Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray WBZ Constin's Radio.
Speaker 2: Well, first off, the little breaking news here. Let me
Speaker 2: announce publicly the winner of our Super Bowl challenge from
Speaker 2: Friday night. In the twentieth hour on Friday night, we
Speaker 2: asked our listeners to call in and predict the final
Speaker 2: of Sunday evening Super Bowl game. Obviously, the Philadelphia Eagles
Speaker 2: prevailed over the Kansas City Chiefs. So about half of
Speaker 2: our group on Friday night, and we had a lot
Speaker 2: of callers on Friday night during the eleven o'clock hour,
Speaker 2: about half picked the Eagles and the other half picked
Speaker 2: the Chiefs. I didn't break down the numbers. I'm almost
Speaker 2: looking at it right now and figuring out. Let me see,
Speaker 2: we had one, two, three, four, five, six seven, there
Speaker 2: were more Philadelphia. Philadelphia probably was actually more like two
Speaker 2: to one, not quite, but it was the majority picked Philadelphia.
Speaker 2: So we had a wide variety of scores, and the
Speaker 2: listener who came closest rob We probably should have had
Speaker 2: a drum roll with this. We didn't prep this very well.
Speaker 2: But the listener who came closest with a predicted prediction
Speaker 2: of thirty four to twenty four. The reason that this
Speaker 2: person was the closest. The final score was forty let's see,
Speaker 2: it was forty to twenty two, so he was off
Speaker 2: by six points. He predicted thirty four for the Eagles,
Speaker 2: so he was six points below that. But he was
Speaker 2: very close with the score for the Chiefs. They scored
Speaker 2: twenty two points, and so he was only two points
Speaker 2: off there, and that was the key to his success.
Speaker 2: He was off a total of eight points. There were
Speaker 2: several of us who were in the low double digits,
Speaker 2: including yours. Truly, I was just throwing a suggestion and
Speaker 2: I predicted the Eagles would win thirty five to twenty eight.
Speaker 2: So I was five points short on the Philadelphia score
Speaker 2: and I was six points over on the Kansas City score.
Speaker 2: So not that I was in the competition, but our winner.
Speaker 2: If we got a drum roll here or anything like that, Rob,
Speaker 2: if we don't we don't have a drum roll, okay,
Speaker 2: no problem. You know, we can't left the we can't
Speaker 2: let the band off on Monday nights. Rob, when we
Speaker 2: have these, you know, you've got to be able to queue.
Speaker 2: The drummer should have been here tonight. But that's okay.
Speaker 2: Is Sean from Beverly. So Sean nice rode applause though
Speaker 2: from the digital studio audience. So Sean, if you're listening now,
Speaker 2: or if anyone knows Sean from Beverly, you need to
Speaker 2: call in with your address and you of the winner
Speaker 2: of a fabulous night side Cobalt blue night side coffee
Speaker 2: mug courtesy of our friends at the at College Hype.
Speaker 2: Is that Sean on the phone with you already? Yeah,
Speaker 2: let's put him on. We'll give them congratulations on the air. Yeah, Sean, Sean, congratulations,
Speaker 2: you're the winner. You're the winner.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: You're thirty four to twenty four. You were just eight
Speaker 2: points off in total. I mean, you almost nailed it.
Speaker 4: Well, I'll tell you, Kenna City scut a couple of
Speaker 4: cheapies at the end. They to make it close. I
Speaker 4: had no idea that close. But yeah, that was all right?
Speaker 4: Is that right?
Speaker 2: Yeah? No, No, you were fine. I mean you had
Speaker 2: it thirty four, you had it as a ten point spread.
Speaker 2: Thank god Kansas City made it that close. Actually that
Speaker 2: that was really the key to key to your success.
Speaker 2: I'll have to ask you this question. Did you wager
Speaker 2: on the game at all?
Speaker 3: Or no?
Speaker 5: I did not.
Speaker 4: I did not know.
Speaker 5: I'm not gonna wager.
Speaker 2: Well, you leave your name and your address and all
Speaker 2: of that. I appreciate you calling in. Uh, this is great.
Speaker 2: You you got the the the night side mug coming
Speaker 2: your way. Will get it up to you certainly by
Speaker 2: the end of the week, and you're gonna enjoy it.
Speaker 2: It's really it's a nice coffee mug. You you're gonna
Speaker 2: you're gonna like it. And also include a phone number
Speaker 2: so we can get in touch with you if there's
Speaker 2: any any problems at all with the mug. You'll they
Speaker 2: wrap it up at College High. They put it in
Speaker 2: a good packing and it'll arrive at your door hopefully
Speaker 2: by week's end.
