October 9, 2024 • 38 mins
Breast Cancer Awareness Month – What you need to know with Oncologist Dr. Harold Burstein
Remembering the Legendary Red Sox Player Luis Tiant with President & CEO of El Mundo Boston Alberto Vasallo
Hurricane Milton making landfall down in Florida – the latest on the storm as it’s hitting Florida! with meteorologist Matthew Belk
Befree Clothing Co. a local adaptive clothing company, is donating some of their clothes to a local fashion show to highlight individuals with disabilities in Every Body Belongs Fashion Show with co-founder of Befree (one of two moms who started this company) Nicole Puzzo
Remembering the Legendary Red Sox Player Luis Tiant with President & CEO of El Mundo Boston Alberto Vasallo
Hurricane Milton making landfall down in Florida – the latest on the storm as it’s hitting Florida! with meteorologist Matthew Belk
Befree Clothing Co. a local adaptive clothing company, is donating some of their clothes to a local fashion show to highlight individuals with disabilities in Every Body Belongs Fashion Show with co-founder of Befree (one of two moms who started this company) Nicole Puzzo
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thanks very much to call over a kind introduction tonight.
Thank you. My name is Dan Ray. We have lots
of guys. We got both Rob Indian back in the
studio tonight, so they're double teaming with two control room producers,
which is always very nice. We have some good guests
coming up in the first hour. No phone calls in
the first hour. So as I say, my name is
(00:28):
Dan Ray and this is Nightside. You're listening if you
happen to be listening on a car somewhere anywhere east
of the Mississippi River and you're picking us up on
our ten to thirty am signal, this is WBZ in Boston.
Then we're every weeknight from eight until midnight. Coming up tonight,
we're going to talk about a very interesting number statistic
that has been released by the Colwalth of Massachusetts without
the number of EBT cards that are in our state.
(00:52):
Two point six million EBT cards in a state that
is a population of a little less than seven million.
That's a pretty big number. But we'll talk about that.
I think we'll also talk about the life and times
of Louis Tiant a little bit later on tonight, the
great Red Sox pitcher who was born in Cuba but
made Boston his home after us spending some time with
(01:13):
several Major League teams. We'll do a little tribute to
Louis Ti on tonight, and who knows what else we
will get into a little bit later on. I will
tell you that we do intend to give away later
tonight two two sets of tickets to see the Tina
Turner musical that is happening next week on October eighteenth
(01:38):
at eight o'clock. Let's see, today is the nine. So yeah,
it's going to be next week out at the Henover
Theater in Worcester. So if you're interested, stay with us.
We will give away two sets of tickets, four tickets
in all, one set of two, another set of two.
Pretty easy to remember. This is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month,
(02:00):
as they think all of you know. We're going to
also be giving away some nightside pink t shirts courtesy
of our friends at College Hype to emphasize the importance
of this month and with us to specifically talk about this.
From the Dana Cancer Fober Institute is doctor Harold Burstein.
Doctor Burstein welcome to nightside. How are you.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I'm good, I'm glad to be with you tonight.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, I've seen these trends and we've talked about them before. Women,
more young women are getting breast cancer earlier in their lives.
Is there any I know it's early, but what's going
on with that trend? If it is indeed a trend?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Well, for several years now, there has been a slow
increase in the diagnosis of breast cancer amongst both younger
women and amongst postmenopausal or older women. The usual age
cut point there is around fifty, so the rate of
breast cancer in younger women less than age fifty has
(03:09):
gone up by about one percent a year over the
past few years. The rate of breast cancer diagnosis in
older women has also gone up by about zero point
seven percent per year now, because there are way more
cases of breast cancer in postmenopausal women than there are
in younger women. Actually, the number of women who were
(03:33):
postmenopausal getting diagnosed with breast cancer in absolute terms has
gone up quite substantially higher compared to the number of
younger women. But both groups are showing this small, steady rise.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So look, most of us, I think have eliminated things
like cigarettes. Never was a smoker, but very few I
think younger people are smoking. I guess they were doing
some vaping for a while. Is this because of foods
that were eating. Is it something to do with chemicals
(04:06):
that were being exposed to just in our day to
day or I guess there's an increase, but it probably
is not significant enough to trace it to one specific cause.
That's what I'm sensing. I'm gonna you're gonna tell me.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I think you're on track there. So breast cancer is
not a disease linked to smoking particularly, but there are
other environmental and lifestyle factors that probably do increase the
risk at the population level. So one of them is
just much better nutrition. So people are able to eat
more than they were in generations past. They are often
(04:45):
heavier or more likely to be obese than they were
in years past, and those are risk factors for developing
breast cancer. And the American Cancer Society believes that at
the core of all of this, this kind of weight
change and some other lifestyle factors are the contributing cause
(05:07):
for the slow rise in the diagnosis of breast cancer.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Also on that list, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Related to that related to that. So young girls are
starting to menstruate at earlier ages than they did in
the past, and they are having fewer pregnancies than in
years past, they are having those pregnancies later in life
again on average, and they're nursing their children for shorter
durations of time on average. All of those are well
(05:38):
known population risk factors for developing breast cancer, and so
that sort of describes a lot of what's happening, you know,
in the United States right now, and the American Cancer
Society thinks that's those kinds of reproductive factors, nutrition factors
are driving the slow increase that.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Would be under sort of a behavioral umbrella. I realized
that that smoking causes lung cancer primarily, but I also
thought that introducing guitar and nicotine and those carcinogens into
your body had an impact on other levels of cancer
as well. It sounds to me like it's much more
behavioral at this point. Are the rates of breast cancer
(06:22):
amongst women rising at a similar level in other countries,
either countries in the West or countries around the world.
