Speaker 1: It's nights Eyes, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Madison, as we embark on a
Speaker 2: Tuesday night for our ride all the way until midnight.
Speaker 2: My name is Dan Ray, the host of Nightside. As
Speaker 2: Madison indicated, Rob Brooks is back in the control room
Speaker 2: at the Big Broadcast House in beautiful Medford, Massachusetts, and
Speaker 2: we are set to go with four guests this hour
Speaker 2: during what we call the Nightside News Update, and we
Speaker 2: will talk a little bit later on this evening. At
Speaker 2: nine o'clock, we will be talking again. We talked last
Speaker 2: week briefly about the battle at a market basket. We'll
Speaker 2: be talking with a Boston Globe columnist who wrote a
Speaker 2: piece for Trendlines today, Camillo Fonseka. I think, with interesting
Speaker 2: conversation with him. And then at ten o'clock we will
Speaker 2: talk about terror in Colorado, the latest developments on that
Speaker 2: horrific attack on innocent Jewish people who were simply holding
Speaker 2: a vigil in memory and in support of those still
Speaker 2: being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas, and that horrible attack.
Speaker 2: We're seeing some video tonight on the Network newscast which
Speaker 2: show the absolute horror, and we'll get to all of
Speaker 2: that that this anti Semitism has to be extinguished, just
Speaker 2: as the flames of that flamethrower had to be extinguished.
Speaker 2: Just horrific. Talk about cruelty to people. The suffering needs
Speaker 2: to stop. We'll talk about that tonight. First up, we're
Speaker 2: going to talk about one hundred people who were going
Speaker 2: to brave the side of one of Cambridge's biggest buildings
Speaker 2: in the fight against epilepsy coming up on Flag Day, Saturday,
Speaker 2: June fourteenth. With us is the director of Development at
Speaker 2: the Epilepsy Foundation of New England, John Josh Drew. This
Speaker 2: is called Repel Boston. Josh, you have found one hundred
Speaker 2: very brave people who are looking to raise funds for
Speaker 2: a great cause. Hats off to you for setting this up.
Speaker 2: I've never heard anything. I've heard like five K walks
Speaker 2: and even ten K road races, marathons, but repelling down
Speaker 2: the side of a building, this takes it all. Pardon
Speaker 2: the pun to a to New Heights.
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks Dan, and thanks so much for having me
Speaker 3: on to talk about it tonight. We're super super excited
Speaker 3: for this event and the people that are going over
Speaker 3: the edge, so to say, for this are just incredibly
Speaker 3: brave and we could not be more grateful for their
Speaker 3: efforts and doing this.
Speaker 2: Now I understand that the one hundred people have to
Speaker 2: in order to have the privilege of going over the edge,
Speaker 2: they have to raise one thousand dollars of from supporters
Speaker 2: and friends. How much would people have to raise not
Speaker 2: to go over the edge, Josh.
Speaker 3: Well, to do it safely, Josh, if you would pay more?
Speaker 2: Would pay more not to go over the edge? No,
Speaker 2: it's a great cause, that's for sure. For those who
Speaker 2: do not know what repelling involves. Uh, and this has
Speaker 2: become kind of an urban sport. Actually explain to us
Speaker 2: how you're going to make sure that these people go
Speaker 2: from the tip of top of these buildings safely to
Speaker 2: the ground and not in one fell swoop. If you
Speaker 2: get my my thought, how are you going to do this?
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 3: As scary as it can sound, it is super safe.
Speaker 3: Where very fortunate for both of our partners in this.
Speaker 3: One partner is called over the Edge.
Speaker 5: This is the.
Speaker 3: Company that actually comes in and administers the event. They're
Speaker 3: professionals in repelling in rope safety. And our other is
Speaker 3: the Hyatt that's actually letting us do this off the
Speaker 3: side of their hotel and I'm not sure how they
Speaker 3: got that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know that I would use the word
Speaker 2: the verb administers, because that's too close to like administering
Speaker 2: the last rites. Maybe you could say that they run
Speaker 2: the program or something like that. You've got to come
Speaker 2: down the side of the Hyatt. How how the Hyatt
Speaker 2: on Memorial Drive right?
Speaker 5: I assume that's right.
Speaker 3: The pyramid shape one right on the river.
Speaker 5: It's the rope crew.
Speaker 3: Does a fantastic job. They get you all harnessed up,
Speaker 3: You take an elevator ride up to the roof and
Speaker 3: they coach you all the way through, slowly repelling right
Speaker 3: down the side of the hotel.
