Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Thanks very much to call over a kind introduction tonight.
Speaker 2: Thank you. My name is Dan Ray. We have lots
Speaker 2: of guys. We got both Rob Indian back in the
Speaker 2: studio tonight, so they're double teaming with two control room producers,
Speaker 2: which is always very nice. We have some good guests
Speaker 2: coming up in the first hour. No phone calls in
Speaker 2: the first hour. So as I say, my name is
Speaker 2: Dan Ray and this is Nightside. You're listening if you
Speaker 2: happen to be listening on a car somewhere anywhere east
Speaker 2: of the Mississippi River and you're picking us up on
Speaker 2: our ten to thirty am signal, this is WBZ in Boston.
Speaker 2: Then we're every weeknight from eight until midnight. Coming up tonight,
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about a very interesting number statistic
Speaker 2: that has been released by the Colwalth of Massachusetts without
Speaker 2: the number of EBT cards that are in our state.
Speaker 2: Two point six million EBT cards in a state that
Speaker 2: is a population of a little less than seven million.
Speaker 2: That's a pretty big number. But we'll talk about that.
Speaker 2: I think we'll also talk about the life and times
Speaker 2: of Louis Tiant a little bit later on tonight, the
Speaker 2: great Red Sox pitcher who was born in Cuba but
Speaker 2: made Boston his home after us spending some time with
Speaker 2: several Major League teams. We'll do a little tribute to
Speaker 2: Louis Ti on tonight, and who knows what else we
Speaker 2: will get into a little bit later on. I will
Speaker 2: tell you that we do intend to give away later
Speaker 2: tonight two two sets of tickets to see the Tina
Speaker 2: Turner musical that is happening next week on October eighteenth
Speaker 2: at eight o'clock. Let's see, today is the nine. So yeah,
Speaker 2: it's going to be next week out at the Henover
Speaker 2: Theater in Worcester. So if you're interested, stay with us.
Speaker 2: We will give away two sets of tickets, four tickets
Speaker 2: in all, one set of two, another set of two.
Speaker 2: Pretty easy to remember. This is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month,
Speaker 2: as they think all of you know. We're going to
Speaker 2: also be giving away some nightside pink t shirts courtesy
Speaker 2: of our friends at College Hype to emphasize the importance
Speaker 2: of this month and with us to specifically talk about this.
Speaker 2: From the Dana Cancer Fober Institute is doctor Harold Burstein.
Speaker 2: Doctor Burstein welcome to nightside. How are you.
Speaker 3: I'm good, I'm glad to be with you tonight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've seen these trends and we've talked about them before. Women,
Speaker 2: more young women are getting breast cancer earlier in their lives.
Speaker 2: Is there any I know it's early, but what's going
Speaker 2: on with that trend? If it is indeed a trend?
Speaker 3: Well, for several years now, there has been a slow
Speaker 3: increase in the diagnosis of breast cancer amongst both younger
Speaker 3: women and amongst postmenopausal or older women. The usual age
Speaker 3: cut point there is around fifty, so the rate of
Speaker 3: breast cancer in younger women less than age fifty has
Speaker 3: gone up by about one percent a year over the
Speaker 3: past few years. The rate of breast cancer diagnosis in
Speaker 3: older women has also gone up by about zero point
Speaker 3: seven percent per year now, because there are way more
Speaker 3: cases of breast cancer in postmenopausal women than there are
Speaker 3: in younger women. Actually, the number of women who were
Speaker 3: postmenopausal getting diagnosed with breast cancer in absolute terms has
Speaker 3: gone up quite substantially higher compared to the number of
Speaker 3: younger women. But both groups are showing this small, steady rise.
Speaker 2: So look, most of us, I think have eliminated things
Speaker 2: like cigarettes. Never was a smoker, but very few I
Speaker 2: think younger people are smoking. I guess they were doing
Speaker 2: some vaping for a while. Is this because of foods
Speaker 2: that were eating. Is it something to do with chemicals
Speaker 2: that were being exposed to just in our day to
Speaker 2: day or I guess there's an increase, but it probably
Speaker 2: is not significant enough to trace it to one specific cause.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm sensing. I'm gonna you're gonna tell me.
Speaker 3: I think you're on track there. So breast cancer is
Speaker 3: not a disease linked to smoking particularly, but there are
Speaker 3: other environmental and lifestyle factors that probably do increase the
Speaker 3: risk at the population level. So one of them is
Speaker 3: just much better nutrition. So people are able to eat
Speaker 3: more than they were in generations past. They are often
Speaker 3: heavier or more likely to be obese than they were
Speaker 3: in years past, and those are risk factors for developing
Speaker 3: breast cancer. And the American Cancer Society believes that at
Speaker 3: the core of all of this, this kind of weight
Speaker 3: change and some other lifestyle factors are the contributing cause
Speaker 3: for the slow rise in the diagnosis of breast cancer.
Speaker 2: Also on that list, go ahead.