Speaker 4: Okay, I'll look forward to it. Thanks again, d I
Speaker 4: appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Well, keep calling the show. Go back and talk to
Speaker 2: Rob and make sure that Rob you got the name,
Speaker 2: address in phone number. That's all we need. Well, that's great,
Speaker 2: Sean was actually listening. I'm thrilled about that. I am
Speaker 2: absolutely thrilled that Sean would take the time not only
Speaker 2: to call in the other night, but also to follow up.
Speaker 2: He probably knew he had a shot at it. And Uh,
Speaker 2: for those of you who didn't win. That's okay. We'll
Speaker 2: have some other contests, I'm sure going forward. And again,
Speaker 2: congratulations to Sean from be Really Massachusetts our winner. He
Speaker 2: predicted thirty four to twenty four. If he had bet
Speaker 2: that game, he would have won some money. Philadelphia was
Speaker 2: an underdog, so he would have easily covered. He would
Speaker 2: have not only would have recovered, but he would have
Speaker 2: won the bet straight out as well. So congratulations. Okay,
Speaker 2: to a less happy note, we're going to talk about
Speaker 2: an announcement. Actually the Globe. Credit to the Globe broke
Speaker 2: this story to the best of my knowledge today and basically,
Speaker 2: we have seen a lot of activity in hospitals mergers
Speaker 2: and it is now it's no longer the mass General Hospital.
Speaker 2: It's MGB, which is Mass General combined with Brigham and Women,
Speaker 2: so it's Mass General Brigham. And they have decided that
Speaker 2: they need to take a lot of jobs away from people.
Speaker 2: They have between Mass General and Brigham eighty two thousand people.
Speaker 2: They're the biggest employers in the come walth of Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: They have an economic impact of fifty three billion dollars.
Speaker 2: Mass General Brigham employees about seventy five hundred physicians, three
Speaker 2: thousand advanced practice providers, which I assume mean physicians, assistance
Speaker 2: and the most important group the fifteen thousand nurses who
Speaker 2: care for millions of patients a year. They intend to
Speaker 2: I guess, trim the payroll, the financial finances in the
Speaker 2: payroll by two percent, two percent of eighty two thousand people.
Speaker 2: It's some one and forty positions, and it might be
Speaker 2: more than that, because I suspect that most of the
Speaker 2: cuts are going to be not necessarily at the top
Speaker 2: of that economic pyramid. They we have a statement from
Speaker 2: Mass General and Brigham. From there, I didn't see anyone
Speaker 2: from Mass Mass General uh and and and Brigham on
Speaker 2: television tonight. I saw some analysts, but we didn't see
Speaker 2: the head of the the this huge, this huge medical complex.
Speaker 2: And so what I want to do here, to be
Speaker 2: really honest with the chief executive is doctor Ian Klebanski.
Speaker 2: And she sent this email out to her employees, which
Speaker 2: was which was obtained by the Globe. Sure that once
Speaker 2: you send an email out to eighty two thousand employees,
Speaker 2: one of them are going to send a copy to
Speaker 2: the Globe. But I believe the Globe broke the story.
Speaker 2: So when we get back, I want to talk about this,
Speaker 2: and here's the context in which I'd like to talk
Speaker 2: about it. It was about ten years or so ago
Speaker 2: when Obamacare passed, and I think we were all lulled
Speaker 2: into this sense of security, that false security, that Obamacare
Speaker 2: was the greatest thing since slice bread. I don't think
Speaker 2: it's turned out to be the greatest thing since slice spread.
Speaker 2: We have a shortage of doctors, of personal care physicians.
Speaker 2: We have longer and longer waits at emergency rooms. I
Speaker 2: don't know how many of you have had to go
Speaker 2: to an emergency room in a well and in New
Speaker 2: England hospital, or in a hospital anywhere. I spoke with
Speaker 2: someone earlier today and I'm just not going to get
Speaker 2: into a lot of the specifics, but the individual had
Speaker 2: to take his son to an emergency room yesterday. And
Speaker 2: this was Sunday, the Sunday of Super Bowl, which is traditionally,
Speaker 2: and I know this from experience, one of the slowest
Speaker 2: days in emergency rooms in hospitals anywhere. And you know
Speaker 2: why because most people are already at home or they're
Speaker 2: planted in front of their television sets at three o'clock
Speaker 2: watching the Super Bowl pregame show. So on this one
Speaker 2: of the slowest days of the year. At this particular
Speaker 2: hospital which I'm not going to identify. This dad was
Speaker 2: told it would take seven hours, seven seven hours, think
Speaker 2: about that for his son to be seen in the
Speaker 2: emergency room by a physician. That is I think unacceptable.
Speaker 2: It's unacceptable in America. I'd like to get your reaction.