Speaker 2: Is this the first time the Epilepsi Foundation has raised
Speaker 2: funds this way? Or is this now becoming a quaisi
Speaker 2: or a regular event?
Speaker 3: So this was actually this will be the second one.
Speaker 3: Our first time was last year, and we did it
Speaker 3: just in a world of constant needing to fundraise and
Speaker 3: so many valid causes out there need to get a
Speaker 3: little creative and catching the attention of people, we decided
Speaker 3: to give it a shot. In my goodness, was it
Speaker 3: popular last year?
Speaker 2: Okay? So let me ask, is registration full or can
Speaker 2: some people who might be intrigued still participate. Do you
Speaker 2: have any openings left?
Speaker 3: We actually do, and we still have some people signing up.
Speaker 3: I just had another person sign up today. We for
Speaker 3: sure have limited spots on this, but there are some
Speaker 3: still available.
Speaker 2: Okay, So how can people secure again? The donation that
Speaker 2: is expected is one thousand dollars, whether it's made by
Speaker 2: the individual or they're good friends and supporters who want
Speaker 2: to help them raise that amount of money. How do
Speaker 2: people get in touch with you? How did they get
Speaker 2: in touch? What's the website? Give us? Give us the
Speaker 2: best information here if we can try to try to
Speaker 2: get a few more people to go over the.
Speaker 3: Edge, Yeah, absolutely, we would love that. The website is
Speaker 3: Repelboston dot org. Super easy to get too. All you
Speaker 3: have to do is go right on there and click
Speaker 3: that you would like to go over the edge. Our
Speaker 3: team will take care of it from there. We provide
Speaker 3: you all the information you need. We give you some
Speaker 3: tips and pointers on raising that thousand dollars. But what
Speaker 3: we've found is when you say that you're doing such
Speaker 3: an astonishing feat, it tends to not be too hard
Speaker 3: to raise that money.
Speaker 2: Okay, and repel Boston for those who are not familiar
Speaker 2: with the sport, it's our ap P E L six
Speaker 2: letters Repel Boston. Boston also is six letters, so it's
Speaker 2: easy to put them together. They make twelve letters Repel
Speaker 2: RA ap P E L Boston. And this is something
Speaker 2: that when you think about it, it's one thing to
Speaker 2: and it's great to, you know, walk into five k
Speaker 2: or race or whatever or a ten k, but to
Speaker 2: say that you repelled down the side of the Hyatt
Speaker 2: in Cambridge, that's the one. Don't They have like a
Speaker 2: spinning restaurant at the top of that.
Speaker 1: You know they used to.
Speaker 3: They don't anymore. They used to. Instead it's been turned
Speaker 3: into this gorgeous ballroom and that's actually the floor that
Speaker 3: we had to to walk right out onto the roof.
Speaker 2: Perfect. That's perfect. That's great. Look anytime we can help
Speaker 2: you out. And I just think you have some very
Speaker 2: brave souls. Please take care of all of them and
Speaker 2: get them down safe and sound and raise a lot
Speaker 2: of money on Saturday. This is Saturday, June fourteenth, so
Speaker 2: we're talking about not this coming Saturday, but the following Saturday.
Speaker 2: You got plenty of time and if you'd like to
Speaker 2: sign up, for a unique experience, to say the least.
Speaker 2: Repel Boss dot Org.
Speaker 3: That's absolutely right. Yeah, we make it a lot of fun.
Speaker 3: There's a huge party going on in the courtyard below you.
Speaker 3: A djail'll announce you as you take your couple steps
Speaker 3: right over the edge, and there's absolutely plenty of time
Speaker 3: and we would be more than happy to have any newcomers.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, that sounds great. And no drinking ahead of time.
Speaker 2: I would hope maybe there's a possibility of a libation afterwards,
Speaker 2: get I would, I'd have a lot afterwards.
Speaker 3: That's absolutely correct. There's certainly no drinking ahead of time,
Speaker 3: but we do have a beer garden waiting for you
Speaker 3: on the bottom, assuming that you are twenty one.
Speaker 2: Okay, sounds great. Josh Drew, director of development at the
Speaker 2: Epilepsy Foundation, New England. He's in charge of this Repel event.
Speaker 2: So you're in good hands with Josh Drew. Thanks, Josh,
Speaker 2: appreciate your time tonight.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. Dan, very welcome.
Speaker 2: You're very welcome. We get back when we talk about
Speaker 2: that horrific anti Semitic attack that I'm hurt at least
Speaker 2: a people physically, mentally, psychologically hurt thousands, not only in
Speaker 2: Bold of Colorado, but across the nation. We'll be talking
Speaker 2: with Adam Katz, president of the Foundation to Combat Anti Semitism.