Are their studies that have even looked at that question yet.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Yeah, that's a really great question, and so actually, rates
of breast cancer worldwide are going up, particularly in areas
that have historically been economically quite disadvantaged. So areas of
Southeast Asia and Sub Saharan Africa are seen substantial rises
in the rates of breast cancer, probably for very similar
(06:58):
reasons that we just outlined in the United States, which is,
people are better nourished, they are having longer periods of
menstrual cycles, they are having fewer pregnancies. Women are having
fewer pregnancies as they have had economic gains in those
parts of the world, and they are less likely to
be nursing their children than in years past. And again,
(07:19):
all of those are well known factors that relate to
the population risk of breast cancer.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Okay, let's not leave the subject, and I appreciate your time,
But have not the ages when women should start to
get mammograms as recommended by you an I age and
CDC and all of the alphabet soup agencies. Have not
those ages or recommended ages been lowered recently? Could that
(07:49):
contribute to it? Or I mean, obviously i'd hope that
would prevent it in the long run, But is that
something that is concerning or is it something that's that's
actual good news that cancers are getting detected earlier. I'm
trying to look at a positive here in this dark cloud.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Well, let me give you two really important positive. So
the first is you're correct. We are encouraging women now
beginning at age forty to get screening mammograms, and the
US Preventive Health Services Task Force this past year joined
many other organizations that had already lowered the age for
starting mammography to around age forty, So most women should
(08:31):
begin getting screening mammograms at around age forty and typically
continue until age seventy or later. So a little bit
of this is greater detection in women ages forty to
fifty who might not have had early detection before. But
the other really important piece of news is that while
the rate of diagnosis has been going up for breast cancer,
(08:52):
the actual mortality rate, the death rate from breast cancer
continues a steady thirty year decline, and that is because
of much more widespread utilization of mammograms. So there's early
detection and much improved treatment for breast cancer in the
way of endocrine therapies, targeted drugs, immunotherapy, traditional chemotherapy, so
(09:16):
there's more breast cancer being diagnosed, but there actually are
fewer deaths from breast cancer, and that's because of early
detection and better treatment.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
It's always great to end on a positive note, doctor Bursty,
thank you very very much for all the information to
provide it with us in this breast cancer Awareness month.
And I hope many folks will listen to this interview
and they if they missed it, they can listen to
it on Nightside on demand as early as sometime tomorrow morning.
(09:46):
So if you have a loved one who happens to
be in any of those age categories, make sure she
listens to it. And I guess men should be checking
for this as well, not doing mammograms per se, but
certainly be being aware of their own bodies and reactions.
Thank you so much, doctor Burstay, thank.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
You, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Good night.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
You're welcome. Okay, when we get back, a sad note,
but a great career and a great guy, Louis Tillan.
We'll remember Louis Tillan right after this.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Want to welcome back Alberto Vassallo, President, and CEO of
Telemundo in Boston, and we want to talk just for
a little bit here about a great baseball player, and
I think a greater human being, Louis Tiant. Eldionte. I
had a chance to get to know Louis pretty well
after his career. I know Alberto knew him as well. Alberto,
(10:49):
I don't think we're ever going to see the likes
of a Louis Tiant in this town again.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Agree or disagree, Oh, agree on so many different levels
just on the ball field, but austin field too. And
I think oftentimes those across the country don't realize, you know,
what an important role Louis played in kind of the
history of Boston when he came here in seventy one
and seventy two. So he was he was a mighty
(11:15):
tall figure off on and off the field.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, he really fell in love with the community, with Boston,
and Boston fell in love with him at a time
when you know, interracial relations in Boston were really at
a very low point. But I think everybody loved Louis tillant.
(11:43):
The fact that it was a Red Sox helped that.
But he he was just someone who was always willing
to meet people, talk to people, spend time with people.
Very different from a lot of ballplayers who want to
go to the ballpark, go home and and kind of
stay away from people. Louis was just the opposite. He
was he was excited, I think by the fans as
much as they as much as they were excited by
(12:04):
his on field performances.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Absolutely, you know, I've known Louise my whole life. He
was the reason why I got involved with the Red Sox.
My father knew him from Cuba, so when al Mundo
started in seventy two, Louis had just been here one year,
and he taught me a lot of life's valuable lessons
over the years. He was a great father, faithful husband,
(12:27):
but also a teacher in a very subtle way. He
was a stickler for doing things like he called it
the right way. So I admire Louie. I said, I
was proud that I was probably being Cuban American because
of Louis the ballplayer, but I was prouder to be
Cuban American because of Louis the person. If you ever
(12:48):
get a chance, and you would have that chance, Dan
at some point to touch to accountant fisk A, Yeah,
Jim Rice, any of his teammates. I mean, they love
Louis so much because for exact those reasons you just
talked about, he got along with everybody. And I can
assure Red Sox Nation that as much as Red Sox
(13:10):
Nation loved Louis, Louis loved Boston. He said it was
his second He wouldn't say second his second country.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
I would always say, we're a city where you say no, no,
Boston is my second country.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah. I mean there are so many stories. I remember
I would see Louis often at breakfast as a breakfast
place in Milton that he and I both went to Newcomb's,
which is I forget the major road, but it's a
major road right off of one twenty eight. And you'd
(13:43):
walk in there and he would be with Maria. Uh,
and she was the most beautiful woman in the place.