Speaker 2: Are you satisfied with the medical carrier you're getting these days?
Speaker 2: I suspect that mass general. I hope they don't cut
Speaker 2: one doctor. I hope they don't cut one patient some
Speaker 2: you know doctors, you know, assistant patient advocate. I hope
Speaker 2: they don't cut any nurses, they don't cut any physicians
Speaker 2: assistance let them cut. In within the administration, I think
Speaker 2: that all of these big institutions have become overly reliant
Speaker 2: upon administrators. And just as in government, by the way,
Speaker 2: the bigger something becomes, the more people who were there
Speaker 2: who were not providing the service. It's as simple as that.
Speaker 2: And it's ironic that at a time when President Trump
Speaker 2: is being his his efforts to reduce government is being
Speaker 2: stopped by federal judges across the country. There's even a
Speaker 2: federal judge in New Mexico which has decided to uh stop,
Speaker 2: restrain Trump from President Trump from sending some of these
Speaker 2: most violent criminals, criminal aliens to Guintanamo. What's wrong with us?
Speaker 2: What's wrong with us? I mean, who has Why would
Speaker 2: a federal judge come to that conclusion? I mean, we
Speaker 2: got some bad people. Put him in get Mo, we
Speaker 2: got the beds. What are you gonna do? Put them
Speaker 2: in local jails, put them in gim for a while
Speaker 2: to figure out what to do with them, simple as that, anyway,
Speaker 2: let them take a vacation at get Mo. That's not
Speaker 2: the subject. The subject is how you doing in terms
Speaker 2: of getting medical treatment? Forget the expense. We all know
Speaker 2: the expense is like over the top at this point,
Speaker 2: But how is it that Mass General Brigham, one of
Speaker 2: the most solvent medical institutions in America, has to cut
Speaker 2: two percent from its budget. We'll try to break it down.
Speaker 2: Numbers are not good on radio because it's difficult to conceptualize,
Speaker 2: but I can try to put it. They're going to
Speaker 2: lose I think a minimum of two thousand jobs, and
Speaker 2: it's going to be people who are providing some level
Speaker 2: of care. Maybe they'll be a nurse's aids. But will
Speaker 2: they be cutting in the administration. That's where the cut
Speaker 2: should come. It's as simple as that. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of paper pushers in any business. Okay, there's a lot
Speaker 2: of people who are not contributing. They are there, they've
Speaker 2: been there a long time. Let's I want to know
Speaker 2: how you How are you doing with your medical care
Speaker 2: at this point? You're happy with it? We're in America.
Speaker 2: Are you happy with your medical care? When you have
Speaker 2: to go to the emergency room, when you have to
Speaker 2: find a physician? Are you happy with it? I suspect
Speaker 2: that most Americans aren't, and I suspect it's about time
Speaker 2: for us to start to talk about it. And this
Speaker 2: is our launchpad tonight, Mass General Brigham and they send
Speaker 2: out I'm going to read to you a little bit
Speaker 2: from the statement from the head of Mass General. And
Speaker 2: it's written by lawyers, and it's written by speech writers,
Speaker 2: and it sounds great, But guess what, it doesn't say anything.
Speaker 2: It doesn't say anything other than, oh, we're going to
Speaker 2: do our best. Well, let me tell you they look
Speaker 2: at all the buildings that have gone up around Mass
Speaker 2: General itself in recent last couple of years. Anyone who
Speaker 2: who lives on Cambridge Street, lower Cambridge Street in downtown Boston.
Speaker 2: Downcoach store or drive. There's nothing but mass general buildings
Speaker 2: going up. Where's the money going? What are we doing?
Speaker 2: What are we doing? That is supposedly the best medical
Speaker 2: facility in the world, and it is, it is, but
Speaker 2: they they got to get rid of the fat. Back
Speaker 2: on night Side six one seven, the only line open
Speaker 2: right now, six seven, two four thirty. Let's light them
Speaker 2: up back after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: All right, we got full lines. Let's go and see
Speaker 2: what people think. They say. I was done today when
Speaker 2: this person who I was chatting with mentioned that I
Speaker 2: had to take a sun I mean, you know, it's
Speaker 2: as your own visit seven hours, seven hours. I mean,
Speaker 2: this is America, this is Boston. Seven hours. And by
Speaker 2: the way, any emergency doctor, I think will tell you
Speaker 2: that generally Super Bowl Sunday is one of the slowest
Speaker 2: days of the year because people are off the roads.