Speaker 3: Related to that related to that. So young girls are
Speaker 3: starting to menstruate at earlier ages than they did in
Speaker 3: the past, and they are having fewer pregnancies than in
Speaker 3: years past, they are having those pregnancies later in life
Speaker 3: again on average, and they're nursing their children for shorter
Speaker 3: durations of time on average. All of those are well
Speaker 3: known population risk factors for developing breast cancer, and so
Speaker 3: that sort of describes a lot of what's happening, you know,
Speaker 3: in the United States right now, and the American Cancer
Speaker 3: Society thinks that's those kinds of reproductive factors, nutrition factors
Speaker 3: are driving the slow increase that.
Speaker 2: Would be under sort of a behavioral umbrella. I realized
Speaker 2: that that smoking causes lung cancer primarily, but I also
Speaker 2: thought that introducing guitar and nicotine and those carcinogens into
Speaker 2: your body had an impact on other levels of cancer
Speaker 2: as well. It sounds to me like it's much more
Speaker 2: behavioral at this point. Are the rates of breast cancer
Speaker 2: amongst women rising at a similar level in other countries,
Speaker 2: either countries in the West or countries around the world.
Speaker 2: Are their studies that have even looked at that question yet.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a really great question, and so actually, rates
Speaker 3: of breast cancer worldwide are going up, particularly in areas
Speaker 3: that have historically been economically quite disadvantaged. So areas of
Speaker 3: Southeast Asia and Sub Saharan Africa are seen substantial rises
Speaker 3: in the rates of breast cancer, probably for very similar
Speaker 3: reasons that we just outlined in the United States, which is,
Speaker 3: people are better nourished, they are having longer periods of
Speaker 3: menstrual cycles, they are having fewer pregnancies. Women are having
Speaker 3: fewer pregnancies as they have had economic gains in those
Speaker 3: parts of the world, and they are less likely to
Speaker 3: be nursing their children than in years past. And again,
Speaker 3: all of those are well known factors that relate to
Speaker 3: the population risk of breast cancer.
Speaker 2: Okay, let's not leave the subject, and I appreciate your time,
Speaker 2: But have not the ages when women should start to
Speaker 2: get mammograms as recommended by you an I age and
Speaker 2: CDC and all of the alphabet soup agencies. Have not
Speaker 2: those ages or recommended ages been lowered recently? Could that
Speaker 2: contribute to it? Or I mean, obviously i'd hope that
Speaker 2: would prevent it in the long run, But is that
Speaker 2: something that is concerning or is it something that's that's
Speaker 2: actual good news that cancers are getting detected earlier. I'm
Speaker 2: trying to look at a positive here in this dark cloud.
Speaker 3: Well, let me give you two really important positive. So
Speaker 3: the first is you're correct. We are encouraging women now
Speaker 3: beginning at age forty to get screening mammograms, and the
Speaker 3: US Preventive Health Services Task Force this past year joined
Speaker 3: many other organizations that had already lowered the age for
Speaker 3: starting mammography to around age forty, So most women should
Speaker 3: begin getting screening mammograms at around age forty and typically
Speaker 3: continue until age seventy or later. So a little bit
Speaker 3: of this is greater detection in women ages forty to
Speaker 3: fifty who might not have had early detection before. But
Speaker 3: the other really important piece of news is that while
Speaker 3: the rate of diagnosis has been going up for breast cancer,
Speaker 3: the actual mortality rate, the death rate from breast cancer
Speaker 3: continues a steady thirty year decline, and that is because
Speaker 3: of much more widespread utilization of mammograms. So there's early
Speaker 3: detection and much improved treatment for breast cancer in the
Speaker 3: way of endocrine therapies, targeted drugs, immunotherapy, traditional chemotherapy, so
Speaker 3: there's more breast cancer being diagnosed, but there actually are
Speaker 3: fewer deaths from breast cancer, and that's because of early
Speaker 3: detection and better treatment.
Speaker 2: It's always great to end on a positive note, doctor Bursty,
Speaker 2: thank you very very much for all the information to
Speaker 2: provide it with us in this breast cancer Awareness month.
Speaker 2: And I hope many folks will listen to this interview
Speaker 2: and they if they missed it, they can listen to
Speaker 2: it on Nightside on demand as early as sometime tomorrow morning.
Speaker 2: So if you have a loved one who happens to
Speaker 2: be in any of those age categories, make sure she
Speaker 2: listens to it. And I guess men should be checking
Speaker 2: for this as well, not doing mammograms per se, but
Speaker 2: certainly be being aware of their own bodies and reactions.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, doctor Burstay, thank.
Speaker 3: You, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4: Good night.
Speaker 2: You're welcome. Okay, when we get back, a sad note,
Speaker 2: but a great career and a great guy, Louis Tillan.