Speaker 2: Back on Night Side with Adam Katz right after a
Speaker 2: couple of quick messages.
Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: All right, now, this is a serious topic. No joking
Speaker 2: around on this one, for sure. Adam Katz is the
Speaker 2: president of the Foundation to Combat Anti Semitism. Adam, I'm
Speaker 2: sorry to be talking to you under these circumstances. What
Speaker 2: went on in Bold of Colorado on Sunday was just horrific.
Speaker 2: There's just no way to describe it. I've seen I
Speaker 2: saw the video tonight of this guy literally walking out
Speaker 2: with Molotov cocktails and attacking innocent people who were just
Speaker 2: holding a vigil to keep people remembering the men and
Speaker 2: women who were still being held hostage by himas Look,
Speaker 2: this is not the this is not the only horrific
Speaker 2: event this last few days. We had the two embassy
Speaker 2: staff members in Washington, d C. Shot and killed on
Speaker 2: the streets of Washington. We had the attack on Governor
Speaker 2: Shapiro's home. How do we stop this, Adam?
Speaker 6: Yeah, Dan I thank you for having me and for
Speaker 6: bringing and continuing to raise attention to this issue. I
Speaker 6: wish we were talking under different circumstances, but unfortunately we
Speaker 6: are where we are. How do we stop this? It
Speaker 6: takes a lot, transparently, you know, it's anti Semitism is
Speaker 6: the world's oldest hatred, and it's been around for thousands
Speaker 6: of years, and it's morphed than it's evolved. What's particularly
Speaker 6: unsettling is this latest incarnation here in the US and
Speaker 6: frankly elsewhere that's leading to these physical acts of violence
Speaker 6: targeting Jews and Israelis or even people suspected to be
Speaker 6: Jewish or Israeli. And you know a lot of it
Speaker 6: stems from lack of education and lack of information. So
Speaker 6: to your question of how do we stop it? A lot,
Speaker 6: you know, what we need to do is continue to
Speaker 6: make sure that folks have the right information, the right education.
Speaker 6: They understand what who Jewish people are, what Judaism is,
Speaker 6: what Israel is, the history, all of those things. And
Speaker 6: we also need great leadership, you know, from our elected officials,
Speaker 6: from university administrators, from everybody that can say declaratively violence
Speaker 6: against any ethnicity on the basis of their ethnicity is
Speaker 6: wrong Jews or any other ethnicity, and making sure that
Speaker 6: that there's no ambiguity about that. This is unacceptable.
Speaker 2: The things the more I read about this attack, this
Speaker 2: guy planned this. Apparently he planned it for years, and
Speaker 2: and he he confessed the authorities out there, so he
Speaker 2: basically told him that he planned it, that he disguised
Speaker 2: himself as a gardener so he would not attract attention.
Speaker 2: And and then he he attacked, in many cases elderly
Speaker 2: people who were doing nothing more than holding a vigil.
Speaker 2: And I just don't understand how someone can be imbued
Speaker 2: with that amount of hatred. I mean, you know, we
Speaker 2: remember what this kid, this punk Dylan Roof kid with
Speaker 2: the black parishioners in South Carolina, many having prayed with them,
Speaker 2: went in and then and shot and killed nine of them.
Speaker 2: We know what was done at the Tree of Life
Speaker 2: Synagogue outside of Pittsburgh. But this guy was in the country,
Speaker 2: overstayed his visa, tried to get a gun to do
Speaker 2: to kill more people, couldn't get a gun because he
Speaker 2: was no longer he was. I guess I don't know
Speaker 2: if he's here as a tourist, if he was here
Speaker 2: seeking asylum, but he got everything this country had to offer,
Speaker 2: and his thank you is to kill or to try
Speaker 2: to kill innocent Jewish Americans, including an eighty eight year
Speaker 2: old woman who's a Holocaust survivor.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean how.
Speaker 2: I don't use the word wicked easily here. I mean,
Speaker 2: how wicked, how deranged can his mind and his soul be?
Speaker 6: And I can't even fathom, right, I mean, I mean,
Speaker 6: the facts that you just stated are almost hard to believe.