I mean, she's just there was something about Maria that
at the you know, I don't care if she was
in her sixties, seventies or whatever, stunning. And Louis would
be there and uh, you know, Louis would Louis would
(14:05):
try to pick up your tab and I mean, no,
Loly is my turn and then he would let you
pay for his breakfast. Most generous guy. And uh, just
in the community and available. And of course baseball, you know,
took him to other cities. He was in Cleveland first,
and then he spent a year in Minnesota, and then
he went to the to the Evil Empire for a
(14:26):
little while and finished up in Pittsburgh and uh in California,
and then he did some coaching, and he moved around
and all of that, and he was a baseball lifer,
as they say, but you always came back to Boston.
I got to know Louis a little bit through his biographer,
Joe Fitzgerald. He used to write was a sports guy
in Boston. And I'm sure Joe has interviewed you. Joe
(14:46):
fitz as we called them, loved Louis, loved Louis, and
he would tell and Joe off sadly has passed on,
but he would tell. He could tell Louis stories for hours.
And he did it in books too, By the way,
there was some great books that that he wrote. It included,
you know, a biography of Louis. And I just you know,
when when I read that story yesterday, I had no
(15:08):
idea he was sick. You know, I wasn't his closest
friend or anything, nor know what I expect to. But
I mean when I saw that that news flash yesterday
your hearts.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
You're saying, it was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I really did. Yeah,
that was the feeling. Yeah, you're You're exactly right. I
didn't expect it to happen, so suddenly I knew he
was sick. He was at the ballpark the last weekend
of the season. I was trying to get my father
and him to seach other. I follow him at exactly
the same eighty three. Like I said, they came over
(15:43):
from Cube, my father and Louis. I think I told
you this once. They made a pact here in Boston
never to go back to Cuba until you know, Castro
was dead and there was no communism when Cute.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
When when Louis went back with the family brothers to
do that documentary, he called me, he said, I'm going
to Cute.
Speaker 5 (16:02):
Don't tell your father, don't kill your father. I'm going
to Cuba.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
But then in the premiere he called my dad and
they sat next to each other and they both cried.
I mean, you know it was it was for me
to see my father and Louis crying was very powerful.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Well for him to escape as a young man and
end up pitching. I believe he was pitching in Mexico
City and trying to earn a memory and send money home.
And then obviously his talent was seen by Major League scouts.
And the next thing, at a very young age, at
twenty four, he's pitching for the Cleveland Indians, and he's
(16:43):
having great seasons with them and winning twenty games, and
then all of a sudden, he's got the one down
year with Minnesota and the Red Sox, and he kind
of readjusted or whatever, developed a couple of new pitches,
and next thing, he's in the World Series with the
Red Sox in seventy five and the city falls in
love with him. He had such a spirit. I mean,
(17:03):
he never lost the spirit of a young man. Even
as I aged gracefully. He was a young He's always
young at heart.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Yeah, And you know, one of the issues that is
going to come up Ineverabek is why isn't he in
the Hall of Fame? If you look at his numbers,
if you talk to people like Peter Gammons, who calls
him the absolute best player. Not in the Hall of Fame,
but you look at his numbers. I mean, if you
know baseball, one point six to earn one average, he
(17:37):
led the league several years in the era. He gave
us eight dominant years in baseball. And I would venture
to say I was tuck into a texting back with
ex Governor Charlie Baker who said in Alberto, I'm a
little bit older than you, but when I was growing up,
if there was a clutch game to be won, I
didn't want anybody on the mound. But Louis Tian he
(17:58):
was clutched. And then I started looking at his wreck.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
You know, I never lost a playoff game.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
And again we're talking about complete games. One hundred and
forty seven complete games in his career, and in the
World Series, I think it was Game one on one
hundred and sixty pitches, and he pitched three games in
the World Series. Three games his.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Lifetime walks, hits, innings pitched is an extraordinary number that
alone should put him in the Hall of Fame, you know,
having pitched nearly thirty five hundred innings, five hundred and
seventy games, and his whip, which is now a statistic
that they didn't used to keep, but now it is
probably the most important pitch statistic for a pitcher, even
more important than e RA one point two zero. No
(18:44):
one else comes even close to that.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Okay, So here's the thing, right, and his family is
probably not going to talk about that now, But I'll
tell you something that he told me several times in
front of Danny dani is his younger son, and then
several times with me when when the whole issue of
the of the of the Hall of Fame would come up,
and he said, Alberto, you know, if they put me
(19:08):
in the Hall of Fame after I'm dead, I don't
want you going to the ceremony. I don't want my
family showing up, because what am I going to do
after dead? That makes you more more qualified? What am
I going to go back and pitch ten more innings
or ten more games. It's gonna put me over the line.