Speaker 2: We'll remember Louis Tillan right 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: Want to welcome back Alberto Vassallo, President, and CEO of
Speaker 2: Telemundo in Boston, and we want to talk just for
Speaker 2: a little bit here about a great baseball player, and
Speaker 2: I think a greater human being, Louis Tiant. Eldionte. I
Speaker 2: had a chance to get to know Louis pretty well
Speaker 2: after his career. I know Alberto knew him as well. Alberto,
Speaker 2: I don't think we're ever going to see the likes
Speaker 2: of a Louis Tiant in this town again.
Speaker 4: Agree or disagree, Oh, agree on so many different levels
Speaker 4: just on the ball field, but austin field too. And
Speaker 4: I think oftentimes those across the country don't realize, you know,
Speaker 4: what an important role Louis played in kind of the
Speaker 4: history of Boston when he came here in seventy one
Speaker 4: and seventy two. So he was he was a mighty
Speaker 4: tall figure off on and off the field.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he really fell in love with the community, with Boston,
Speaker 2: and Boston fell in love with him at a time
Speaker 2: when you know, interracial relations in Boston were really at
Speaker 2: a very low point. But I think everybody loved Louis tillant.
Speaker 2: The fact that it was a Red Sox helped that.
Speaker 2: But he he was just someone who was always willing
Speaker 2: to meet people, talk to people, spend time with people.
Speaker 2: Very different from a lot of ballplayers who want to
Speaker 2: go to the ballpark, go home and and kind of
Speaker 2: stay away from people. Louis was just the opposite. He
Speaker 2: was he was excited, I think by the fans as
Speaker 2: much as they as much as they were excited by
Speaker 2: his on field performances.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, you know, I've known Louise my whole life. He
Speaker 4: was the reason why I got involved with the Red Sox.
Speaker 4: My father knew him from Cuba, so when al Mundo
Speaker 4: started in seventy two, Louis had just been here one year,
Speaker 4: and he taught me a lot of life's valuable lessons
Speaker 4: over the years. He was a great father, faithful husband,
Speaker 4: but also a teacher in a very subtle way. He
Speaker 4: was a stickler for doing things like he called it
Speaker 4: the right way. So I admire Louie. I said, I
Speaker 4: was proud that I was probably being Cuban American because
Speaker 4: of Louis the ballplayer, but I was prouder to be
Speaker 4: Cuban American because of Louis the person. If you ever
Speaker 4: get a chance, and you would have that chance, Dan
Speaker 4: at some point to touch to accountant fisk A, Yeah,
Speaker 4: Jim Rice, any of his teammates. I mean, they love
Speaker 4: Louis so much because for exact those reasons you just
Speaker 4: talked about, he got along with everybody. And I can
Speaker 4: assure Red Sox Nation that as much as Red Sox
Speaker 4: Nation loved Louis, Louis loved Boston. He said it was
Speaker 4: his second He wouldn't say second his second country.
Speaker 5: I would always say, we're a city where you say no, no,
Speaker 5: Boston is my second country.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean there are so many stories. I remember
Speaker 2: I would see Louis often at breakfast as a breakfast
Speaker 2: place in Milton that he and I both went to Newcomb's,
Speaker 2: which is I forget the major road, but it's a
Speaker 2: major road right off of one twenty eight. And you'd
Speaker 2: walk in there and he would be with Maria. Uh,
Speaker 2: and she was the most beautiful woman in the place.
Speaker 2: I mean, she's just there was something about Maria that
Speaker 2: at the you know, I don't care if she was
Speaker 2: in her sixties, seventies or whatever, stunning. And Louis would
Speaker 2: be there and uh, you know, Louis would Louis would
Speaker 2: try to pick up your tab and I mean, no,
Speaker 2: Loly is my turn and then he would let you
Speaker 2: pay for his breakfast. Most generous guy. And uh, just
Speaker 2: in the community and available. And of course baseball, you know,
Speaker 2: took him to other cities. He was in Cleveland first,
Speaker 2: and then he spent a year in Minnesota, and then
Speaker 2: he went to the to the Evil Empire for a
Speaker 2: little while and finished up in Pittsburgh and uh in California,
Speaker 2: and then he did some coaching, and he moved around
Speaker 2: and all of that, and he was a baseball lifer,
Speaker 2: as they say, but you always came back to Boston.
Speaker 2: I got to know Louis a little bit through his biographer,
Speaker 2: Joe Fitzgerald. He used to write was a sports guy
Speaker 2: in Boston. And I'm sure Joe has interviewed you. Joe
Speaker 2: fitz as we called them, loved Louis, loved Louis, and
Speaker 2: he would tell and Joe off sadly has passed on,
Speaker 2: but he would tell. He could tell Louis stories for hours.
Speaker 2: And he did it in books too, By the way,
Speaker 2: there was some great books that that he wrote. It included,
Speaker 2: you know, a biography of Louis. And I just you know,
Speaker 2: when when I read that story yesterday, I had no
Speaker 2: idea he was sick. You know, I wasn't his closest
Speaker 2: friend or anything, nor know what I expect to. But
Speaker 2: I mean when I saw that that news flash yesterday
Speaker 2: your hearts.