Speaker 6: You know who he targeted and how this hatred was
Speaker 6: able to develop, and you know, unfortunately that the normal
Speaker 6: of Jewish hate that has become commonplace across this country
Speaker 6: over the past many years. And you know, in this instance,
Speaker 6: this was obviously, as you said, a particularly wicked individual
Speaker 6: who had a certain level of coldness in his heart
Speaker 6: that's extreme. Yet we also see much smaller manifestations play
Speaker 6: out on a more frequent basis, and you know it's
Speaker 6: in our view, it all stems from a lot of
Speaker 6: the same things, and so it's really really essential that we, yes,
Speaker 6: we need to absolutely do everything to prevent this from
Speaker 6: happening again, because this is a horrific tragedy, and we
Speaker 6: also need to prevent the smaller offenses, so to speak,
Speaker 6: because they create a climate in which this is more
Speaker 6: likely to happen.
Speaker 2: I fault the media in many respects here because I
Speaker 2: don't think enough people in the media are speaking out
Speaker 2: as forcefully as they should. When I was a television reporter,
Speaker 2: I had the opportunity to visit Auschwitz, filed reports from Auschwitz.
Speaker 2: I certainly knew the horrors of Auschwitz before I visited there,
Speaker 2: but to actually be on that hallowed ground where so
Speaker 2: many people lost their lives, were killed by you know,
Speaker 2: people who were themselves deranged. But again, there's no ongoing
Speaker 2: I don't see public service announcements from the media right
Speaker 2: on down. I don't. I don't see much leadership. This
Speaker 2: is one that that really bothers me. I don't happen
Speaker 2: to be Jewish. I'm Roman Catholic, but I learned from
Speaker 2: my dad, who was a World War Two veteran, never
Speaker 2: forget and if it happened then and in other ways
Speaker 2: in so many other parts of the world, this has happened.
Speaker 2: It's happening here now, and it has to be stopped.
Speaker 2: I'll be doing a couple of hours on it beginning tonight.
Speaker 2: At ten o'clock and hopefully getting listeners to call and
Speaker 2: pledge that they will that they will join with everyone
Speaker 2: in denouncing it wherever it raises its ugly head of
Speaker 2: anti Semitism.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Dan, I mean that's I think that's a huge
Speaker 6: part of of remedying the situation that we find ourselves
Speaker 6: in now is and I agree with you that there's
Speaker 6: not nearly enough clear, unequivocal denouncing of this, whether it's
Speaker 6: from the media, the press, elected officials, other people in
Speaker 6: leadership positions that's in this Uh, there's been this hesitance unfortunately,
Speaker 6: you know that that is persistent, that is reinforced. I
Speaker 6: think this the undercurrent that we have and we need folks,
Speaker 6: we especially need people in you know, with large microphones,
Speaker 6: but we need even you know, everybody right down from
Speaker 6: the grassrooms to be standing up and saying this is
Speaker 6: not this is intolerable. There's no there's no excuse for this, right,
Speaker 6: There's no reason rationale why this would ever be tolerated.
Speaker 6: It's not American. It's antithetical to American values, it's antithetical
Speaker 6: to human values. And you know, we strongly believe that
Speaker 6: if we can get enough people that can be outspoken
Speaker 6: in that regard that will change the tide. I mean
Speaker 6: what's scary is what we look at at our foundation
Speaker 6: is a lot of American sentiment on various topics related
Speaker 6: to anti Semitism, and we've seen unfortunately negative movement on
Speaker 6: anti Semitic beliefs and Jewish tropes and things like that,
Speaker 6: where there are a greater proportion of Americans today that
Speaker 6: believe certain things than eighteen twenty four months ago. On
Speaker 6: the one hand, that's extremely discouraging. On the other hand,
Speaker 6: I see the glass half full of Can we can
Speaker 6: turn that back right with the right approach, with support,
Speaker 6: with education, with people committing to this, we can get
Speaker 6: back to where it was where this is no longer
Speaker 6: happening with anything like the regularity that it.
Speaker 2: Is, Adam, If folks would like to get in touch,
Speaker 2: either to join, to support, or to get information, how
Speaker 2: could folks get in touch with you at the foundation
Speaker 2: and combat anti senitism. Is there a website?
Speaker 6: We have a website fcast dot org. Folks can check
Speaker 6: that out. We have several different social media handles stand
Speaker 6: up to Jewish hate. There's several others. But if they
Speaker 6: start with the website and then look for our blue square.
Speaker 6: I think that's a really important thing.
Speaker 4: We are.
