Speaker 1: It's Nightside. Who's Dan Ray, I'm busy Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Thanks very much, Nicole. As we start off at Tuesday night,
Speaker 2: we have four hours to go between now at midnight.
Speaker 2: I'm here with you virtually every weeknight from Monday through Friday.
Speaker 2: Occasionally get a few nights off. I'll have a few
Speaker 2: nights off next week, but we'll have some good host
Speaker 2: sitting in for me. I'm not exactly sure of the schedule.
Speaker 2: I'll have that for you probably tomorrow night and let
Speaker 2: you know who's to be sitting in. And we continue
Speaker 2: along here with Nightside, and I'm approaching the start of
Speaker 2: our year, number eighteen, just a little over a month away.
Speaker 2: Before I begin tonight, I want to do a big
Speaker 2: shout out to a big fan over in South Boston, Mary,
Speaker 2: and I guess her nickname is Southy Mary Keller. She's
Speaker 2: a graduate of South Boston High School, the classmate of
Speaker 2: former Boston mayor and Ambassador to the Vatican Ray Flynn.
Speaker 2: And I'm told that Mary is a very loyal Nightside listener,
Speaker 2: and she just passed a milestone birthday. But of course,
Speaker 2: a gentleman never mentions a lady's birthday. But I want
Speaker 2: to send out a big happy birthday wish on behalf
Speaker 2: of everyone here at nightside the audience as well as
Speaker 2: all the staff people to marry Southy Mary Keller, a
Speaker 2: lifelong South Boston resident, proud graduate of South Boston High
Speaker 2: School back when Ray Flynn was playing some basketball before
Speaker 2: he went to Providence College. So Mary, I know you
Speaker 2: had a great birthday and many many more to come.
Speaker 2: Before we start off, I will tell you we are
Speaker 2: going to learn a lot about Tripoli equine encephalitis, eastern
Speaker 2: equine encephalitis tonight, as well as West Nile virus. We'll
Speaker 2: be talking with doctor Catherine Brown the Massachusetts Department of
Speaker 2: Public Health, a veterinarian, an epidemiologist. And I'm sure all
Speaker 2: of you that will be at nine o'clock have heard
Speaker 2: about this huge, huge public data breach two point nine
Speaker 2: billion that's with a B record stolen from National Public Data,
Speaker 2: a Florida based credit and criminal background check company. Well,
Speaker 2: they got some splaining to do here, and we're going
Speaker 2: to talk with a professor from the University of Illinois,
Speaker 2: the founder of the computer science program, and find out
Speaker 2: what the heck you can do to defend yourself when
Speaker 2: the bad guys have your social security information. Very important
Speaker 2: issues to talk about tonight, A very important issue to
Speaker 2: start off with. Our good friend, friend of the program,
Speaker 2: Massachusetts Republican Senator Bruce Tar Bruce, Welcome back to Night Side.
Speaker 2: How are you tonight?
Speaker 3: Thanks? Dan, I'm doing very well and I want to
Speaker 3: congratulate you on coming up on eighteen years of incredible programming.
Speaker 3: And I also want to join you in congratulating Southie
Speaker 3: Mara on her birthday. So two very big landmarks here
Speaker 3: on the radar screen tonight, I would think so.
Speaker 2: I think she's a little older than eighteen, but will
Speaker 2: hit eighteen this October. First, Bruce, we're here to talk
Speaker 2: about the Massages of Maternal Health Bill that is expanding
Speaker 2: access to midwifery, birth centers and do laws here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: The Governor Healy signed this bill. I know that there's
Speaker 2: been some things that have kind of got bottled up
Speaker 2: at the legislature this year, but this was one I
Speaker 2: assumed that had a lot of support across party lines.
Speaker 3: It definitely did. And Dan, before we get to the bill,
Speaker 3: I want to just take a step back and remember
Speaker 3: that you were kind enough to have me on the
Speaker 3: show to talk a while ago about a budget amendment
Speaker 3: that I had offered to the Senate version of the
Speaker 3: state budget relative to maternal health. And sometimes, Dan, we
Speaker 3: don't often get the chance to come back and say
Speaker 3: thank you, but I wanted to do that tonight because
Speaker 3: that amendment in a different form passed, and so you
Speaker 3: and I had talked about the fact that it should
Speaker 3: have been a no brainer. Well, I'm very pleased to
Speaker 3: report that both sides the House and the Senate, Republicans
Speaker 3: and Democrats, agreed on that amendment, which now directs the
Speaker 3: Department of Public Health to create a feasibility study for
Speaker 3: an application for your phone or your computer, your tablet,
Speaker 3: so that you'll be able to access things that are
Speaker 3: important with regard to maternal health, whether it be transportation,
Speaker 3: mental health services, physical health services. And Dan, you helped
Speaker 3: us get the word out about that amendment, and with
Speaker 3: the stroke of Governor Healey's pen when she signed the
Speaker 3: state budget, that feasibility study is on its way to
Speaker 3: being done, and that will lead to us having an
Speaker 3: incredibly powerful tool for parents across the Commonwealth. So thank
Speaker 3: you for your help with that.