Speaker 5: You're saying, it was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I really did. Yeah,
Speaker 5: that was the feeling. Yeah, you're You're exactly right. I
Speaker 5: didn't expect it to happen, so suddenly I knew he
Speaker 5: was sick. He was at the ballpark the last weekend
Speaker 5: of the season. I was trying to get my father
Speaker 5: and him to seach other. I follow him at exactly
Speaker 5: the same eighty three. Like I said, they came over
Speaker 5: from Cube, my father and Louis. I think I told
Speaker 5: you this once. They made a pact here in Boston
Speaker 5: never to go back to Cuba until you know, Castro
Speaker 5: was dead and there was no communism when Cute.
Speaker 4: When when Louis went back with the family brothers to
Speaker 4: do that documentary, he called me, he said, I'm going
Speaker 4: to Cute.
Speaker 5: Don't tell your father, don't kill your father. I'm going
Speaker 5: to Cuba.
Speaker 4: But then in the premiere he called my dad and
Speaker 4: they sat next to each other and they both cried.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know it was it was for me
Speaker 4: to see my father and Louis crying was very powerful.
Speaker 2: Well for him to escape as a young man and
Speaker 2: end up pitching. I believe he was pitching in Mexico
Speaker 2: City and trying to earn a memory and send money home.
Speaker 2: And then obviously his talent was seen by Major League scouts.
Speaker 2: And the next thing, at a very young age, at
Speaker 2: twenty four, he's pitching for the Cleveland Indians, and he's
Speaker 2: having great seasons with them and winning twenty games, and
Speaker 2: then all of a sudden, he's got the one down
Speaker 2: year with Minnesota and the Red Sox, and he kind
Speaker 2: of readjusted or whatever, developed a couple of new pitches,
Speaker 2: and next thing, he's in the World Series with the
Speaker 2: Red Sox in seventy five and the city falls in
Speaker 2: love with him. He had such a spirit. I mean,
Speaker 2: he never lost the spirit of a young man. Even
Speaker 2: as I aged gracefully. He was a young He's always
Speaker 2: young at heart.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And you know, one of the issues that is
Speaker 4: going to come up Ineverabek is why isn't he in
Speaker 4: the Hall of Fame? If you look at his numbers,
Speaker 4: if you talk to people like Peter Gammons, who calls
Speaker 4: him the absolute best player. Not in the Hall of Fame,
Speaker 4: but you look at his numbers. I mean, if you
Speaker 4: know baseball, one point six to earn one average, he
Speaker 4: led the league several years in the era. He gave
Speaker 4: us eight dominant years in baseball. And I would venture
Speaker 4: to say I was tuck into a texting back with
Speaker 4: ex Governor Charlie Baker who said in Alberto, I'm a
Speaker 4: little bit older than you, but when I was growing up,
Speaker 4: if there was a clutch game to be won, I
Speaker 4: didn't want anybody on the mound. But Louis Tian he
Speaker 4: was clutched. And then I started looking at his wreck.
Speaker 5: You know, I never lost a playoff game.
Speaker 4: And again we're talking about complete games. One hundred and
Speaker 4: forty seven complete games in his career, and in the
Speaker 4: World Series, I think it was Game one on one
Speaker 4: hundred and sixty pitches, and he pitched three games in
Speaker 4: the World Series. Three games his.
Speaker 2: Lifetime walks, hits, innings pitched is an extraordinary number that
Speaker 2: alone should put him in the Hall of Fame, you know,
Speaker 2: having pitched nearly thirty five hundred innings, five hundred and
Speaker 2: seventy games, and his whip, which is now a statistic
Speaker 2: that they didn't used to keep, but now it is
Speaker 2: probably the most important pitch statistic for a pitcher, even
Speaker 2: more important than e RA one point two zero. No
Speaker 2: one else comes even close to that.
Speaker 4: Okay, So here's the thing, right, and his family is
Speaker 4: probably not going to talk about that now, But I'll
Speaker 4: tell you something that he told me several times in
Speaker 4: front of Danny dani is his younger son, and then
Speaker 4: several times with me when when the whole issue of
Speaker 4: the of the of the Hall of Fame would come up,
Speaker 4: and he said, Alberto, you know, if they put me
Speaker 4: in the Hall of Fame after I'm dead, I don't
Speaker 4: want you going to the ceremony. I don't want my
Speaker 4: family showing up, because what am I going to do
Speaker 4: after dead? That makes you more more qualified? What am
Speaker 4: I going to go back and pitch ten more innings
Speaker 4: or ten more games. It's gonna put me over the line.
Speaker 4: If they're gonna honor me, do it while I'm alive,
Speaker 4: not while I'm dead.