If they're gonna honor me, do it while I'm alive,
not while I'm dead.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
So I mean, there's a lot of pictures in there
whose numbers are all virtually identical. You can read them
in the Boston Globe this morning, and I think Seanisy's
called him, Alberto. We should still get him in the
Hall of Fame. He belongs there. I know he's he's
playing baseball right now in heaven with Babe Ruth and
(19:48):
lou Gerriic and and and and other other great Willie
WILLI will he's probably walking around introducing me and everybody,
because will he just went up there himself a few
a few weeks ago.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
And you know, he's recreating right now the iconic nineteen
seventy five World Series confrontation with Pete Rose because they
both died, you know, just the way very Louis and
Pete Rose up there recreating the seventy five World Series.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
That's not a bad place to be right now, that's
for sure. Alberto, I believe that. You believe that. Whether
others believe it or not, that's their their choice. But
it's a very company thought. Thank you, my friend, Alberto Maassalo,
the president and CEO of Telemundo Boston.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
And Tellamundo people get mad.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
El Mundo is elmund.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
I'm all right, okay, I'm sorry.
Speaker 6 (20:42):
I know we love each other, both we get along.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
It's not it's not competitive, but al.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Elmund okay, what a difference a letter makes. Thanks Thanks Alberto.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
All right, take care of the very well.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Okay, well, okay. When we get back, we are going
to get the latest on Hurricane Milton, which looks like
a nasty storm down in Florida. They are peeping in
Florida right now. Who say a prayer for them. We'll
be back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
It's Night Side with Ray on Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Delighted to be joined by Matthew Belk. He is a
meteorologist from the National Weather Service. I think you guys
who have the National Weather Service in our neck of
the woods down in Norton, Massachusetts. Is that correct?
Speaker 6 (21:32):
My friend Matthew let us correct Dan.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, so welcome to Night's Side. I don't think you've
ever been with us before, but we got a big
story to talk about tonight. Hurricane Milton. Not named after Milton, Massachusetts,
but it's Hurricane Milton. It's ripping it up tonight in Florida.
How bad are the conditions down there in Florida? This
thing has now made landfall. Correct.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
As of a thirty PM, the National Hurricane Center is
indicated that Milton did make landfall as a category three
hurricane near Csta Keith, Florida. As far as what's specifically
going on right down there in Tampa Bay right now,
it's just probably a lot of strong wind and some
very heavy rainfall. Earlier today, there were numerous widespread tornadoes.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Yeah, I read that. I saw that. I think they
said something like twenty tornadoes and some of them were
These weren't like waterspout tornadoes waterspouts. These were full blown
tornadoes like you'd see at Kansas in Kansas in August,
are Kansas in September? Is that abnormal for a hurricane
to spin off tornadoes or is that expected?
Speaker 6 (22:41):
It's actually expected in the northeast quadrant, And in some
cases the tornadoes don't even have to be right near
the circulation of the hurricane. It could actually be several
states away.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
So is what is likely to happen tonight? Take us
to the next twenty four hours. If this has made landfall,
it's going to go straight across Florida for more of
the projections I saw, so it's not going from Key
West up to Georgia. It's cutting across the state. It's
going to do a lot of damage. I get that,
but it will be out back over the Atlantic Ocean,
(23:14):
probably by this time tomorrow night.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
Right, probably by sometime tomorrow morning, it's expected to be
at least the eye will be expected to be off
the coast to be fully done with the rain bands
on the backside of the storm. Yeah, it would probably
be sometime, you know, twenty four hours from now.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
So a quick, relatively quick, easy for us to say,
easy for me to say, but what could have been
a more prolonged storm on land will be relatively quick.
But it's still going to do tremendous damage, and it's
going to hit parts of Florida that were hit a
week and a half ago by Helene.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
Correct well, actually Helene actually went through the Panhandle of Florida,
so they kind of got a glancing blow from Helene.
This time they're going to get hit full on right across,
going across through central Florida. So they saw from what
I saw from reports, they had a seven foot storm
surge from Helene. And there are some areas along the
(24:12):
west coast of Florida tonight that are expected to see
a storm surge approaching nine to thirteen feet, from Anna
Marie Island to Boca Grande.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So in terms of just raw numbers, seven feet up
to nine feet obviously is worse. But I'm assuming this
sort of a multiple factor here. Seven nine doesn't sound
much more than seven. However, I suspect that nine feet
up to thirteen is going to do significant more damage
(24:45):
than a tide of seven feet helped me out.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
Well, it's not just a question of really anything over
six feet, you know, since most of us aren't more
than six feet tall. You're talking about life threatening storm surge.
When you start approaching nine to thirteen feet in most
first stories of homes, or only ten feet, that's basically
an unsurvivable situation. If you're remaining on the first floor building.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Well, that's the problem.
Speaker 6 (25:11):
That's really the concern that we have.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, well, I saw some reports tonight that said that
there were people who are going to try to ride
it out. And I know that Hurricane Helene which really
hit the Carolinas and some of those southeastern states and cause,
you know, in terms of death totals, I mean, you're
talking about two hundred and twenty people strewn across from
(25:34):
Florida up through Georgia, South a little bit of South Carolina,
western North Carolina, and into Tennessee. This is going to
be more of a Florida centric storm. Is the death
total here expected to exceed Helene or will it? Will
it not be as much because it doesn't not going
(25:55):
to spend that much time over land.
Speaker 6 (25:58):
I don't have any knowledge on those projections, but generally,
to your point, what we advise people to do in
the National Weather Service is to run from the water
and hide from the wind. If you're in a structure
that can withstand the wind, it's perfectly fine to stay
where you are. Where you really do need to leave
if you're going to become in an area that gets
completely flooded or in an area that gets severely isolated from flooding,
(26:23):
as we saw with heline in North Carolina with a
lot of the roads washed out, a lot of people
became isolated very quickly, and then it becomes very difficult
to begin the recovery process or to get aid. So
that's really where we would advise people to leave, as
if you're going to be in an area that's going
to flood or become isolated for a really long time
(26:43):
due to flooding.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Yeah, the problem with that formulation, when you think about it,
is that if you're again picked not to pick on Kansas,
but if you're in Kansas in the middle of a
big tornado, they have all of these tornado cellars. You
go into tornado sella and you ride it out and
you come up and you hope the house is still there.