Speaker 2: Well, Bruce, you guys did the work on that one,
Speaker 2: So thank you very much. You're very kind. Let me
Speaker 2: put it like that, but this is a moment of clarity.
Speaker 2: Every once in a while, everybody at Peak and Hill
Speaker 2: gets together on something. Let's talk about the maternal health
Speaker 2: build that the governor has signed. So you're here to
Speaker 2: tell us all about a piece of legislation. I'm sure
Speaker 2: the Governor Healy's really proud.
Speaker 3: Of as well well, and I think we all are, Dan,
Speaker 3: and I think it's a shining example of how we
Speaker 3: can still have bipartisan collaboration, even in these politically charged
Speaker 3: times where it seems like it can be difficult to
Speaker 3: reach across party lines and to reach across chambers between
Speaker 3: the House and the Senate. This bill is a shining
Speaker 3: example of the fact that we still can get things done.
Speaker 3: And Dan, it is true that the conference committee wasn't
Speaker 3: able to be filed, the report wasn't able to be
Speaker 3: filed before we ended formal sessions, and we could talk
Speaker 3: about that if you'd like, but it still got done
Speaker 3: in an informal session, which means that no one objected.
Speaker 3: There was consensus around this bill. It's a very important bill,
Speaker 3: and I'm really pleased that it got signed into law.
Speaker 3: I did amend the bill. There were numerous amendments to it,
Speaker 3: and they all got reconciled by a six person conference
Speaker 3: committee of our confrere and the Senate Republican Caucus with
Speaker 3: Senator Patrick O'Connor from Weymouth. But all the conferees did
Speaker 3: a great job and Dan. This bill is largely a
Speaker 3: response to a report that was completed by the Department
Speaker 3: of Public Health last November, and that report really raised
Speaker 3: a red flag of alarm about access to maternal health
Speaker 3: services in Massachusetts. We are world famous, and rightfully so,
Speaker 3: for our healthcare system and our healthcare delivery system, but
Speaker 3: the report that was filed back on November fifteenth of
Speaker 3: twenty twenty three really sounded the alarm about us needing
Speaker 3: to do more around maternal health. And this bill does
Speaker 3: do more.
Speaker 2: So let's talk about some of the specifics. I talk
Speaker 2: about midwifery, birth centers, and duelas in Massachusetts. Again, I
Speaker 2: think everyone knows what we're talking about, But how does
Speaker 2: this expand access? Does it make it easier for a
Speaker 2: community to license this sort of work necessary?
Speaker 3: Well, it does, So let's take midwifery first, and one
Speaker 3: of the things this bill does is set up a
Speaker 3: commission in Massachusetts to license midwives and create a process
Speaker 3: so that everybody meeting the same standards, and we'll have
Speaker 3: the ability to ensure quality of care, and we'll have
Speaker 3: the ability to sanction folks by license suspension or revocation
Speaker 3: if they don't deliver quality care. And that is really
Speaker 3: important because the use of a midwife is an important
Speaker 3: choice that folks ought to have, and one dan that's
Speaker 3: been concerning about that choice not being as available as
Speaker 3: it might otherwise be. I think folks that are on
Speaker 3: the North Shore are familiar with the situation that we
Speaker 3: faced with the birthing center at Beverly Hospital being closed
Speaker 3: and that closed off some access to midwives. We're all
Speaker 3: working on restoring that access. But being able to have
Speaker 3: access to midwife free and having insurance coverage for it
Speaker 3: is very important, and so that is one of the
Speaker 3: fundamental things that this bill does. It's not that we
Speaker 3: didn't have midwives before, but now we will have licensed
Speaker 3: midwives that have to meet a set of standards and
Speaker 3: deliver quality care.
Speaker 2: Now every confidence will Previously there was no licensing procedure.
Speaker 3: It sounds to it there was a licensure system, but
Speaker 3: it was not as formal as the one that's included
Speaker 3: in the bill. And the bill also sets up a
Speaker 3: new panel for that registration and for that licensure, which
Speaker 3: didn't exist before, and.
Speaker 2: Some of the same opportunities of birth centers now will
Speaker 2: be monitored a little bit more carefully. And doulas are
Speaker 2: different dum as. I understand that midwives provide medical care
Speaker 2: and doulists provide emotional, physical, and informational support not only
Speaker 2: for the moms and the moms to be, but also
Speaker 2: for extended family members.
Speaker 3: So well, that's absolutely true. And Dan, you raise an
Speaker 3: important point. When we talk about maternal health. Oftentimes we
Speaker 3: think about mothers, but it's also important to think about
Speaker 3: fathers and parents generally, because everyone is involved here. And
Speaker 3: for instance, one of the things that we talk about
Speaker 3: in this bill is having access to screening for postpartum depression,
Speaker 3: not only for mothers but also for fathers, so that
Speaker 3: we can have that complete access to healthcare. And one
Speaker 3: of the amendments that I offered to the bill provided
Speaker 3: that screening not only where there has been an actual
Speaker 3: live birth, but also for folks that have less fortunate consequences.