Speaker 2: So I mean, there's a lot of pictures in there
Speaker 2: whose numbers are all virtually identical. You can read them
Speaker 2: in the Boston Globe this morning, and I think Seanisy's
Speaker 2: called him, Alberto. We should still get him in the
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame. He belongs there. I know he's he's
Speaker 2: playing baseball right now in heaven with Babe Ruth and
Speaker 2: lou Gerriic and and and and other other great Willie
Speaker 2: WILLI will he's probably walking around introducing me and everybody,
Speaker 2: because will he just went up there himself a few
Speaker 2: a few weeks ago.
Speaker 4: And you know, he's recreating right now the iconic nineteen
Speaker 4: seventy five World Series confrontation with Pete Rose because they
Speaker 4: both died, you know, just the way very Louis and
Speaker 4: Pete Rose up there recreating the seventy five World Series.
Speaker 2: That's not a bad place to be right now, that's
Speaker 2: for sure. Alberto, I believe that. You believe that. Whether
Speaker 2: others believe it or not, that's their their choice. But
Speaker 2: it's a very company thought. Thank you, my friend, Alberto Maassalo,
Speaker 2: the president and CEO of Telemundo Boston.
Speaker 4: And Tellamundo people get mad.
Speaker 5: El Mundo is elmund.
Speaker 2: I'm all right, okay, I'm sorry.
Speaker 6: I know we love each other, both we get along.
Speaker 4: It's not it's not competitive, but al.
Speaker 2: Elmund okay, what a difference a letter makes. Thanks Thanks Alberto.
Speaker 4: All right, take care of the very well.
Speaker 2: Okay, well, okay. When we get back, we are going
Speaker 2: to get the latest on Hurricane Milton, which looks like
Speaker 2: a nasty storm down in Florida. They are peeping in
Speaker 2: Florida right now. Who say a prayer for them. We'll
Speaker 2: be back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Ray on Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2: Delighted to be joined by Matthew Belk. He is a
Speaker 2: meteorologist from the National Weather Service. I think you guys
Speaker 2: who have the National Weather Service in our neck of
Speaker 2: the woods down in Norton, Massachusetts. Is that correct?
Speaker 6: My friend Matthew let us correct Dan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so welcome to Night's Side. I don't think you've
Speaker 2: ever been with us before, but we got a big
Speaker 2: story to talk about tonight. Hurricane Milton. Not named after Milton, Massachusetts,
Speaker 2: but it's Hurricane Milton. It's ripping it up tonight in Florida.
Speaker 2: How bad are the conditions down there in Florida? This
Speaker 2: thing has now made landfall. Correct.
Speaker 6: As of a thirty PM, the National Hurricane Center is
Speaker 6: indicated that Milton did make landfall as a category three
Speaker 6: hurricane near Csta Keith, Florida. As far as what's specifically
Speaker 6: going on right down there in Tampa Bay right now,
Speaker 6: it's just probably a lot of strong wind and some
Speaker 6: very heavy rainfall. Earlier today, there were numerous widespread tornadoes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I read that. I saw that. I think they
Speaker 2: said something like twenty tornadoes and some of them were
Speaker 2: These weren't like waterspout tornadoes waterspouts. These were full blown
Speaker 2: tornadoes like you'd see at Kansas in Kansas in August,
Speaker 2: are Kansas in September? Is that abnormal for a hurricane
Speaker 2: to spin off tornadoes or is that expected?
Speaker 6: It's actually expected in the northeast quadrant, And in some
Speaker 6: cases the tornadoes don't even have to be right near
Speaker 6: the circulation of the hurricane. It could actually be several
Speaker 6: states away.
Speaker 2: So is what is likely to happen tonight? Take us
Speaker 2: to the next twenty four hours. If this has made landfall,
Speaker 2: it's going to go straight across Florida for more of
Speaker 2: the projections I saw, so it's not going from Key
Speaker 2: West up to Georgia. It's cutting across the state. It's
Speaker 2: going to do a lot of damage. I get that,
Speaker 2: but it will be out back over the Atlantic Ocean,
Speaker 2: probably by this time tomorrow night.
Speaker 6: Right, probably by sometime tomorrow morning, it's expected to be
Speaker 6: at least the eye will be expected to be off
Speaker 6: the coast to be fully done with the rain bands
Speaker 6: on the backside of the storm. Yeah, it would probably
Speaker 6: be sometime, you know, twenty four hours from now.
Speaker 2: So a quick, relatively quick, easy for us to say,
Speaker 2: easy for me to say, but what could have been
Speaker 2: a more prolonged storm on land will be relatively quick.
Speaker 2: But it's still going to do tremendous damage, and it's
Speaker 2: going to hit parts of Florida that were hit a
Speaker 2: week and a half ago by Helene.
Speaker 6: Correct well, actually Helene actually went through the Panhandle of Florida,
Speaker 6: so they kind of got a glancing blow from Helene.