Speaker 2: I was on the road for a little bit. I
Speaker 2: really missed the halftime show. I had to watch it today,
Speaker 2: and I do say I had to watch it today
Speaker 2: because going to talk about it later on, but we
Speaker 2: drove from We watched the first half at my son's
Speaker 2: house with his family, and then drove home to watch
Speaker 2: the second half, and the roads were just nothing was
Speaker 2: going on. And seven hours in an emergency room in Boston,
Speaker 2: Great Boston, Larry down to the Cape. Hey, Larry, welcome
Speaker 2: first this hour nightside, Good.
Speaker 4: Evening, Dan. I'll tell you my nightmare story with the
Speaker 4: Brigham and Women's. As you know, I'm involved with the
Speaker 4: long COVID recovery.
Speaker 2: Group there, Yes, yes, sir, yes, And so this all.
Speaker 4: Started after the vaccine in twenty twenty one. Then I
Speaker 4: got long COVID. But you called the Brigham and Women's
Speaker 4: Recovery you have an intake, and then they send you
Speaker 4: to a specialist. So my problems are more neurological. It
Speaker 4: took me over a year to get the first appointment.
Speaker 4: Doctor saw me. I went over all my symptoms and
Speaker 4: they said, no, you have diabetes. I said, I'm telling
Speaker 4: you I don't have diabetes. Who wanted me to do
Speaker 4: a work up with my PCP, and she said call
Speaker 4: me and I'll get you back in. So I got
Speaker 4: an a point where the PCP had the whole work
Speaker 4: up came back negative, you don't have diabetes. I called
Speaker 4: the office. They said, I'm sorry, we're booked up. I said, wait,
Speaker 4: They told me to call back. That was the first author.
Speaker 4: It took me another year to get into a neurologist
Speaker 4: at the Brigham and Women's. So first one was at
Speaker 4: the mass General and at the Brigamo and Women took
Speaker 4: me another year and then threw his hands up in here.
Speaker 4: They don't know what to do anyway, but the nightm areas.
Speaker 4: I don't know if you saw the micro Bodette report
Speaker 4: last week about the Long COVID Center. No.
Speaker 2: I have a friend. I have a friend, a former
Speaker 2: professional tennis player who's one of the sharpest.
Speaker 4: People I know in the world.
Speaker 2: His name is Cliff Richie. Anybody who followed ten Us
Speaker 2: in the Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe era knows the name
Speaker 2: Cliff Ritchie. And Cliff is dealing with long COVID, and
Speaker 2: he and I have had some very long conversations.
Speaker 4: Larry, it is you understand tough. Yeah, you understand the
Speaker 4: difficult I.
Speaker 2: Have a pretty good idea how difficult it is, because
Speaker 2: my friend Cliff Richie was, besides being a great tennis player,
Speaker 2: great golfer. His I've done. I've had him on the
Speaker 2: show a couple of times actually with experts on this one.
Speaker 2: COVID's a very real thing, very really sure.
Speaker 4: Yeah no, And I remember you interviewed Julie Sullivan, the
Speaker 4: head of it, the administrator of our group. So anyway,
Speaker 4: during the report, and I didn't even realize this because
Speaker 4: I am involved. We do twice a month, we do
Speaker 4: what we have a support group that we do through zoom.
Speaker 4: He said. There is now over five thousand people registered
Speaker 4: in the Brigham and Women's one. It's the largest one
Speaker 4: in the country. So they start cutting administrative staff, and
Speaker 4: then the administration starts cutting research funding. They're never going
Speaker 4: to find a cus of this. It's a nightmare. It's
Speaker 4: an effort nightmare.
Speaker 2: Eric, thanks for putting that out on the table for
Speaker 2: conversation today, because all of these things have to be
Speaker 2: talked about. It's as simple as that. And when I
Speaker 2: when I read the press release today from you know,
Speaker 2: talk about putting a shine on a sneaker. The headline
Speaker 2: is maximizing our impact, they say, as a not for
Speaker 2: profit healthcare system and the largest private employer in Massachusetts,
Speaker 2: mass General Brigham contributes an overall economic impact to Massachusetts
Speaker 2: more than fifty three billion dollars, employing over eighty two
Speaker 2: thousand people, including roughly seventy five hundred physicians, three thousand
Speaker 2: advanced practice providers, and fifteen thousand nurses who care for
Speaker 2: millions of patients each year. You're having trouble getting cared for, uh,
Speaker 2: and they just go on a bold future. As we
Speaker 2: forge ahead, it is imperative that we accelerate our efforts
Speaker 2: to invest in and fulfill our mission. We must handle
Speaker 2: our financial health with the same precision and innovation that
Speaker 2: we apply to our patient care, research and education. Blah
Speaker 2: blah blah blah blah. Talk about a food salad, I
Speaker 2: mean a word salad. I mean that what it really means,
Speaker 2: you know, crazy, Larry, Thanks for getting that's going here.