Speaker 3: Of still birth, a miscarriage, those still have tremendous effects
Speaker 3: on mental health, and so I amended the bill to
Speaker 3: ensure that those parents too, who would be eligible for
Speaker 3: screenings and ultimately mental healthcare.
Speaker 2: All Right, so sounds like a win win win for everyone.
Speaker 2: Senator Bruce Tarr, thanks so much for being up there
Speaker 2: and maintaining some level of bipartisanship in a tough political
Speaker 2: climate both locally and nashally. As always, you're always welcome here.
Speaker 2: Thank you again for your kind words. Very much appreciate it.
Speaker 3: Thanks Dan, thanks for your support and look forward to
Speaker 3: talking with you again soon.
Speaker 2: Have a great absolutely, Bruce Tar. Ladies and gentlemen, one
Speaker 2: of the members the Republican members of the Massachusetts State Senate.
Speaker 2: We get back when we talk about something that I
Speaker 2: think all of us can identify with, and that is
Speaker 2: Labor Day, weekend travel. It could get busy, I'm told,
Speaker 2: and we're going to talk with a USA Today reporter,
Speaker 2: consumer travel reporter right after this break here on Nightside.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: I guess is Zach Wictor He is USA Today's Consumer
Speaker 2: Travel reporter, and I guess, Zach that this weekend, Labor
Speaker 2: Day weekend is going to be one for the ages
Speaker 2: from all of the the stories, the previous stories I've
Speaker 2: been reading. I am not traveling this weekend, and I
Speaker 2: am happy to be not traveling. How are you tonight?
Speaker 4: I'm good. Thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 4: And I think they're right. It's going to be a
Speaker 4: crazy travel weekend. So for those people who are hitting
Speaker 4: the road or going to the airport, there's some stuff
Speaker 4: that they can do to be ready or at least
Speaker 4: to mentally prepare for the crowds that they're short to encounter.
Speaker 2: Well, before I ask you what they can do to
Speaker 2: be prepared, I'm going to guess that there's the end
Speaker 2: of summer travelers, and there's the college kids going back
Speaker 2: to school or starting college for the first time, maybe
Speaker 2: with the parents. So are those the factors that are
Speaker 2: kind of working together here to make this a memorable
Speaker 2: Labor Day weekend?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think it's the same stuff that
Speaker 4: we see every year, sort of as summer winds down,
Speaker 4: as people get ready to go back to school or
Speaker 4: to go to colleges. You said maybe for the first time,
Speaker 4: or just to move back into the dorms. They're trying
Speaker 4: to either squeeze out that last vacation or get started
Speaker 4: on that new chapter in life. And so we see
Speaker 4: every summer that the roads and the airports and the
Speaker 4: other ways of getting around are crowded this weekend of
Speaker 4: the year, but especially this year, it looks like the TSA,
Speaker 4: for example, is expecting particularly high passenger volumes at the airport.
Speaker 5: And I think you're.
Speaker 4: Really seeing kind of the COVID recovery has really fully
Speaker 4: been realized, and so whatever pent up demand was left
Speaker 4: is now being answered and people are really getting out there.
Speaker 2: So is this the end of the pent up manned
Speaker 2: toothpaste tube that it's just finishing up here and it's
Speaker 2: going to get back to a more normal every you know,
Speaker 2: it seems like that Christmas Thanksgiving we hear all these
Speaker 2: this is the busiest travel day, that's the busiest travel day.
Speaker 2: Is this just the busiest travel Labor day? Or is
Speaker 2: this going to be right up there with the busiest
Speaker 2: travel weekend without the complications of things like snowstorms and
Speaker 2: stuff like that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so this summer has been basically the busiest summer
Speaker 4: for travel on record, and I think you're kind of
Speaker 4: seeing a new normal. The sort of broader backdrop to
Speaker 4: all of this is that people are spending more to
Speaker 4: travel now. I think part of what COVID did is
Speaker 4: sort of spur people to value more experiences, and so
Speaker 4: what we're seeing again, kind of more broadly across the
Speaker 4: industry is that people are foregoing some other things in
Speaker 4: their regular day to day life so that they can
Speaker 4: save up and travel. And the result of that is
Speaker 4: more people than ever are traveling, and that means that
Speaker 4: these popular weekends for travel are even busier than they've
Speaker 4: ever been. The TSA, for example, said that the top
Speaker 4: ten travel days for passenger screenings at the nation's airport
Speaker 4: in its history have all happened since May twenty twenty four.
Speaker 4: So I think that this is really just the new normal.
Speaker 2: Well, that is an amazing statistic, that is the ten
Speaker 2: busiest travel days. I realized that the population is increasing
Speaker 2: and expanding. I came back with a group of nightside listeners.