But if you're going into some sort of a cellar
in Florida to avoid the wind and then the water
(27:08):
comes in, uh, you are then rocked between the rock,
the proverbial rock and hard place. If you know what
I'm saying. I and a lot of people just don't
have the ability to get a great distance away that
some people don't have cars. We assume everybody has a car.
There's some people that are in Florida who are are
you know, they're not wealthy people and they don't and
(27:29):
they don't live in in houses that you know, that
that are built as solidly as maybe a lot of
houses here in the northeast. This is one that I
hope and pray we get lucky, other people in Florida
get lucky on because this is all all of the
(27:49):
everything that I saw on the news tonight was was terrifying.
And thank god, you know, we've had we have had
hurricanes here in New England, and I don't think we've
ever had one of this magnitude, at least in my lifetime. Matthew,
I appreciate you taking the time and answering some questions.
We don't prepare these interviews, so I appreciate it when
someone says, I don't know the answer to that question,
(28:11):
and that's the right answer when you don't know the
answer to the question, and as they say, I'm just
I like to pick people's brains because you about whether
you know a lot more than I do. And so
thank you for the opportunity to get a lot of
information out in front of a lot of people tonight.
Matthew Belk of the National Weather Service, thanks you for
having me.
Speaker 6 (28:31):
Dan, You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
When we get back, going to talk to a woman
named Nicole Puzzo, and she has a very interesting clothing
store called b Free Clothing Company. I will explain on
the other side of this quick break on a Wednesday night,
when thank God, things are quiet here in New England,
but say a prayer for folks in other parts of
(28:54):
the country, particularly the people down in Florida for the
next twenty four hours. Back after this.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Now back to Dan Way live from the Window World
to night Side Studios. I'm WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
I want to give a shout out to one of
our regular Nightside listeners, Ken from Florida, who called in
but while he was in the phone he lost power. Ken.
If you get a chance and if you're happy to
able to listen on a battery powet radio, if you're
able to reach us, we would love to hear what's
going on in your own world down there in Florida
tonight and stay safe. My friend Low is our fourth
(29:28):
and final guest here in this edition of the night
Side News Update on Wednesday Night. Occovia ninth ninth delighted
to welcome Nicole Phuso. She's the co founder of bee Free,
one of two moms who started this company. First of all, Nicole,
before we talk about the company, how long has this
company been in business and how did you happen to
(29:50):
start this company? I've read a little bit about it,
but I want to learn more about it. But what
what what made you decide to start your own company?
Speaker 7 (30:03):
Well, my daughter Stella has cerebral palsy and at the
age of five, underwent double hip surgery. And basically it
left her and cast on both legs with a bar
in between and actually nothing to dress her in for
about a three month recovery. And after talking with her
doctors at Children's and asking them what to dress somebody
and during recovery like this, they were like, well, dresses,
(30:26):
long shirts, blankets, And to me, that sounded miserable. So
I went out and I bought a paraprit jam of
bottoms for my daughter and took them apart at the
outer seam and at the time just sewed some bellcrow
and was able to sit her in the pants and
put them around her calf, and it was completely It
just changed her entire recovery process. So yeah, yeah, she
(30:47):
wouldn't even leave the house or anything, and people were
coming going all the time. So it just made her
so much more comfortable and it really did perk her
up a little bit during that timeframe. And my business partner,
who was also one of my longtime friends, Joanne to
commil Hell, came over to visit Stella one day and
saw the pants and we started talking about it and
she was just like, we couldn't believe how simple the
(31:07):
design was and how so many people could benefit from them,
so we decided to move forward with making at the
time just a recovery pant. We were thinking and re
formed be Free in twenty and fifteen. However, we got
sidetracked by COVID and officially launched in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Okay, so it's relatively new. So you manufacture the clothing
or do you? Where? Does where does the clothing come from?
Who is it made for? And it's adaptive clothing as
I understand it, And how can individuals who might be
listening and who might be interested in purchasing. I want
(31:47):
to get all the information. So do you manufacture the clothing?
How does the how does the supply materialize? Pardon the putt?
Speaker 7 (31:57):
Yeah, well, we do have a manufacturer that we used
to actually make the pants, although Joanne's mom made all
of our samples at the beginning when we first started out,
thankfully we had her. But we do have a manufacturer
that we use, and we do all our own distribution,
so we basically do all the fulfillment and shipping and
all of that. Right now, it's just the two of us.
(32:18):
We're really small. Our target market is really anyone that
is recovering from a surgery, any type of lower limb surgery.
I mean, they're amazing for that. It seems to be
even just like for the aging population. Adaptive sports is
a huge population for us. We have both adult and
(32:39):
used sizes, and we sell off of our website, which
is befreeco dot com, and we also have an Etsy shop.
We have multiple sizes and multiple colors. And again our
pants are really easy to put on and take off.
You basically they end up completely on the utter seme,
allowing you to dress somebody without having to go up
(33:00):
through their legs. So they are really a game changer
for a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
So are you a Boston or a New England based company?
I see the phone numbers of six one seven number?