Speaker 4: Anxious to hear what other.
Speaker 2: Callers and keep me posted. We'll do we can do
Speaker 2: something again on long COVID, trust.
Speaker 5: Me on that.
Speaker 4: Okay, thank you, I appreciate it, Dan, Thank you.
Speaker 2: Here comes the news at the bottom of the Earth.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Larry. Coming back on night Side right.
Speaker 1: After this, Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2: Thanks Nicole. We're talking about the the cutbacks and mass
Speaker 2: general brighams MGB layoffs are coming. Probably hundreds, could be
Speaker 2: a couple of thousand. Jack and Newton. Jack next on nightside.
Speaker 2: Ooh moo moo, hello, Hello, hello Jack.
Speaker 5: Yeah, just that's my voice.
Speaker 2: Sure it sounds like you're doing cow imitations. Moo moo moo.
Speaker 5: Go ahead, Jack my voice to make sure I speak well,
Speaker 5: you know, because I've been a little horse.
Speaker 2: Well that's okay, a little horse. Okay, I get the joke. Okay,
Speaker 2: what's up.
Speaker 5: Basically, I've had a very good experience. I don't know
Speaker 5: if it's unusual through a Medicaid. Medicare they take care
Speaker 5: of everything, but there are only two areas they don't
Speaker 5: take care of. It's dental and h and healing. So
Speaker 5: dental can run anywhere. Then I went to three or
Speaker 5: four different dentists, and they can charge for a thousand
Speaker 5: dollars to do a crown to three thousand dollars a crown,
Speaker 5: so people really need to check three or four different places.
Speaker 5: But still they don't cover that. So I've had good
Speaker 5: experiences with Medicare, and I also have good experiences with
Speaker 5: Saint Elizabeth Hospital and Doctor Chill for my prostate problems
Speaker 5: and also Milford medicals.
Speaker 2: That are okay, well, you're you're happy, camber Jack. Again,
Speaker 2: what we're trying to talk about today is that this
Speaker 2: this decision by Mass General Brigham to lay the largest
Speaker 2: layoff in its history amid ongoing reconstruction. Every time I
Speaker 2: drive by Mass General, I see more buildings going up
Speaker 2: into the skyline, and I those two pictures in my
Speaker 2: mind don't connect big layoffs of personnel. I hope I do.
Speaker 2: I hope that they are not laying off frontline medical people.
Speaker 2: And that's what my that's what my concern is. And again,
Speaker 2: I'm glad that you're having good luck with Medicare, and
Speaker 2: maybe some night we'll do a whole couple hours on Medicare.
Speaker 2: But this is this is not the experience a lot
Speaker 2: of other people have had.
Speaker 5: I don't know what the reason is. Maybe they hired
Speaker 5: too many people, Like so it's such a huge place.
Speaker 5: I got too big, and that could be part of
Speaker 5: the reason for the delayers because it is too big.
Speaker 5: Maybe people went too smaller. I'm concerned about the closing
Speaker 5: down of smaller hospitals, but I go all the way
Speaker 5: out from Newton, all the way out to Milford Medical
Speaker 5: Center and it's very nice. There's not long.
Speaker 2: That's good, but I'm gonna I'm going to thank you
Speaker 2: for your call, but I'm going to move on because
Speaker 2: we're I'm looking more at a micro conversation than a
Speaker 2: macro conversation, which is when when when the big one
Speaker 2: like mass General Brigham announces they're going to lay off
Speaker 2: hundreds of employees, that's kind of scary, that's kind of
Speaker 2: ski in terms of what's going on. And as they say,
Speaker 2: I talked to a dad today that had a was
Speaker 2: was told seven hours for his kid in an emergency
Speaker 2: room on what is probably one of the slowest days
Speaker 2: of the year. Doesn't compute. Doesn't compute. Thanks Jack, we'll
Speaker 2: talk so good night. Let me go to John Is
Speaker 2: in Hanover. John, you are next on nightside.
Speaker 4: Go right ahead, John, Hey, Dan goodenon.
Speaker 6: I was actually just discharged from Celshoe Hospital the other night,
Speaker 6: and you'd be surprised how many people were in there
Speaker 6: with the neuro virus and influenza A.
Speaker 4: I got hit with the SAM combo.
Speaker 6: And it's an on observation on that night specifically, I
Speaker 6: think it was Friday. The number of people brought in
Speaker 6: by a police for like psychiatric hold had that whole
Speaker 6: yah pact with people, but the care itself. I was
Speaker 6: on Pratt five and Pratt six.
Speaker 4: It was outstanding. I'm not as huge like five star.