Speaker 2: We were in Italy earlier this month and the airports
Speaker 2: were packed. We didn't have any problem, don't get me wrong,
Speaker 2: but the planes were packed, and by the way, zach
Speaker 2: I noticed something on the airplanes. All the seats are
Speaker 2: smaller than they used to be. It's unbelievable.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, that's howbsolutely true. And I think that again
Speaker 4: just goes back to the demand that airlines are trying
Speaker 4: to answer, and also the price sensitivity that we're seeing.
Speaker 4: People really often shop solely by price when they're buying
Speaker 4: airline tickets, and part of the way airlines answer that
Speaker 4: is by cramming more seats onto the plane. It means
Speaker 4: that they're able to lower those airfares, and so we
Speaker 4: hear people understandably complain that amenities and comfort on airplanes
Speaker 4: have gotten worse over the years. But the fact of
Speaker 4: the matter is that in order to stay competitive and
Speaker 4: in order to give people those competitive ticket prices, airlines
Speaker 4: need to offer increasingly bare bone service. And then of
Speaker 4: course they diversify their products by offering more premium seating
Speaker 4: and amenities, which obviously you have to pay.
Speaker 5: A little bit for.
Speaker 4: And airlines are seeing actually increase demand for those premium
Speaker 4: products too. People like I said, who are saving up
Speaker 4: to travel more, are also say saving up to purchase
Speaker 4: more luxurious travel experiences when they're getting out there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's really interesting to see the planes and to
Speaker 2: be in a couple of you know, airports in Italy,
Speaker 2: Rome and Maples just packed, just absolutely packed. And in
Speaker 2: Italy you had a sense that just relax, you know,
Speaker 2: we'll get you through a long time. But obviously there's
Speaker 2: all that angst. I don't want to miss my connection,
Speaker 2: I don't want to have to spend the extra day,
Speaker 2: all of those all of those problems. Do you think
Speaker 2: it's going to continue or do you think at some
Speaker 2: point all of us are going to say, Okay, we've
Speaker 2: traveled quite a bit. Now we can kind of chill
Speaker 2: and relax, or do you think it's going to get
Speaker 2: worse next year the year after that. Is this something
Speaker 2: that just the population is getting larger and more and
Speaker 2: more people are are are expanding their vistas.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think as we kind of talked about free
Speaker 4: pandemic and then you know, excluding those few years where
Speaker 4: things are really messed up, but generally the trend year
Speaker 4: on year has been a growing demand for travel, both
Speaker 4: as the population expands, and then is people's kind of
Speaker 4: priorities for how they're spending their money change. Like I said,
Speaker 4: people are emphasizing these experiences, and so I think that
Speaker 4: it's gonna you know, the crowds are here to stay,
Speaker 4: and so people need to be ready to face those
Speaker 4: crowds at the airport. But that doesn't mean it's worth
Speaker 4: getting stressed over. You know, if you leave yourself enough time,
Speaker 4: if you kind of have your plan for how you're
Speaker 4: going to get to the airport, how you're going to
Speaker 4: navigate your travel experiences, you're still going to have a
Speaker 4: great time. And it's just really important, I think when
Speaker 4: you go to the airport to stay patient and be
Speaker 4: nice to those around you, especially the airport and airline employees.
Speaker 4: If something goes wrong, they're the first line of defense.
Speaker 4: They're just doing their jobs, and so it's really important
Speaker 4: to keep your cool. As frustrated as you might be,
Speaker 4: you'll get home, get where you're going eventually.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they can always mess with your ticket. We realize
Speaker 2: that real quick last question and the quick last answer.
Speaker 2: We're focused on your life travel. Will car travel and
Speaker 2: train travel also match their heights this this weekend as
Speaker 2: far as you know?
Speaker 4: Yeah, the quick answer is, yes, it's going to be
Speaker 4: busy no matter how you're going and how you're getting
Speaker 4: where you're going.
Speaker 2: All right, even if you're going by tricycle, You've got
Speaker 2: to plan ahead. Hey, thanks so.
Speaker 4: Much, right, Zach Wick, My pleasures for having me say.
Speaker 2: Today's Consumer Travel Report. Appreciate it, Zach. When we get back,
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about a great charity, the Angel
Speaker 2: Fund with Rich Kennedy. The Angel Fund is for ALS
Speaker 2: Research hosting a Walk for Hope coming up on Saturday,
Speaker 2: September seventh in Wakefield. That is not this coming Saturday,
Speaker 2: but it's the following Saturday, and it's one that everyone
Speaker 2: can participate in. Looking forward to that. My name's Dan Ray.
Speaker 2: This is Nightside, Boston's News Radio. If forever any reason
Speaker 2: you have trouble getting us on the over the the
Speaker 2: terrestrial radio feed, you can always go to the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 2: you know, loaded downloaded anyway. You can listen to WBZ
Speaker 2: wherever you are, whenever you want, and it's all free.
Speaker 2: Back on Nightside with Rich Kennedy, President of the Angel Fund.
Speaker 2: Right after the news break.