Do you have a do you have a brick and mortarsaur?
Is everything done over the.
Speaker 7 (33:16):
Internet right now? It's over the internet. It's we are
in Boston, well they're north of Boston win Swampscott and
we're just out of our home office doing all the
fulfillment and ourselves.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
So do you create clothing for not only kids like
your daughter? How's your daughter doing? By the way, she
got it's when you.
Speaker 7 (33:43):
Started, right, Yeah, she's fifteen. I can't even believe it.
But yeah, she's doing really well. Luckily she hasn't had
to follow up with another surgery similar to that, so
that's been amazing. But yeah, she's doing great, She is
doing great, excellent.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
I had to I had to add, so thank you.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
You do you do again? If I use the word
adaptive clothing, is that a proper term? Is there a
better term for it?
Speaker 7 (34:09):
Well, I would say adaptive and inclusive. I mean, basically,
we've had people ironically use our pants for like stuff.
We never even dreamed that. We have people that have
used them for horseback riding and fishing and gymnastics just
you know, just because they like the ease of taking
the pants on and off without having to take their
shoes off.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
You know.
Speaker 7 (34:28):
So what we like the We like the term universal
or adaptive, but you know it's I don't think either
one is wrong to use.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Okay, okay. So so if someone is dealing with a
child who who needs to get some clothes that would
be more adaptive, they could contact you and this would
also work other I assume for folks on the other
age end of the age spectrum who might be now
(34:56):
more limited as they get older in their ability needs
to maneuver and jump out of bed in the morning
and get dressed in two minutes. Anything that would make
life easier for someone who is caring for an older parent,
I assume that those would be people who could take
advantage as well.
Speaker 7 (35:14):
Correct, Oh, yes, definitely, I think there. Our pants are
really great for caregivers. They do make dressing and undressing.
Our tagline is Dressed with Us Stress for a reason
because it does make that process just a little bit
easier and more dignified for everybody involved. And that's one
of our main goals is just to make everything a
(35:35):
little bit easier. And living it firsthand I can speak
to the how truly easy it is and life changing
for the person you're caring for. I also think that
somebody with limited mobility or somebody who you know can
dress themselves. It's also a great product for them too.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Well. It's funny I keep thinking about the phrase that
necessity is the mother of invention. Yeah, you know, you
found yourself in a situation where you had to come
up with something and now it's going to benefit other people.
So let's get a website and then let's talk about
how people can get you easily. What U is the website.
Speaker 7 (36:13):
The website is WW dot bfreeco dot com.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Okay, so all that is is the WWW stuff. I
don't even worry about that anymore. Just go B free
just be b e eco dot com. So bfreeco dot com,
which will okay, yep, and then tell us about the
website at C. I'm familiar with it, but not as
familiar as I should be.
Speaker 7 (36:38):
So at the site that you know, anybody really any
type of idea can be sold on, and we are
on there do The nice thing is that shipps internationally,
so if anyone you know wants to ship out of
the US, they can do that through at D. But
you know, they carry all different types of products from
home goods to clothing to outdoor stuff everything. It's just
(37:00):
another third party seller.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Excellent, excellent. Well look it sounds like a great purpose
and your meeting with success. B free The website again,
just for to simplify it is bfreeco dot com. Check
it out. B E F R E E c O
all one word, eight letters, lowercase bfreeco dot com. Thank
(37:28):
you so much, Nicol. I enjoyed talking with you, and
please say hello to your daughter for us, and we
wish her every success. I'm sure she's going to have
a great academic experience and she will adapt to whatever
physical limitations she might end up having to deal with.
But she's in our thoughts and press.
Speaker 7 (37:48):
Thank you so much, Nicoll, thank you for having me,
thank you, good night, thank you very welcome.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Here comes to nine o'clock News, and on the other side,
we're going to talk about e b T cards in Massachusetts.
I think you're going to be surprised at some numbers
that we will share right after the nine
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thanks very much to call over a kind introduction tonight.
Thank you. My name is Dan Ray. We have lots
of guys. We got both Rob Indian back in the
studio tonight, so they're double teaming with two control room producers,
which is always very nice. We have some good guests
coming up in the first hour. No phone calls in
the first hour. So as I say, my name is
(00:28):
Dan Ray and this is Nightside. You're listening if you
happen to be listening on a car somewhere anywhere east
of the Mississippi River and you're picking us up on
our ten to thirty am signal, this is WBZ in Boston.
Then we're every weeknight from eight until midnight. Coming up tonight,
we're going to talk about a very interesting number statistic
that has been released by the Colwalth of Massachusetts without
the number of EBT cards that are in our state.
(00:52):
Two point six million EBT cards in a state that
is a population of a little less than seven million.
That's a pretty big number. But we'll talk about that.
I think we'll also talk about the life and times
of Louis Tiant a little bit later on tonight, the
great Red Sox pitcher who was born in Cuba but
made Boston his home after us spending some time with
(01:13):
several Major League teams. We'll do a little tribute to
Louis Ti on tonight, and who knows what else we
will get into a little bit later on. I will
tell you that we do intend to give away later
tonight two two sets of tickets to see the Tina
Turner musical that is happening next week on October eighteenth
(01:38):
at eight o'clock. Let's see, today is the nine. So yeah,
it's going to be next week out at the Henover
Theater in Worcester. So if you're interested, stay with us.
We will give away two sets of tickets, four tickets
in all, one set of two, another set of two.