Speaker 6: This time they're going to get hit full on right across,
Speaker 6: going across through central Florida. So they saw from what
Speaker 6: I saw from reports, they had a seven foot storm
Speaker 6: surge from Helene. And there are some areas along the
Speaker 6: west coast of Florida tonight that are expected to see
Speaker 6: a storm surge approaching nine to thirteen feet, from Anna
Speaker 6: Marie Island to Boca Grande.
Speaker 2: So in terms of just raw numbers, seven feet up
Speaker 2: to nine feet obviously is worse. But I'm assuming this
Speaker 2: sort of a multiple factor here. Seven nine doesn't sound
Speaker 2: much more than seven. However, I suspect that nine feet
Speaker 2: up to thirteen is going to do significant more damage
Speaker 2: than a tide of seven feet helped me out.
Speaker 6: Well, it's not just a question of really anything over
Speaker 6: six feet, you know, since most of us aren't more
Speaker 6: than six feet tall. You're talking about life threatening storm surge.
Speaker 6: When you start approaching nine to thirteen feet in most
Speaker 6: first stories of homes, or only ten feet, that's basically
Speaker 6: an unsurvivable situation. If you're remaining on the first floor building.
Speaker 2: Well, that's the problem.
Speaker 6: That's really the concern that we have.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I saw some reports tonight that said that
Speaker 2: there were people who are going to try to ride
Speaker 2: it out. And I know that Hurricane Helene which really
Speaker 2: hit the Carolinas and some of those southeastern states and cause,
Speaker 2: you know, in terms of death totals, I mean, you're
Speaker 2: talking about two hundred and twenty people strewn across from
Speaker 2: Florida up through Georgia, South a little bit of South Carolina,
Speaker 2: western North Carolina, and into Tennessee. This is going to
Speaker 2: be more of a Florida centric storm. Is the death
Speaker 2: total here expected to exceed Helene or will it? Will
Speaker 2: it not be as much because it doesn't not going
Speaker 2: to spend that much time over land.
Speaker 6: I don't have any knowledge on those projections, but generally,
Speaker 6: to your point, what we advise people to do in
Speaker 6: the National Weather Service is to run from the water
Speaker 6: and hide from the wind. If you're in a structure
Speaker 6: that can withstand the wind, it's perfectly fine to stay
Speaker 6: where you are. Where you really do need to leave
Speaker 6: if you're going to become in an area that gets
Speaker 6: completely flooded or in an area that gets severely isolated from flooding,
Speaker 6: as we saw with heline in North Carolina with a
Speaker 6: lot of the roads washed out, a lot of people
Speaker 6: became isolated very quickly, and then it becomes very difficult
Speaker 6: to begin the recovery process or to get aid. So
Speaker 6: that's really where we would advise people to leave, as
Speaker 6: if you're going to be in an area that's going
Speaker 6: to flood or become isolated for a really long time
Speaker 6: due to flooding.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the problem with that formulation, when you think about it,
Speaker 2: is that if you're again picked not to pick on Kansas,
Speaker 2: but if you're in Kansas in the middle of a
Speaker 2: big tornado, they have all of these tornado cellars. You
Speaker 2: go into tornado sella and you ride it out and
Speaker 2: you come up and you hope the house is still there.
Speaker 2: But if you're going into some sort of a cellar
Speaker 2: in Florida to avoid the wind and then the water
Speaker 2: comes in, uh, you are then rocked between the rock,
Speaker 2: the proverbial rock and hard place. If you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying. I and a lot of people just don't
Speaker 2: have the ability to get a great distance away that
Speaker 2: some people don't have cars. We assume everybody has a car.
Speaker 2: There's some people that are in Florida who are are
Speaker 2: you know, they're not wealthy people and they don't and
Speaker 2: they don't live in in houses that you know, that
Speaker 2: that are built as solidly as maybe a lot of
Speaker 2: houses here in the northeast. This is one that I
Speaker 2: hope and pray we get lucky, other people in Florida
Speaker 2: get lucky on because this is all all of the
Speaker 2: everything that I saw on the news tonight was was terrifying.
Speaker 2: And thank god, you know, we've had we have had
Speaker 2: hurricanes here in New England, and I don't think we've
Speaker 2: ever had one of this magnitude, at least in my lifetime. Matthew,
Speaker 2: I appreciate you taking the time and answering some questions.
Speaker 2: We don't prepare these interviews, so I appreciate it when
Speaker 2: someone says, I don't know the answer to that question,
Speaker 2: and that's the right answer when you don't know the
Speaker 2: answer to the question, and as they say, I'm just
Speaker 2: I like to pick people's brains because you about whether
Speaker 2: you know a lot more than I do. And so
Speaker 2: thank you for the opportunity to get a lot of
Speaker 2: information out in front of a lot of people tonight.
Speaker 2: Matthew Belk of the National Weather Service, thanks you for
Speaker 2: having me.
Speaker 6: Dan, You're welcome.