Speaker 1: You're on night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: All right, I think all of us are familiar with
Speaker 2: ALS UH so called lou Garrigg's disease, just one of
Speaker 2: the cruelest diseases that could touch any family with us
Speaker 2: as Rich Kennedy, He's the president of the Angel Fund.
Speaker 2: His family has been touched by this horrific disease, and
Speaker 2: the Angel Fund, of which he is the president, basically
Speaker 2: funds research, ALS research and the hope. They are hosting
Speaker 2: their annual Walk of Hope for ALS. I remember a
Speaker 2: year ago we mentioned this and I hope a lot
Speaker 2: of Nightside listeners will have a chance to participate on Saturday,
Speaker 2: September seventh in Wakefield. Rich Kennedy, welcome back to Nightside.
Speaker 2: How are you.
Speaker 6: I'm fantastic, Dan, Thank you very much, and thank you
Speaker 6: for having me on once again. I really appreciate this.
Speaker 2: Well. You know, between you and our good friend Mike
Speaker 2: Timlin and the Boston Red Sox, you guys are warriors
Speaker 2: in this battle against this horrific disease. Tell us about
Speaker 2: the Angel Fund and what it has done over the
Speaker 2: years and what it continues to do.
Speaker 6: All right, Yeah, the full name is the ALS, the
Speaker 6: Angel Fund, the ALS Research. Sure, and after losing my
Speaker 6: dad and then five years later my younger brother, the
Speaker 6: youngest of nine, I've subsequently lost an older brother to this.
Speaker 6: So watching this is horrendous watching somebody slowly strength pass
Speaker 6: away and gone. So I with a lot of like
Speaker 6: minded people with family history, et ceterist out of the
Speaker 6: Angel Fund, and I'm proud to say We've raised millions
Speaker 6: of dollars. But I'm more proud to say that I've
Speaker 6: never taken a penny. The whole board of directors, no
Speaker 6: one takes anything, goes directly to ALS research for supporting
Speaker 6: doctor Robert Brown at UMass Medical School, and that's seen
Speaker 6: unbelievable research with us.
Speaker 2: Is this the sort of disease that potentially we can,
Speaker 2: if not cure it, at least control it a little
Speaker 2: bit more within our lifetimes or is this something that
Speaker 2: is something that we can only hope to slow down?
Speaker 2: If you know what I'm trying to.
Speaker 6: Get at here, You're exactly right. And again with progress.
Speaker 6: There are different medications out a lot of other organizations
Speaker 6: raising money for this also. So I've seen great progress
Speaker 6: in the lab.
Speaker 2: Excellent, excellent. Now tell us about the walk. This is
Speaker 2: the Walk of Hope. It's every year it's around this time,
Speaker 2: I think this Saturday after Labor Day, people are back home,
Speaker 2: vacations are over, and this year it starts on September seventh,
Speaker 2: nine am to two pm. It's the twenty third annual
Speaker 2: Walk for Hope for Als and it's in Wakefield. If
Speaker 2: I recall, it's around a huge lake in Wakefield, Is it.
Speaker 6: Not exactly right? Lake Kuanapowit. It's a three and a
Speaker 6: half mile walk around it, absolutely beautiful setting Wakefield, calmness
Speaker 6: where it starts and ends, and one loop around the
Speaker 6: lake and I will be there, Doctor Brown will be there.
Speaker 6: We typically go about one third of the way around.
Speaker 6: They're in greet everybody coming around and fantastic.
Speaker 2: As I understand, you have a whole bunch of teams.
Speaker 2: People can go and sign up and and and participate
Speaker 2: as as an individual or as a couple or as
Speaker 2: a family. But then you have teams. I see this
Speaker 2: whole list of of various groups together. Is it too
Speaker 2: late to get a team together? Or is it too
Speaker 2: late to sign up for the walk? What's what's the limitations?
Speaker 2: Like anything else? I know, you gotta sign up for
Speaker 2: these things in advance. Tell us, tell us where do
Speaker 2: we stand uh on on on this this project this year?
Speaker 2: What do you need more walkers? I'm sure you do that.
Speaker 2: That's probably the easiest question of.
Speaker 6: The night, right, Yes, of course we always do. We
Speaker 6: welcome absolutely everybody, teams and individuals. You can sign up
Speaker 6: online at the Angel Funds dot o r J or
Speaker 6: show up that day and just simply sign up that day,
Speaker 6: and individuals, teams, whatever, will take absolutely anything because it
Speaker 6: spreads awareness and all kinds of information available to you there.
Speaker 2: And I assume that you're hoping, particularly with teams, that
Speaker 2: people will go out and get some pleasures and you
Speaker 2: raise some money for this. I guess there's nothing to
Speaker 2: stop someone just for falling in and walking by themselves,
Speaker 2: but you were hoping that everybody will make some donation,
Speaker 2: small or large. Every dollar, every dollar is going to
Speaker 2: help in the fight. You never know which dollar is
Speaker 2: going to be the dollar that provides the funding that
Speaker 2: leads to a real breakthrough.