Speaker 6: The symbol that we have developed and been catalyzing is
Speaker 6: a blue square, which is you know, it's in itself
Speaker 6: a symbol that just represents standing up to hate, and
Speaker 6: it's sending up to Jewish hate, but frankly, it's standing
Speaker 6: up to hate against any potential persecuted group. And it's
Speaker 6: a small symbol. It's just a blue square, but it
Speaker 6: is a powerful symbol. It is in your phone. You
Speaker 6: can you know, post it in a text message, you
Speaker 6: can post it on Instagram, on social media, and it's
Speaker 6: just a way to show solidarity with this that that
Speaker 6: that everything that you just described that this is not acceptable,
Speaker 6: and it tells your Jewish neighbors. It's basically, you know,
Speaker 6: it's that figurative arm around the shoulder from which right
Speaker 6: now is what a lot of Jews need.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. So the website you gave was f CAST, which
Speaker 2: I believe exactly Foundation f for Foundation Combat Anti Semitism,
Speaker 2: so fcas dot org.
Speaker 5: You got it.
Speaker 6: That's exactly all right.
Speaker 2: That's all I just want to make sure because we
Speaker 2: went by that kind of quickly. Adam, thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Please keep keep up the fight. This fight has to
Speaker 2: be one.
Speaker 6: Thank you and thank you for your support. Dan.
Speaker 2: You're very welcome. We get back. We're going to talk
Speaker 2: about cancer prevention. This is something you need to hear.
Speaker 2: There are some people now who are spreading I don't
Speaker 2: understand and the information that sunscreen is toxic. Let me
Speaker 2: tell you as a as a guy, that sunburns pretty easily.
Speaker 2: I use talk, I use sunscreen, and I know it's
Speaker 2: not toxic. Uh, it's it's preventative. We'll be talking with
Speaker 2: Professor Timothy Rebick. He's a cancer prevention he teaches professor
Speaker 2: of cancer prevention at the Data of Farber Cancer Institute.
Speaker 2: Right after this.
Speaker 1: Night side with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio with.
Speaker 2: Me is Professor Timothy Rebick. He's a professor of cancer
Speaker 2: prevention at the Data Farber Cancer Institute. Professor Rebick, how
Speaker 2: are you tonight? Welcome?
Speaker 4: Hey, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: This sounds kind of silly, but I guess there are
Speaker 2: what they called u V truthers on the internet. I'm
Speaker 2: now claiming sunscreen is toxic. What hold did these folks
Speaker 2: climb out of?
Speaker 5: I mean, well, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2: Go ahead. I just wanted me to be inordinate or inappropriate, but.
Speaker 4: Not at all.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: No, I mean I think there's a lot of skepticism
Speaker 4: about things we know and take for granted from science,
Speaker 4: from good from you know, hardcore scientific knowledge, and you know,
Speaker 4: there's a lot of people who don't trust in some
Speaker 4: of these authorities anymore. And it is not only just
Speaker 4: hard to understand for people who follow the science, but
Speaker 4: also it's dangerous for those who don't listen to what
Speaker 4: we know is good for you.
Speaker 2: So, so where did this start? At some point, someone
Speaker 2: must have woke up some morning and said, I don't
Speaker 2: think this sunscreen is helping prevent cancer. It's causing cancer.
Speaker 2: I mean, there must be some guru somewhere or some
Speaker 2: nut job in a in a cave who's propagating this
Speaker 2: information that is that is patently false.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think that this is like a game of telephone.
Speaker 4: You know, there's some core kernel of information that's true,
Speaker 4: and then over time it gets amplified and twisted and
Speaker 4: mutated to the point that it isn't really accurate or
Speaker 4: real anymore. But the core, the original pieces of information
Speaker 4: people had was you know, lost, and what's stayed around
Speaker 4: is the things that people who don't trust science or
Speaker 4: don't trust you know, the groups that make these messages
Speaker 4: and have fear about what they are, you know, seeing
Speaker 4: a lot of cancer, They're seeing a lot of people
Speaker 4: that have had other kinds of health issues, and they're thinking, well,
Speaker 4: what's causing this? It must be something in something that
Speaker 4: I'm being sold, something that I'm being told by an
Speaker 4: authority I don't respect.
Speaker 2: Okay, I got to be honest with you. I've heard
Speaker 2: a lot of crazy stuff over the years. This is
Speaker 2: the first time that I've heard this particular brand of crazy.
Speaker 2: So let's let's set the record straight here. If anybody's
Speaker 2: going to be out of the sun, and I don't
Speaker 2: care if you're I can remember as a kid, my
Speaker 2: parents should put me out there, and I used to
Speaker 2: get blisters upon blisters for sunburns, and I think they
Speaker 2: didn't realize that that stuff is dangerous. You know, the
Speaker 2: sun is your friend to a point? What what what
Speaker 2: is the message you want to impart tonight to people
Speaker 2: to set the record straight.
