get the better weekend?
Speaker 2: Let's say, let's talk about Saturday, the Cape of the
Speaker 2: Mountains or western Massachusetts. It's gonna or is it just
Speaker 2: going to be kind of the same.
Speaker 6: It's going to be kind of the same. We're going
Speaker 6: to be in this broad pattern where there's an upper
Speaker 6: level low overhead. So I don't think the weather is
Speaker 6: going to vary all that much from place to place,
Speaker 6: just looking at some of the forecasts on the Cape
Speaker 6: or looking at temperatures in the mid fifties on Saturday
Speaker 6: with a shower or two, but out in Western mass
Speaker 6: probably a little cooler but still in the low fifties
Speaker 6: and very similar with clouds and a shower too. So really,
Speaker 6: actually across most of New England Saturday, I think it'll
Speaker 6: be very similar weather. We'll just have these spotty showers
Speaker 6: that are around. Itill be pretty cloudy, but at times
Speaker 6: the sun's going to pop out, but most of the
Speaker 6: time is going to be dry.
Speaker 2: Okay, So last question, I swear, and that is when
Speaker 2: does this pattern? Can you foresee this pattern finally be
Speaker 2: done with it and getting it. Yeah, we'll have rain
Speaker 2: in June, I get it, We'll have some cooler days,
Speaker 2: et cetera. But is this this huge pattern that we
Speaker 2: have We're going to all of a sudden turn around
Speaker 2: sometime next week, which is June, well not June. Let
Speaker 2: me look at my calend. It's it's June first. Don't
Speaker 2: get you until next weekend. Following next weekend on Sunday,
Speaker 2: when will it feel like June? It's fun.
Speaker 6: It may take until June. Actually, yes, because we're in
Speaker 6: this pattern through the weekend again, it warms up a
Speaker 6: little bit at least into the sixties by Monday. But
Speaker 6: the problem is the jet stream is going to still
Speaker 6: be kind of kind of up in the western part
Speaker 6: of the US and down in the east. That allows
Speaker 6: the cooler air to kind of stick around. So I
Speaker 6: think kihceptre's a lot of next week could still be
Speaker 6: in the sixties. But as we get late in the
Speaker 6: next week and especially toward next weekend, as we get
Speaker 6: toward the beginning of June, there are signs that may
Speaker 6: be some of that warmth from the western part of
Speaker 6: the country will start to slide eastward a bit, so
Speaker 6: we may finally start to warm things back up a bit.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, look, I so appreciate you taking the time, Brian.
Speaker 2: I'm sure that everybody is bugging you at this point
Speaker 2: and trying to figure out what the weather forecast is
Speaker 2: going to be. But you've reached a lot of people tonight.
Speaker 2: And although you haven't provided the forecast that we wanted,
Speaker 2: you know, seventy five and Sonny, you've given us. You've
Speaker 2: given us a great explanation. I so appreciate you taking
Speaker 2: the time. My friend will talk sooner, and you have
Speaker 2: a great Memorial Day weekend. Okay, you two damn thanks
Speaker 2: very much. Ack you weather meteorologists. Brian Thompson telling us
Speaker 2: the way it is, not the way we want it
Speaker 2: to be, necessarily, but the way it is. So we're
Speaker 2: going to wrap it up here for the eight o'clock hour,
Speaker 2: and we will be standing by and after the nine
Speaker 2: o'clock newscast, we're going to have an opportunity to speak
Speaker 2: with the State Auditor of conwalth and Massachusetts. Diana Desauglio
Speaker 2: is not the most popular person at the State House
Speaker 2: these days, but good for her. She has the courage
Speaker 2: and backbone to stand up and do what her office
Speaker 2: mandates true to do. So we'll be talking with Diana Desauglio,
Speaker 2: and I'm going to tell you right now that if
Speaker 2: you want to talk to a get on the line early,
Speaker 2: because she's going to stay with us, not for the
Speaker 2: entire hour, but just till nine thirty. Feel free to
Speaker 2: join this conversation six one, seven, two, five, four ten
Speaker 2: thirty six one seven, nine three one ten thirty. Come
Speaker 2: on right back on Night's side after the nine o'clock
Speaker 2: news