Pretty easy to remember. This is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month,
(02:00):
as they think all of you know. We're going to
also be giving away some nightside pink t shirts courtesy
of our friends at College Hype to emphasize the importance
of this month and with us to specifically talk about this.
From the Dana Cancer Fober Institute is doctor Harold Burstein.
Doctor Burstein welcome to nightside. How are you.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
I'm good, I'm glad to be with you tonight.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, I've seen these trends and we've talked about them before. Women,
more young women are getting breast cancer earlier in their lives.
Is there any I know it's early, but what's going
on with that trend? If it is indeed a trend?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Well, for several years now, there has been a slow
increase in the diagnosis of breast cancer amongst both younger
women and amongst postmenopausal or older women. The usual age
cut point there is around fifty, so the rate of
breast cancer in younger women less than age fifty has
(03:09):
gone up by about one percent a year over the
past few years. The rate of breast cancer diagnosis in
older women has also gone up by about zero point
seven percent per year now, because there are way more
cases of breast cancer in postmenopausal women than there are
in younger women. Actually, the number of women who were
(03:33):
postmenopausal getting diagnosed with breast cancer in absolute terms has
gone up quite substantially higher compared to the number of
younger women. But both groups are showing this small, steady rise.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
So look, most of us, I think have eliminated things
like cigarettes. Never was a smoker, but very few I
think younger people are smoking. I guess they were doing
some vaping for a while. Is this because of foods
that were eating. Is it something to do with chemicals
(04:06):
that were being exposed to just in our day to
day or I guess there's an increase, but it probably
is not significant enough to trace it to one specific cause.
That's what I'm sensing. I'm gonna you're gonna tell me.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
I think you're on track there. So breast cancer is
not a disease linked to smoking particularly, but there are
other environmental and lifestyle factors that probably do increase the
risk at the population level. So one of them is
just much better nutrition. So people are able to eat
more than they were in generations past. They are often
(04:45):
heavier or more likely to be obese than they were
in years past, and those are risk factors for developing
breast cancer. And the American Cancer Society believes that at
the core of all of this, this kind of weight
change and some other lifestyle factors are the contributing cause
(05:07):
for the slow rise in the diagnosis of breast cancer.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Also on that list, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Related to that related to that. So young girls are
starting to menstruate at earlier ages than they did in
the past, and they are having fewer pregnancies than in
years past, they are having those pregnancies later in life
again on average, and they're nursing their children for shorter
durations of time on average. All of those are well
(05:38):
known population risk factors for developing breast cancer, and so
that sort of describes a lot of what's happening, you know,
in the United States right now, and the American Cancer
Society thinks that's those kinds of reproductive factors, nutrition factors
are driving the slow increase that.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Would be under sort of a behavioral umbrella. I realized
that that smoking causes lung cancer primarily, but I also
thought that introducing guitar and nicotine and those carcinogens into
your body had an impact on other levels of cancer
as well. It sounds to me like it's much more
behavioral at this point. Are the rates of breast cancer
(06:22):
amongst women rising at a similar level in other countries,
either countries in the West or countries around the world.
Are their studies that have even looked at that question yet.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Yeah, that's a really great question, and so actually, rates
of breast cancer worldwide are going up, particularly in areas
that have historically been economically quite disadvantaged. So areas of
Southeast Asia and Sub Saharan Africa are seen substantial rises
in the rates of breast cancer, probably for very similar
(06:58):
reasons that we just outlined in the United States, which is,
people are better nourished, they are having longer periods of
menstrual cycles, they are having fewer pregnancies. Women are having
fewer pregnancies as they have had economic gains in those
parts of the world, and they are less likely to
be nursing their children than in years past. And again,
(07:19):
all of those are well known factors that relate to
the population risk of breast cancer.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Okay, let's not leave the subject, and I appreciate your time,
But have not the ages when women should start to
get mammograms as recommended by you an I age and
CDC and all of the alphabet soup agencies. Have not
those ages or recommended ages been lowered recently? Could that
(07:49):
contribute to it? Or I mean, obviously i'd hope that
would prevent it in the long run, But is that
something that is concerning or is it something that's that's
actual good news that cancers are getting detected earlier. I'm
trying to look at a positive here in this dark cloud.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Well, let me give you two really important positive. So
the first is you're correct. We are encouraging women now
beginning at age forty to get screening mammograms, and the
US Preventive Health Services Task Force this past year joined
many other organizations that had already lowered the age for
starting mammography to around age forty, So most women should
(08:31):
begin getting screening mammograms at around age forty and typically
continue until age seventy or later. So a little bit
of this is greater detection in women ages forty to
fifty who might not have had early detection before. But
the other really important piece of news is that while
the rate of diagnosis has been going up for breast cancer,
(08:52):
the actual mortality rate, the death rate from breast cancer
continues a steady thirty year decline, and that is because
of much more widespread utilization of mammograms. So there's early
detection and much improved treatment for breast cancer in the
way of endocrine therapies, targeted drugs, immunotherapy, traditional chemotherapy, so
(09:16):
there's more breast cancer being diagnosed, but there actually are
fewer deaths from breast cancer, and that's because of early
detection and better treatment.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
It's always great to end on a positive note, doctor Bursty,
thank you very very much for all the information to
provide it with us in this breast cancer Awareness month.
And I hope many folks will listen to this interview
and they if they missed it, they can listen to
it on Nightside on demand as early as sometime tomorrow morning.