Speaker 4: Well, the sudden in terms of skin cancer, which is
Speaker 4: I think the main thing we are talking about right
Speaker 4: now is not your friend. Ever, the sunlight is a
Speaker 4: known class one car synogen is defined by the International
Speaker 4: Agency Research on Cancer. Those are the people that decide
Speaker 4: these things. It's a clear and established cancer causing factor.
Speaker 4: So anything that you do to stay out of that
Speaker 4: kind of exposure is good for you, and a lot
Speaker 4: of ways to do that. You can limit the time
Speaker 4: in the sun, you can wear long sleeves or hats,
Speaker 4: and you can wear sunscreens or sunblocks. And I think
Speaker 4: that anything that you do to minimize that exposure is
Speaker 4: going to protect you from developing skin cancer. And there's
Speaker 4: nothing in sunscreens that clearly raises cancer risk that we
Speaker 4: are aware of. There are plenty of chemicals in some sunscreens,
Speaker 4: none of them have been conclusively shown to cause cancer,
Speaker 4: certainly not skin cancer. So I think that if you're
Speaker 4: making a decision, and our lives are full of risk
Speaker 4: and benefit and harm and benefit decisions, if you're making
Speaker 4: a decision you want to minimize your sun exposure, and
Speaker 4: if you use a sunblock, that's better for you than
Speaker 4: not using a sunblock. In terms of skin cancer.
Speaker 2: The other thing that people might not realize is that
Speaker 2: skin cancer there's different levels of skin cancer. If you
Speaker 2: get further along with skin cancer, skin cancer can kill you, absolutely.
Speaker 4: So there are some skin cancers like basal cell cancers
Speaker 4: that are very common, the most common kind of cancer,
Speaker 4: but you won't die from it. But melanomas, pigmented skin
Speaker 4: cancers can be very lethal and in fact have very
Speaker 4: high mortality rates if you are diagnosed with one. We're
Speaker 4: getting better at treating it, but I guess just about
Speaker 4: everybody I know would rather not have cancer in the
Speaker 4: first place rather than finding good treatments. So the best
Speaker 4: way to avoid ever getting diagnosed and dying of a
Speaker 4: skin cancer is to prevent exposure to the scent.
Speaker 2: Now, I hope people have listened carefully to what you
Speaker 2: have to say, and I hope that particularly parents protect
Speaker 2: their children. And if you're an older person and you've
Speaker 2: avoided skin cancer in your life, continue to cover up up.
Speaker 2: You know, it's wonderful to get out there, particularly in
Speaker 2: New England when the sun starts to warm up, but
Speaker 2: be very, very careful. Is there any sort of a
Speaker 2: website you'd like to direct people too if they want
Speaker 2: to check out anything that you've said tonight, Professor.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there are a couple of great resources. So the
Speaker 4: American Cancer Society cancer dot org has a lot of
Speaker 4: good information that's accurate and reliable about not just sun
Speaker 4: and skin cancer, but all kinds of cancer, cancer prevention
Speaker 4: kinds of things. So that's a really great resource specifically
Speaker 4: for skin cancer. The American Academy of Dermatology is a
Speaker 4: great resource they spend They have the authoritative voice in
Speaker 4: how to prevent skin cancer and to think about sun
Speaker 4: exposure and other decisions that a person may want to
Speaker 4: make if they're out in the sun this summer.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, several years ago I had a little
Speaker 2: I'm not sure if it's Queen of cell cars. Somebody
Speaker 2: had a mose surgery, which is one easy, but boy,
Speaker 2: it scared the heck out of me. And I don't
Speaker 2: put enough sunscreen on. And I think as a result
Speaker 2: of our conversation tonight, I'll be replenishing my supply of
Speaker 2: sunscreen to make sure that anytime I'm out this summer,
Speaker 2: I'm covered up. I appreciate your time tonight, professor very much.
Speaker 2: E've been part of the important message. Thanks for talking again.
Speaker 2: Than pleasure we get back and to talk about another
Speaker 2: serious issue, and that is at home heart attacks and
Speaker 2: cardiac deaths on the rise since the COVID nineteen pandemic.