Speaker 6: Review person, but I mean I was blown away. I
Speaker 6: really was nothing about horror stories about some hospitals. But
Speaker 6: I can't say enough good things about these people.
Speaker 2: What the okay? Again, as they say, my focus is
Speaker 2: on mass General Brigham. But since I gave Jack some
Speaker 2: some freedom, what what? What hospital do you want to
Speaker 2: give a positive review to? Which one are you talking about?
Speaker 4: Social Hospital in South Weymouth?
Speaker 2: Okay, South Show and South Weymouth. You went in with
Speaker 2: what that that cough and that upper respiratory thing and
Speaker 2: all of which I assume is what you're talking about.
Speaker 6: Well, the symptoms of the virus with the vomiting. I
Speaker 6: had a fundle plication when I was younger, which is
Speaker 6: an acid reflux surgery, and it prevents you from vomiting
Speaker 6: basically as a side effect, and I broke that because.
Speaker 2: Of it by heaving.
Speaker 6: So I went in like gray. They had to give
Speaker 6: me morphine and a bunch of other stuff.
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, you were you were in big trouble.
Speaker 2: What were you seen immediately?
Speaker 6: I hope, yeah, yeah, the care and the I was outstanding.
Speaker 6: They saw me on the floor, I came off the
Speaker 6: stretcher and they just win seconds. I mean, I can't
Speaker 6: say enough good things about these people.
Speaker 2: Fair enough. Well that's good. I'm glad. The problem is
Speaker 2: not everybody's receiving that sort of treatment. As they said.
Speaker 2: There was a absolutely yeah, I agree, was concerned with
Speaker 2: with a with a with a young boy, I think
Speaker 2: thirteen year old boy who had to go to the
Speaker 2: er and was told seven hours seven.
Speaker 6: I think the only way we can really help any
Speaker 6: situation like that is by finding a place to bring
Speaker 6: the psych transports, because the majority of the beds in
Speaker 6: this hallway was actually psychles and it's not.
Speaker 2: Really crazy, which is which is absolutely crazy.
Speaker 4: If the stave let people people up.
Speaker 6: That maybe that's one way that could actually kind of
Speaker 6: help these eis open up their availability.
Speaker 4: And it could be just the governor with a pen like, hey.
Speaker 6: Open up that hostel they just closed designated psych Let's
Speaker 6: take some of these people getting laid off, Let's.
Speaker 4: Staff them over here.
Speaker 6: Maybe that's some way forward. But I can't imagine what
Speaker 6: they're going through in Boston with the population density.
Speaker 4: But thanks for the time, Dan, you have a good night.
Speaker 2: Brother enjoyed the conversation. Thanks, John, appreciate it. The point
Speaker 2: I was trying to make was that we have basically
Speaker 2: turned people out of psych hospitals, which is tough, very tough.
Speaker 2: Let me go to Alyssa in Kingston. I also see
Speaker 2: Sandy in Boston as a nurse. That's great, Alyssa, you.
Speaker 4: Are too, You're welcome, Thank you.
Speaker 3: I'm a nurse too, so I'll go right here.
Speaker 7: Micro piece of it. Yes, So I've been in bedside
Speaker 7: nursing and administrative nursing for over thirty five years, and
Speaker 7: I want to touch on a couple of things. So
Speaker 7: the reimbursement rate from insurances has dramatically decreased, which is caused.
Speaker 7: I mean, I don't know what the problem is. I
Speaker 7: was involved in the whole Stuart read candle there but nightmare. However,
Speaker 7: I don't know if it's you know, they don't you know.
Speaker 7: I'm sure the reimbursement of a lot of things now
Speaker 7: have been really lowered. So in defense of the hospital,
Speaker 7: you know, they have to operate. They are a business. However,
Speaker 7: the other side is, you know, they're so used to
Speaker 7: bringing in so much money, some of these for not
Speaker 7: for profit or what have you, that you know, when
Speaker 7: they don't see that big money coming in, you know,
Speaker 7: they go bankrupt or they start cutting personnel. So I
Speaker 7: kind of feel like the insurance companies and the reimbursement
Speaker 7: and whoever's regulating the Medicaid in our South and all
Speaker 7: of that too has really put a crunch on how
Speaker 7: providers get reimbursed.
Speaker 2: Man, oh, I do the dirty little the dirty little
Speaker 2: secret of Obamacare ten years ago was that the biggest
Speaker 2: supporters of Obamacare were the insurance companies.
Speaker 7: Or middle class I mean not middle class, but we
Speaker 7: would be affected the most, so we didn't have a trouble.