Speaker 2: When we get back, going to talk to a woman
Speaker 2: named Nicole Puzzo, and she has a very interesting clothing
Speaker 2: store called b Free Clothing Company. I will explain on
Speaker 2: the other side of this quick break on a Wednesday night,
Speaker 2: when thank God, things are quiet here in New England,
Speaker 2: but say a prayer for folks in other parts of
Speaker 2: the country, particularly the people down in Florida for the
Speaker 2: next twenty four hours. Back after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Way live from the Window World
Speaker 1: to night Side Studios. I'm WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: I want to give a shout out to one of
Speaker 2: our regular Nightside listeners, Ken from Florida, who called in
Speaker 2: but while he was in the phone he lost power. Ken.
Speaker 2: If you get a chance and if you're happy to
Speaker 2: able to listen on a battery powet radio, if you're
Speaker 2: able to reach us, we would love to hear what's
Speaker 2: going on in your own world down there in Florida
Speaker 2: tonight and stay safe. My friend Low is our fourth
Speaker 2: and final guest here in this edition of the night
Speaker 2: Side News Update on Wednesday Night. Occovia ninth ninth delighted
Speaker 2: to welcome Nicole Phuso. She's the co founder of bee Free,
Speaker 2: one of two moms who started this company. First of all, Nicole,
Speaker 2: before we talk about the company, how long has this
Speaker 2: company been in business and how did you happen to
Speaker 2: start this company? I've read a little bit about it,
Speaker 2: but I want to learn more about it. But what
Speaker 2: what what made you decide to start your own company?
Speaker 7: Well, my daughter Stella has cerebral palsy and at the
Speaker 7: age of five, underwent double hip surgery. And basically it
Speaker 7: left her and cast on both legs with a bar
Speaker 7: in between and actually nothing to dress her in for
Speaker 7: about a three month recovery. And after talking with her
Speaker 7: doctors at Children's and asking them what to dress somebody
Speaker 7: and during recovery like this, they were like, well, dresses,
Speaker 7: long shirts, blankets, And to me, that sounded miserable. So
Speaker 7: I went out and I bought a paraprit jam of
Speaker 7: bottoms for my daughter and took them apart at the
Speaker 7: outer seam and at the time just sewed some bellcrow
Speaker 7: and was able to sit her in the pants and
Speaker 7: put them around her calf, and it was completely It
Speaker 7: just changed her entire recovery process. So yeah, yeah, she
Speaker 7: wouldn't even leave the house or anything, and people were
Speaker 7: coming going all the time. So it just made her
Speaker 7: so much more comfortable and it really did perk her
Speaker 7: up a little bit during that timeframe. And my business partner,
Speaker 7: who was also one of my longtime friends, Joanne to
Speaker 7: commil Hell, came over to visit Stella one day and
Speaker 7: saw the pants and we started talking about it and
Speaker 7: she was just like, we couldn't believe how simple the
Speaker 7: design was and how so many people could benefit from them,
Speaker 7: so we decided to move forward with making at the
Speaker 7: time just a recovery pant. We were thinking and re
Speaker 7: formed be Free in twenty and fifteen. However, we got
Speaker 7: sidetracked by COVID and officially launched in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2: Okay, so it's relatively new. So you manufacture the clothing
Speaker 2: or do you? Where? Does where does the clothing come from?
Speaker 2: Who is it made for? And it's adaptive clothing as
Speaker 2: I understand it, And how can individuals who might be
Speaker 2: listening and who might be interested in purchasing. I want
Speaker 2: to get all the information. So do you manufacture the clothing?
Speaker 2: How does the how does the supply materialize? Pardon the putt?
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, we do have a manufacturer that we used
Speaker 7: to actually make the pants, although Joanne's mom made all
Speaker 7: of our samples at the beginning when we first started out,
Speaker 7: thankfully we had her. But we do have a manufacturer
Speaker 7: that we use, and we do all our own distribution,
Speaker 7: so we basically do all the fulfillment and shipping and
Speaker 7: all of that. Right now, it's just the two of us.
Speaker 7: We're really small. Our target market is really anyone that
Speaker 7: is recovering from a surgery, any type of lower limb surgery.
Speaker 7: I mean, they're amazing for that. It seems to be
Speaker 7: even just like for the aging population. Adaptive sports is
Speaker 7: a huge population for us. We have both adult and
Speaker 7: used sizes, and we sell off of our website, which
Speaker 7: is befreeco dot com, and we also have an Etsy shop.
Speaker 7: We have multiple sizes and multiple colors. And again our
Speaker 7: pants are really easy to put on and take off.
Speaker 7: You basically they end up completely on the utter seme,
Speaker 7: allowing you to dress somebody without having to go up
Speaker 7: through their legs. So they are really a game changer
Speaker 7: for a lot of people.
Speaker 2: So are you a Boston or a New England based company?
Speaker 2: I see the phone numbers of six one seven number?
Speaker 2: Do you have a do you have a brick and mortarsaur?
Speaker 2: Is everything done over the.