Speaker 6: Right, absolutely right, You've got all the information and just
Speaker 6: spreading the word. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2: All right, So it is simply all you have to
Speaker 2: do is go to all one wordthanngelfund dot org and
Speaker 2: you can. You'll find it on their web page. Walk
Speaker 2: for Hope for Als twenty twenty four, and again it's Saturday,
Speaker 2: No Saturday, September seventh. So it's not this Saturday, which
Speaker 2: I think is the thirty first, it's the following of August.
Speaker 2: It's the following Saturday, and it is at a beautiful lake.
Speaker 2: It's a three and a half mile walk beginning at
Speaker 2: what's called Lower Common in Wakefield, and all the Moneys
Speaker 2: go to support research again to find a cure for
Speaker 2: als lou Garrig's disease. This world renowned researcher doctor Robert
Speaker 2: Brown at UMass chan Medical School. And I know whenever
Speaker 2: I talked to Mike Timlin when he does his events
Speaker 2: generally in May, he's a huge fan of doctor Brown.
Speaker 2: He and I know you are as well. Rich.
Speaker 6: Well, absolutely, yes, I did my homework inside of that
Speaker 6: all the money should go to him and the slope
Speaker 6: we've raised, everything we raised goes to him. So thank
Speaker 6: you for splaining the word A really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Well, Rich, thank you, and thank you for being so
Speaker 2: so much in the lead on this. I've known a
Speaker 2: lot of folks and a lot of families who have
Speaker 2: been impacted by this, and you're right, it's one of
Speaker 2: the worst diagnoses that anyone individual or any family could receive.
Speaker 2: And I know that it has touched your family in
Speaker 2: so many adverse ways, but you guys, the Kennedy family
Speaker 2: is fighting back and you're leading the charge. So thanks
Speaker 2: so much for what you do. And I hope as
Speaker 2: many of our listeners as possible we'll get out there
Speaker 2: and participate on Saturday, September the seventh. Thanks again, Rich.
Speaker 2: I do appreciate Rich Kennedy that president.
Speaker 6: Once again, Thank you to you. Dan. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: My pleasure. We'll talk soon. Thanks, Rich, appreciate it. Those
Speaker 2: are the heroes amongst us. Trust me. It's the Angel
Speaker 2: Fund Als Research and again that website. You know you
Speaker 2: want to get out, get a little exercise, raise some money,
Speaker 2: and get some pledges for some friends. All you gotta
Speaker 2: do is go to the angelfund dot org and they
Speaker 2: will They will sign you up as quick as possible.
Speaker 2: It's a great website. Check check it out. When we
Speaker 2: come back, we're going to wrap this hour here on
Speaker 2: Nightside and we're going to talk about youth vaping. Young
Speaker 2: people still vaping. They may not be smoking cigarettes in
Speaker 2: the same way that they used to smoke cigarettes. That
Speaker 2: word has gotten out, but vaping is just as dangerous
Speaker 2: and we'll be talking with doctor Cedric Rutland on the
Speaker 2: other side of the break Here on a Tuesday night
Speaker 2: edition of Nightside.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Way live from the window World,
Speaker 1: Nice Side Studios. I'm WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: My guest is doctor Cedric Rutland. Lung cancer and smoking
Speaker 2: cost a lot of lives, and the American Lung Association
Speaker 2: reminds everyone that that parents are the best defense against
Speaker 2: youth vaping. Doctor Rutland, Welcome to Night's Side.
Speaker 5: How are you tonight, sir, Hey, thanks for having me tonight, Dan.
Speaker 5: Pleasure to talk to you.
Speaker 2: And Boston, Yeah, you were more more than welcome. I'm
Speaker 2: looking at these statistics from Massachusetts and you're talking to
Speaker 2: more than Boston. By the way, we get into about
Speaker 2: thirty eight states in this radio station over with just
Speaker 2: a terrestrial signal, but we're focused on Massachusetts, and you
Speaker 2: folks provided us that there are nine thousand, three hundred
Speaker 2: deaths every year in Massachusetts attributable to people having smoked,
Speaker 2: killing more people than alcohol, aids, car crashes, illegal drugs,
Speaker 2: murders and suicides combined. That is a staggering statistic.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, it is a staggering statistic. But when
Speaker 5: you think about smoking. A lot of people think that
Speaker 5: when you smoke a cigarette, because you're inhaling that smoke
Speaker 5: the pipes that carry air to the lung. We know
Speaker 5: that the cigarette smoke actually has percentagenes that can induce
Speaker 5: rellular change and lead to cancer. That's easy. But what
Speaker 5: we think about is impact on the arteries within the box.
Speaker 5: So smoking actually leads to a disease called athosleurosis, which
Speaker 5: is inflammation and deposition in the artery walls which narrow
Speaker 5: those arteries and can lead to heart attacks. It can
Speaker 5: lead to strokes, and all of these things can lead
Speaker 5: to morbidity and mortality as well. And that's why that
Speaker 5: f number is higher than you might think.