Speaker 2: Really, what it says the insurance companies they felt that
Speaker 2: Obamacare was good as it was pushing patients to you know,
Speaker 2: customers to them, so they benefited dramatically from Obamacare. Now
Speaker 2: we have just think about what's been going on in
Speaker 2: this country the last ten years, with the influx of
Speaker 2: people coming into this country from who knows where, all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, they're going to hospitals, they don't have
Speaker 2: personal care physicians, to go to. They're using hospitals.
Speaker 7: Emergency room right exactly, and we're paying that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're paying.
Speaker 7: That, and there's just there's not enough. You know, they
Speaker 7: cut in corners because you know exactly that. But the
Speaker 7: reimbursement before, say of a gallbladder, you could stay in
Speaker 7: hospital for a week, and now a gallbladder is like
Speaker 7: two hours. So it really does have to look at
Speaker 7: the check and balances and try and maybe not having
Speaker 7: for profit or any profit kind of hospitals and have
Speaker 7: some beduling state maybe reimbursements who assist the system.
Speaker 2: Again, that sounds great. If the state had this little
Speaker 2: thing called the money tree, I would be all in
Speaker 2: favor of that. I just think that that the more
Speaker 2: money that you throw at a lot of our problems,
Speaker 2: then the prices. The prices go up. You know, when
Speaker 2: you talk about gallbladder seven days to two hours, you
Speaker 2: know as well as I do. Why is that? Because
Speaker 2: they want to get another patient in that bed who
Speaker 2: they can charge.
Speaker 7: You know, right, what the encurrent companies have come down
Speaker 7: to say, you know, now we're only going to give
Speaker 7: you twenty five hundred versus ten grand. However, you know
Speaker 7: it's not even that the patients don't come and go.
Speaker 7: You have to see who the payers are, so whether
Speaker 7: they really reimburse well or not. I mean, one of
Speaker 7: the things, I know, throw money at it. That healthcare
Speaker 7: is very important, especially in Massachusetts, where we can be
Speaker 7: so proudly to say that we have the best health care,
Speaker 7: one of the best health cares in the world, and
Speaker 7: all the great hospitals we have around us.
Speaker 2: It's great, great, it's great to say that, okay, and
Speaker 2: I believe that. However, when the then the flagship you know,
Speaker 2: mass General brigand announces that they're going to lay off
Speaker 2: hundreds of employees, I'm not so sure that's that's a
Speaker 2: harborder of good things to come, That's all I'm trying
Speaker 2: to say.
Speaker 7: No, however, I think, like you know, it's a business too, right,
Speaker 7: So are they trying to mind me a pockets for
Speaker 7: the bigger half of the chop or are they just
Speaker 7: trying to survive? You know? And just lastly to your
Speaker 7: point Dance you said about throwing money, I mean, one
Speaker 7: of those things we all pay for is this mass
Speaker 7: medical leave. And I mean I'd rather have healthcare for all,
Speaker 7: you know, in better line in the emergency rooms, and
Speaker 7: all those things, and you know, because it's it's the
Speaker 7: field that you want people to want.
Speaker 4: To go into.
Speaker 7: And if you're that overwhelmed and overworked, whether you're a
Speaker 7: doctor or a nurse or you know, a NARS assistant,
Speaker 7: you know it really needs to run more soothingly. I
Speaker 7: think without I think it would.
Speaker 2: All be a favorite. Let me ask you, how would
Speaker 2: you feel if you brought your son or daughter to
Speaker 2: an emergency room at a Massachusetts hospital on.
Speaker 4: Supervisor then there and they're.
Speaker 2: Told it's going to be seven hours.
Speaker 7: No, I know, I've been there, but I've also been
Speaker 7: on the other end where you have really sick people
Speaker 7: that can't move. There's no beds, there's no floors, there's
Speaker 7: no nurses, there's no doctors, and they end up, you know, needing.
Speaker 2: So yeah, listen, you're telling me no floors, no beds,
Speaker 2: no nurses, no doctors, and we are the best hospital
Speaker 2: with the best medical providers in the world.
Speaker 7: Those two well, I'm sayings right, I'm saying it's the
Speaker 7: reality of the healthcare system today. In order to get
Speaker 7: patients into the bed, you need to get them out right.
Speaker 7: And now, if you have people without insurance, so without
Speaker 7: with all these barriers to discharging, you can't get them out.
Speaker 7: So there's like a long stream of you know, trying
Speaker 7: to rebuke this, you know, reboot the whole system, I think,
Speaker 7: because no, it's not right.
Speaker 4: However, the one I thought Obamacare was going to read.
Speaker 2: I thought that Obamacare was was the solution.
Speaker 7: Did you like Obama? What do you like Obamacare?
Speaker 4: No? No, I didn't like it with that thinking.