Speaker 7: Internet right now? It's over the internet. It's we are
Speaker 7: in Boston, well they're north of Boston win Swampscott and
Speaker 7: we're just out of our home office doing all the
Speaker 7: fulfillment and ourselves.
Speaker 2: So do you create clothing for not only kids like
Speaker 2: your daughter? How's your daughter doing? By the way, she
Speaker 2: got it's when you.
Speaker 7: Started, right, Yeah, she's fifteen. I can't even believe it.
Speaker 7: But yeah, she's doing really well. Luckily she hasn't had
Speaker 7: to follow up with another surgery similar to that, so
Speaker 7: that's been amazing. But yeah, she's doing great, She is
Speaker 7: doing great, excellent.
Speaker 4: I had to I had to add, so thank you.
Speaker 2: You do you do again? If I use the word
Speaker 2: adaptive clothing, is that a proper term? Is there a
Speaker 2: better term for it?
Speaker 7: Well, I would say adaptive and inclusive. I mean, basically,
Speaker 7: we've had people ironically use our pants for like stuff.
Speaker 7: We never even dreamed that. We have people that have
Speaker 7: used them for horseback riding and fishing and gymnastics just
Speaker 7: you know, just because they like the ease of taking
Speaker 7: the pants on and off without having to take their
Speaker 7: shoes off.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 7: So what we like the We like the term universal
Speaker 7: or adaptive, but you know it's I don't think either
Speaker 7: one is wrong to use.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay. So so if someone is dealing with a
Speaker 2: child who who needs to get some clothes that would
Speaker 2: be more adaptive, they could contact you and this would
Speaker 2: also work other I assume for folks on the other
Speaker 2: age end of the age spectrum who might be now
Speaker 2: more limited as they get older in their ability needs
Speaker 2: to maneuver and jump out of bed in the morning
Speaker 2: and get dressed in two minutes. Anything that would make
Speaker 2: life easier for someone who is caring for an older parent,
Speaker 2: I assume that those would be people who could take
Speaker 2: advantage as well.
Speaker 7: Correct, Oh, yes, definitely, I think there. Our pants are
Speaker 7: really great for caregivers. They do make dressing and undressing.
Speaker 7: Our tagline is Dressed with Us Stress for a reason
Speaker 7: because it does make that process just a little bit
Speaker 7: easier and more dignified for everybody involved. And that's one
Speaker 7: of our main goals is just to make everything a
Speaker 7: little bit easier. And living it firsthand I can speak
Speaker 7: to the how truly easy it is and life changing
Speaker 7: for the person you're caring for. I also think that
Speaker 7: somebody with limited mobility or somebody who you know can
Speaker 7: dress themselves. It's also a great product for them too.
Speaker 2: Well. It's funny I keep thinking about the phrase that
Speaker 2: necessity is the mother of invention. Yeah, you know, you
Speaker 2: found yourself in a situation where you had to come
Speaker 2: up with something and now it's going to benefit other people.
Speaker 2: So let's get a website and then let's talk about
Speaker 2: how people can get you easily. What U is the website.
Speaker 7: The website is WW dot bfreeco dot com.
Speaker 2: Okay, so all that is is the WWW stuff. I
Speaker 2: don't even worry about that anymore. Just go B free
Speaker 2: just be b e eco dot com. So bfreeco dot com,
Speaker 2: which will okay, yep, and then tell us about the
Speaker 2: website at C. I'm familiar with it, but not as
Speaker 2: familiar as I should be.
Speaker 7: So at the site that you know, anybody really any
Speaker 7: type of idea can be sold on, and we are
Speaker 7: on there do The nice thing is that shipps internationally,
Speaker 7: so if anyone you know wants to ship out of
Speaker 7: the US, they can do that through at D. But
Speaker 7: you know, they carry all different types of products from
Speaker 7: home goods to clothing to outdoor stuff everything. It's just
Speaker 7: another third party seller.
Speaker 2: Excellent, excellent. Well look it sounds like a great purpose
Speaker 2: and your meeting with success. B free The website again,
Speaker 2: just for to simplify it is bfreeco dot com. Check
Speaker 2: it out. B E F R E E c O
Speaker 2: all one word, eight letters, lowercase bfreeco dot com. Thank
Speaker 2: you so much, Nicol. I enjoyed talking with you, and
Speaker 2: please say hello to your daughter for us, and we
Speaker 2: wish her every success. I'm sure she's going to have
Speaker 2: a great academic experience and she will adapt to whatever
Speaker 2: physical limitations she might end up having to deal with.
Speaker 2: But she's in our thoughts and press.
Speaker 7: Thank you so much, Nicoll, thank you for having me,
Speaker 7: thank you, good night, thank you very welcome.
Speaker 2: Here comes to nine o'clock News, and on the other side,
Speaker 2: we're going to talk about e b T cards in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: I think you're going to be surprised at some numbers
Speaker 2: that we will share right after the nine