Speaker 2: After all these years and all the warnings and all
Speaker 2: the public service announcements of people you know who were smokers,
Speaker 2: and they have those tubes in their throat of those
Speaker 2: devices which allow them to sort of make a sound
Speaker 2: that is similar to a voice. That still hasn't convinced
Speaker 2: everyone that smoking is just a vice, that that is
Speaker 2: a no value to anyone. I mean, I just I've
Speaker 2: never smoked a cigarette in my life because I wanted
Speaker 2: to play a lot of sports in high school, and college,
Speaker 2: and I carried on my dad had been a two
Speaker 2: pack of day Smoker camels, unfiltered World War two veteran,
Speaker 2: and I can remember going to the store variety store
Speaker 2: Missus Mceilroy's in Walcott Square, and I think spending a
Speaker 2: quarter for a pack of cigarettes. Now a pack of
Speaker 2: cigarettes is like eight.
Speaker 5: Or nine bucks, right, yeah, really can king. I wouldn't
Speaker 5: know because I don't smoke either, but you're right, you know,
Speaker 5: individuals still continue to smoke with What that shows you
Speaker 5: is a the power of marketing from the tobacco industry,
Speaker 5: what they can do and be the power of nicotine,
Speaker 5: which is a really addictive drug, probably the most addictive
Speaker 5: drug in the world, right, and so nicotine is something
Speaker 5: that people cray and once they have tasted it, they
Speaker 5: keep wanting more and more and they're willing to do
Speaker 5: anything to get it. And smoking probably the number one thing.
Speaker 2: Probably upset a lot of listeners. But if you if
Speaker 2: you ever kiss someone who's a smoker, I mean, it's
Speaker 2: it doesn't add to the to the romance of the moment.
Speaker 2: We put it like that, kissing and kissing an astrak o.
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, And I look back at the old back
Speaker 2: in you know, in the forties and fifties, all the
Speaker 2: movie stars and the and the great athletes. You know,
Speaker 2: we're endorsing cigarette smoking. And I thought to myself, you know,
Speaker 2: we didn't know how bad it was back then. But
Speaker 2: since the Surgeon General's report, and now on top of that,
Speaker 2: we got this thing called vaping, which a lot of
Speaker 2: young kids are doing because I think they've been told
Speaker 2: or they've been led to believe that vaping is a
Speaker 2: safe alternative, and it's not.
Speaker 5: No, vaping is not a safe alternative. Fact when you
Speaker 5: actually look at the data and look at the literature,
Speaker 5: and children who actually vape and continue to vapor are
Speaker 5: actually more likely to smoke cigaret. But go a problem.
Speaker 5: And back in the United States, there's about two and
Speaker 5: a half million in cool dates and what the Lung
Speaker 5: Association and the ads they partner to create talk about
Speaker 5: vaping dot org, which is.
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, I'll tell you what, why don't you try
Speaker 2: to clean up his line there? Okay, whatever you could do,
Speaker 2: let me know, let me provide. We're talking with doctor
Speaker 2: Rutland of the American Lung Association, doctor Cedric Rutland. But
Speaker 2: we just lost that connection and sometimes when we line
Speaker 2: up people at night, they might be traveling, and sometimes
Speaker 2: you just never know whether whether or not we have
Speaker 2: lost the connection, lost the signal. H he's back now, Okay,
Speaker 2: doctor Rutland. I don't know if you're in a car
Speaker 2: or not, but I think we lost you there for
Speaker 2: a moment or so. Are you are you stationary?
Speaker 5: Oh? Did you know I'm here? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. I hope you're not walking around your house
Speaker 2: because I do that and there are these little points
Speaker 2: in your places in your house where will you drop
Speaker 2: it off? So? Okay, So here's the figures that I have.
Speaker 2: The percentage of kids in Massachusetts high schools. We have
Speaker 2: about I think it's close to seven hundred thousand, but
Speaker 2: only three and a half percent smoke regularly. That's not bad.
Speaker 2: I guess none of it is good, but it's not bad.
Speaker 2: But high school students who use e cigarettes one in six.
Speaker 5: That's extraordinary.
Speaker 2: That is extraordinary. And then male high school students who
Speaker 2: smoke cigars seven point two percent. Kids under eighteen who
Speaker 2: try cigarettes for the first time every year nine thousand.
Speaker 2: That's almost equivalent to the number of deaths that are
Speaker 2: attributable in Massachusetts. Adults in Massachusetts ten percent of our
Speaker 2: population still smoke ten point four percent, and proportion of
Speaker 2: cancer deaths and Massachusetts attributed to smoking twenty eight point
Speaker 2: one percent. Those are staggering statistics, and I assume that
Speaker 2: every state in the Union. I don't know where we rank.
Speaker 2: I'm a little afraid to ask where we rank in
Speaker 2: those statistics, but I don't think we're doing great in Massachusetts.
Speaker 6: No.