Speaker 2: A recent study has found these are serious topics, and
Speaker 2: oftentimes we have to talk about serious topics. So just
Speaker 2: sit back. We have one more guest, and then we
Speaker 2: will move on to our discussions of the night. We're
Speaker 2: going to start off talking about at nine o'clock the
Speaker 2: continued market basket battle. I think it's something that affects
Speaker 2: all of us, and we're going to be talking with
Speaker 2: Globe reporter and columnist Camillo Fonseka wrote a really interesting
Speaker 2: piece in the Globe today that I want to draw
Speaker 2: to your attention, and he's going to talk with us
Speaker 2: right after the nine o'clock news. Back on Nightside, we
Speaker 2: have one more guest, Doctor Jason Wasfi, author of a
Speaker 2: published study on this issue. He is also the director
Speaker 2: of Outcomes Research at mass General Hospital Cardiology Division and
Speaker 2: a faculty member at Morgan Institute at the Massachusetts General
Speaker 2: Hospital Mongan Institute.
Speaker 1: You're on night Side with Dan Ray on w b
Speaker 1: Z Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2: My guest is doctor Jason Wasfi. He's the author of
Speaker 2: a public study on this whole question of at home
Speaker 2: heart attacks and cardiac deaths on the rise since COVID
Speaker 2: nineteen since the COVID nineteen pandemic. Doctor Washfie, I know
Speaker 2: we're crunched your time a little bit, so let me
Speaker 2: get to it. What is the relationship between increasing these
Speaker 2: at home heart attacks card and cardiac deaths with the
Speaker 2: rise of on the right since COVID nineteen.
Speaker 5: Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 5: I really appreciate your interest in this in this issue,
Speaker 5: it's been noted since twenty twenty that fewer patients have
Speaker 5: been coming to the hospital with heart attacks. I noticed
Speaker 5: this as a clinician in twenty twenty, and many countries
Speaker 5: throughout the world have seen the same thing, that fewer
Speaker 5: patients are coming to the hospital with cardiac conditions. It
Speaker 5: doesn't really make sense because you don't think that post
Speaker 5: twenty twenty people would have fewer heart attacks. So what
Speaker 5: we did is we looked at death certificate data from
Speaker 5: the state of Massachusetts, including people who died at home,
Speaker 5: to try to understand better why this is happening.
Speaker 2: And your conclusion is.
Speaker 5: Well, it's pretty concerning. There's a lot more deaths at
Speaker 5: home than there were before twenty twenty. This isn't something
Speaker 5: that just happened, right, at the surges of the COVID pandemic.
Speaker 5: This is something that is persistent for years that even
Speaker 5: into twenty twenty four, monthly rates of cardiac deaths at
Speaker 5: home especially, we're elevated relative to what would have expected
Speaker 5: to happen before twenty twenty. So it really does raise
Speaker 5: a question of distress in the healthcare system. That the
Speaker 5: healthcare system, we don't know for sure, but it raises
Speaker 5: a question. Their new drugs available every year, their new
Speaker 5: procedure is available every year.
Speaker 2: So are people perhaps apprehensive of contracting something? Is there
Speaker 2: a hang Is there sort of a hangover if you will.
Speaker 2: I don't use that in the classic sense of the
Speaker 2: word hangover, but a follow on apprehension about sitting in
Speaker 2: an emergency room with other people who might be COVID
Speaker 2: or some you know, some some you know, I guess,
Speaker 2: subliminal apprehension or fear of contracting something at a hospital.
Speaker 2: There must have been stories that have circulated people who
Speaker 2: went to hospitals and got sick.
Speaker 4: It's a great question.
Speaker 5: I mean, the first thing I'll say is from our analysis,
Speaker 5: we can't we don't know why this has happened, But
Speaker 5: I will say we see this years after the initial
Speaker 5: COVID pandemic. So my hunt, and it's just a hunt
Speaker 5: at this point, is that there's something more fundamental than
Speaker 5: just fear of getting COVID. Because I can't prove this,
Speaker 5: but my sense as a clinician is that people aren't
Speaker 5: supporting hospitals well into twenty twenty four because the fear
Speaker 5: of COVID. My suspicion is this more has to do
Speaker 5: with access to care, ability to find the doctor.
Speaker 1: Ability.
Speaker 5: You know, patients say this, Oh, I'll be you know,
Speaker 5: waiting in the emergency room for two days if I
Speaker 5: go to the emergency in now. And my fear is
Speaker 5: that people aren't getting evaluated because of distress within the
Speaker 5: healthcare system.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just add one one quick comment, and I
Speaker 2: know you're a little pressed on time, so I want
Speaker 2: to be cognizant of that. But it's tough getting a
Speaker 2: PCP in Massachusetts. I recently had doctor Rungi, who's the
Speaker 2: head of the of the of the medical School at
Speaker 2: the University of Michigan. He's the president of the University
Speaker 2: of Michigan Medical School. And the same problem in other
Speaker 2: parts of the country, there's a paucity of PCP providers,
Speaker 2: so people perhaps are not seeing doctors. Obviously, when someone
Speaker 2: stays home and doesn't get to a hospital and dies
Speaker 2: of a heart attack, you can't do a post mortem
Speaker 2: conversation about why didn't you get to the hospital earlier?