Speaker 2: Okay, right, all right, Alyssa got to run. I'm way
Speaker 2: past my break. Thank you for the call back on
Speaker 2: night Side. Right after this quick break.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: nights Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: We have another nurse without Sandy and Boston. Sandy. She's
Speaker 2: a nurse at MGH. Welcome and welcome Sandy.
Speaker 3: Oh hi, love the show.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you, I'm on your side. Tell me what's
Speaker 2: going on at MGH. You guys in trouble over there.
Speaker 3: Well, it was surprising today because a specialty branch off
Speaker 3: of the Mass General and we're not unionized, but the
Speaker 3: Brigham is unionized. So I was trying to keep up.
Speaker 3: But the thing is, they did let forty people go
Speaker 3: today and they said it was just managed. Yeah, they
Speaker 3: said it was just management. But they did get rid
Speaker 3: of one of my colleagues who was a great manager.
Speaker 3: She had all kinds of degrees, she was hands on
Speaker 3: and code situation and she made a pediatric unit, buffed
Speaker 3: it all up beautiful. And they let her go today.
Speaker 3: And there's other managers that aren't as qualified as her,
Speaker 3: and they're the air. But you know, it's kind of
Speaker 3: like maybe who you know, I'm not sure, but it
Speaker 3: was very disappointed to have someone that was very a
Speaker 3: manager but very hands on that they let go today.
Speaker 2: And how long how long had this individual worked at
Speaker 2: Mass General?
Speaker 3: Well, we're in General for a long time. But transfer
Speaker 3: jobs to higher position.
Speaker 2: The people who were let go today, you said that,
Speaker 2: you said there were forty people let go today. Boy,
Speaker 2: that's pretty abrupt. Meaning the press release or the news
Speaker 2: release was written today. What sort of salaries did they
Speaker 2: did they take out? These were not I assume highly
Speaker 2: compensated employees.
Speaker 3: Well, I don't know what the managers make that the
Speaker 3: paid nurse is like one hundred of dollar yeah, and
Speaker 3: then and then the it's what they did, like call
Speaker 3: pay would be they made call pay instead of four hours,
Speaker 3: they they gave us the pay raise, which we were
Speaker 3: behind anyways from the Brigham and then with the call pay,
Speaker 3: they now it's two hours instead of four hours of pay.
Speaker 2: Do you think do you think that they will actually
Speaker 2: lay off you know, people in the upper management, the
Speaker 2: administrators who uh is probably it's probably heavy uh in
Speaker 2: the top in the top management. I hope that it's
Speaker 2: not nurses and doctors, uh and providers who are impacted. Uh.
Speaker 3: Wells as far as we know, they need the nurses
Speaker 3: and it's well staffed, and there's a lot of great things,
Speaker 3: great doctors, great people. Everybody's you know, works well together.
Speaker 3: But I think it came oh in the new buildings
Speaker 3: that that they that they're making it putting a lot
Speaker 3: of money into. Like we said, wow, come, where's the
Speaker 3: money's going there? Well, supposedly there, that's for the Supposedly
Speaker 3: that building is going to bring in future more money
Speaker 3: for them. That's why the you know, the money is
Speaker 3: going towards that, and they're trying to maybe cut back
Speaker 3: on other positions as far as I could understand, but
Speaker 3: I could be off.
Speaker 2: You know, this is just well, it just seems to
Speaker 2: me that it's it seems to me that I get
Speaker 2: the expansion, but the expansion has been incredible. There very
Speaker 2: last question standing in a quick answer, what is the emotion?
Speaker 3: Something to say, what is.
Speaker 2: The feeling like amongst the staff, knowing that already forty
Speaker 2: people have been laid off?
Speaker 4: Is it?
Speaker 2: Is it apprehension? Is it concern or what is how
Speaker 2: would you describe there?
Speaker 3: A little concern that maybe there should be a union
Speaker 3: and there to protect people. And then the other thing
Speaker 3: is is it just became very woke and there was
Speaker 3: there's been there was not recently, but on the summer
Speaker 3: there were buses of illegal that emergency room and tied
Speaker 3: up that emergency room.
Speaker 2: Well, all all factors that have contributed to this. Sandy,
Speaker 2: thank you so much for the call. Please keep us
Speaker 2: posted on this, okay, and periodically check in because I'm
Speaker 2: very concerned about what's happening at mass General Briger.
Speaker 3: Yes, but everybody is well taken. Everybody's well taking care
Speaker 3: of that.
Speaker 2: Okay, I think we lost her that all right? Thank you, Sandy, appreciated.
Speaker 2: Here comes to ten o'clock news, will be back. I'd
Speaker 2: like to stick with this for at least a little while.
Speaker 2: If you're on the line, stay there, we'll get you
Speaker 2: up right after the news.