Speaker 5: You know, it's interesting. The average is ten percent of
Speaker 5: high school kids vaping, and Ye're at seventeen percent, So
Speaker 5: you are above average in that sense, which is really
Speaker 5: interesting considering the degree of education within that state. Right,
Speaker 5: that's one of the higher educated states in the country,
Speaker 5: one of the higher educated regions in the world, and
Speaker 5: to be that educated to have those statistics, it's pretty staggering.
Speaker 5: You are correct about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, is this Is there any area in the country
Speaker 2: that's doing better? Or is this just the power of
Speaker 2: nicotine and the power of tobacco marketing? It just insists.
Speaker 2: I thought a few years ago that the America tobacco companies,
Speaker 2: we're going to take their marketing prowess to other countries
Speaker 2: around the world. You know, horrible to think of from
Speaker 2: a moral point of view, But from a practical point
Speaker 2: of view, I'd rather have them marketing overseas than here.
Speaker 2: And that's probably not the politically correct thing to say,
Speaker 2: but I think you understand what I'm trying to say.
Speaker 2: I thought they were going to basically give up on
Speaker 2: marketing tobacco products in America because there have been so
Speaker 2: much publicity about it. But I guess there's still very
Speaker 2: much in the game here in the US.
Speaker 5: Yeah, there's still very much in the game. There are
Speaker 5: states who are doing better than Massachusetts. Right, So if
Speaker 5: you look at the state of California where I reside,
Speaker 5: five percent of the high school kids that are actually vaping,
Speaker 5: which again it's better than most states, but it's built
Speaker 5: too high. When I think about the path of physiology
Speaker 5: of vaping, which can induce a lot of inflammation in
Speaker 5: the body, and you can actually produce molecules that are
Speaker 5: carcinogens and can cause cancer when you look at it
Speaker 5: from a cell to cell standpoint. But when you think
Speaker 5: about the tobacco companies and marketing, you bring up an
Speaker 5: interesting point. You know, the tobacco companies are obviously marketing
Speaker 5: to children because they have all these different flavors that's one,
Speaker 5: and then number two is there actually is some evidence
Speaker 5: that shows that tobacco companies have purchased some food processing
Speaker 5: companies as well, So they're still around and they're still
Speaker 5: doing their thing, which I find quite interesting.
Speaker 2: Doctor Mardlinn. If folks want to see some of this information,
Speaker 2: where where can they go and where can they send
Speaker 2: their children and their grandchildren. What's the website?
Speaker 5: So the website is talkabout vaping dot org and on
Speaker 5: that website, parents can actually download a guide for having
Speaker 5: that conversation with your child. You're going to learn kind
Speaker 5: of strategy to be able to have that conversation. Obviously,
Speaker 5: our campaign is directed that kids who are ten to fourteen,
Speaker 5: and we want parents to understand that they are the
Speaker 5: best people to talk about vaping. I've got a nine
Speaker 5: year old and eleven year old. Obviously I'm a pomonologist,
Speaker 5: but they understand and the lung and how it works.
Speaker 5: But I talk to them and their friends about the
Speaker 5: consequences of vaping. So talk about vaping dot org is
Speaker 5: the website to get information on smoking and you can
Speaker 5: also get information on how to quit. You can go
Speaker 5: to lung dot org as well, and there's plenty of
Speaker 5: information on that website to talk about how to quit
Speaker 5: smoking and where you can go for help.
Speaker 2: And there's also a great breakdown. I don't want to
Speaker 2: overwhelm people, but this one that I'm looking at right now,
Speaker 2: which is Tobacco Free Kids all one more Tobacco Free
Speaker 2: Kids dot org. And you're listening anywhere outside of Massachusetts,
Speaker 2: there is a pull down. You can just pick whatever
Speaker 2: state you live in and see how young people are
Speaker 2: doing in your state in terms of their relationship they're
Speaker 2: sometimes terrifying relationship with tobacco. The toll of tobacco in
Speaker 2: each state broken down. Doctor Rutland, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: I really do appreciate your time. You're a great guest.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry we lost you there for a few seconds,
Speaker 2: but that's the Internet for you. Thank you, Thank you
Speaker 2: so much.
Speaker 5: Apologize sorry, Thank you so much for having me. We'll
Speaker 5: talk to you next time, you bet you.
Speaker 2: We'll talk again when we get back here. On nightside,
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about what is going on, what
Speaker 2: those little critters, those mosquitoes are doing. It is very
Speaker 2: dangerous out there right now, they are spraying. We're going
Speaker 2: to be talking with a very interesting guest, a doctor
Speaker 2: who is not only a veterinarian, but an epidemiologist as well.
Speaker 2: Her name is doctor Catherine Brown, and we will talk
Speaker 2: to her. She actually is in Plymouth tonight. I believe
Speaker 2: she'll join us from Plymouth where there is spraying underway.
Speaker 2: So we have lots to talk about. Next hour about
Speaker 2: Tripoli and also West now virus. Coming back on Nightside