Speaker 2: Clearly could it? Could that also be that they're just
Speaker 2: not seeing PCPs as frequently as they should, you know,
Speaker 2: at least once a year.
Speaker 5: For sure, I definitely think that these types of things
Speaker 5: may be having an effect here. I can't know for
Speaker 5: sure from the data we have, but absolutely I think
Speaker 5: this feels like a health system issue. It could be
Speaker 5: an outpatient issue, It could be a prevention issue, as
Speaker 5: you're pointing out, in primary care. It could be a
Speaker 5: question about access to acute systems. But this is the thing.
Speaker 5: Every year there are new drugs available, every year, there's
Speaker 5: new procedures available. Why are these outcomes still worse than
Speaker 5: they should be? And it really, when you think about
Speaker 5: it that way, the drugs haven't become unavailable, right. It
Speaker 5: really feels like a health systems issue. And as you say,
Speaker 5: that could be access to prevention through primary care, it
Speaker 5: could be access to outpatient cardiologists. The health system in
Speaker 5: many ways feels like it's not meeting the needs of
Speaker 5: people who are at risk.
Speaker 2: Doctor Jason Philosophy, I very much appreciate your published study.
Speaker 2: I assume this is a published study that's not going
Speaker 2: to be necessarily available to the general public. But just
Speaker 2: a final piece of advice to any of my listeners
Speaker 2: who might be in that age range where they need
Speaker 2: to be more careful, what would you tell them? And
Speaker 2: I realized that your study is not conclusive, but what
Speaker 2: piece of advice should people take from our conversation tonight?
Speaker 2: And then I got to let you go.
Speaker 5: I know that no, thank you again. I appreciate your
Speaker 5: interest in this and appreciate you raising awareness of this.
Speaker 5: I think more than anything is to be aware of
Speaker 5: symptoms that when you have symptoms that may be concerning,
Speaker 5: to report them. We know, I know that there's difficulties
Speaker 5: in getting into seek positions and other types of caregivers,
Speaker 5: but it is so important to seek attention for symptoms
Speaker 5: that concern you. It's such an important thing in terms
Speaker 5: of prevention and for policy makers. We really need to
Speaker 5: rethink the healthcare delivery system. We need that partnerships creating
Speaker 5: healthcare provider organizations and payers to really redesign the healthcare
Speaker 5: system so it meets the needs of our patients.
Speaker 2: Doctr wasby thank you very much for your time tonight. Again.
Speaker 2: I know that we were intrusive a little bit on
Speaker 2: some of your other demands of the evening, So thanks
Speaker 2: very much for the extra time. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5: Not at all, I appreciate the interest in this.
Speaker 2: You're welcome. You're welcome. We're very interested in it, that's
Speaker 2: for sure. Okay. So doctor Jason Wassey the author of
Speaker 2: the published study on this, and also he's the director
Speaker 2: of the outcomes Research at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cardiology
Speaker 2: Division and a faculty member at the Mongan Institute at
Speaker 2: the Massachusetts General Hospital. So when we get back from
Speaker 2: the nine o'clock news, we're going to once again focus
Speaker 2: on the boardroom battle at Market Basket. And if you'd
Speaker 2: like a quick homework assignment, if you happen to have
Speaker 2: today's Boston Globe, there's an article move over Kendall. The
Speaker 2: Market Basket boardroom battle is a real life succession saga,
Speaker 2: complete with family drama and dysfunction. We're going to be
Speaker 2: talking with the author of that article, Page A D
Speaker 2: one of the Business section of Today's Boston Globe, Camillo Fonseka,
Speaker 2: I am very much interested in market Basket and this
Speaker 2: continuing fight between amongst family members, and I also want
Speaker 2: to hear from all of you because I still think
Speaker 2: that at this point, market Basket provides the best quality
Speaker 2: grocery products at the most reasonable prices of any chain.
Speaker 2: I'm not a Paige spokesman, I'm not an advertiser, but
Speaker 2: that's why I go and drive distances sometimes to get
Speaker 2: to market Basket. We'll be talking with my guest Camillo
Speaker 2: Fonseka or the Boston Globe and your conversation as well
Speaker 2: for the nine o'clock news on Nightside