(09:46):
So if you have a loved one who happens to
be in any of those age categories, make sure she
listens to it. And I guess men should be checking
for this as well, not doing mammograms per se, but
certainly be being aware of their own bodies and reactions.
Thank you so much, doctor Burstay, thank.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
You, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Good night.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
You're welcome. Okay, when we get back, a sad note,
but a great career and a great guy, Louis Tillan.
We'll remember Louis Tillan right after this.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Want to welcome back Alberto Vassallo, President, and CEO of
Telemundo in Boston, and we want to talk just for
a little bit here about a great baseball player, and
I think a greater human being, Louis Tiant. Eldionte. I
had a chance to get to know Louis pretty well
after his career. I know Alberto knew him as well. Alberto,
(10:49):
I don't think we're ever going to see the likes
of a Louis Tiant in this town again.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Agree or disagree, Oh, agree on so many different levels
just on the ball field, but austin field too. And
I think oftentimes those across the country don't realize, you know,
what an important role Louis played in kind of the
history of Boston when he came here in seventy one
and seventy two. So he was he was a mighty
(11:15):
tall figure off on and off the field.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, he really fell in love with the community, with Boston,
and Boston fell in love with him at a time
when you know, interracial relations in Boston were really at
a very low point. But I think everybody loved Louis tillant.
(11:43):
The fact that it was a Red Sox helped that.
But he he was just someone who was always willing
to meet people, talk to people, spend time with people.
Very different from a lot of ballplayers who want to
go to the ballpark, go home and and kind of
stay away from people. Louis was just the opposite. He
was he was excited, I think by the fans as
much as they as much as they were excited by
(12:04):
his on field performances.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
Absolutely, you know, I've known Louise my whole life. He
was the reason why I got involved with the Red Sox.
My father knew him from Cuba, so when al Mundo
started in seventy two, Louis had just been here one year,
and he taught me a lot of life's valuable lessons
over the years. He was a great father, faithful husband,
(12:27):
but also a teacher in a very subtle way. He
was a stickler for doing things like he called it
the right way. So I admire Louie. I said, I
was proud that I was probably being Cuban American because
of Louis the ballplayer, but I was prouder to be
Cuban American because of Louis the person. If you ever
(12:48):
get a chance, and you would have that chance, Dan
at some point to touch to accountant fisk A, Yeah,
Jim Rice, any of his teammates. I mean, they love
Louis so much because for exact those reasons you just
talked about, he got along with everybody. And I can
assure Red Sox Nation that as much as Red Sox
(13:10):
Nation loved Louis, Louis loved Boston. He said it was
his second He wouldn't say second his second country.
Speaker 5 (13:18):
I would always say, we're a city where you say no, no,
Boston is my second country.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Yeah. I mean there are so many stories. I remember
I would see Louis often at breakfast as a breakfast
place in Milton that he and I both went to Newcomb's,
which is I forget the major road, but it's a
major road right off of one twenty eight. And you'd
(13:43):
walk in there and he would be with Maria. Uh,
and she was the most beautiful woman in the place.
I mean, she's just there was something about Maria that
at the you know, I don't care if she was
in her sixties, seventies or whatever, stunning. And Louis would
be there and uh, you know, Louis would Louis would
(14:05):
try to pick up your tab and I mean, no,
Loly is my turn and then he would let you
pay for his breakfast. Most generous guy. And uh, just
in the community and available. And of course baseball, you know,
took him to other cities. He was in Cleveland first,
and then he spent a year in Minnesota, and then
he went to the to the Evil Empire for a
(14:26):
little while and finished up in Pittsburgh and uh in California,
and then he did some coaching, and he moved around
and all of that, and he was a baseball lifer,
as they say, but you always came back to Boston.
I got to know Louis a little bit through his biographer,
Joe Fitzgerald. He used to write was a sports guy
in Boston. And I'm sure Joe has interviewed you. Joe
(14:46):
fitz as we called them, loved Louis, loved Louis, and
he would tell and Joe off sadly has passed on,
but he would tell. He could tell Louis stories for hours.
And he did it in books too, By the way,
there was some great books that that he wrote. It included,
you know, a biography of Louis. And I just you know,
when when I read that story yesterday, I had no
(15:08):
idea he was sick. You know, I wasn't his closest
friend or anything, nor know what I expect to. But
I mean when I saw that that news flash yesterday
your hearts.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
You're saying, it was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I really did. Yeah,
that was the feeling. Yeah, you're You're exactly right. I
didn't expect it to happen, so suddenly I knew he
was sick. He was at the ballpark the last weekend
of the season. I was trying to get my father
and him to seach other. I follow him at exactly
the same eighty three. Like I said, they came over
(15:43):
from Cube, my father and Louis. I think I told
you this once. They made a pact here in Boston
never to go back to Cuba until you know, Castro
was dead and there was no communism when Cute.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
When when Louis went back with the family brothers to
do that documentary, he called me, he said, I'm going
to Cute.
Speaker 5 (16:02):
Don't tell your father, don't kill your father. I'm going
to Cuba.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
But then in the premiere he called my dad and
they sat next to each other and they both cried.
I mean, you know it was it was for me
to see my father and Louis crying was very powerful.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Well for him to escape as a young man and
end up pitching. I believe he was pitching in Mexico
City and trying to earn a memory and send money home.
And then obviously his talent was seen by Major League scouts.
And the next thing, at a very young age, at
twenty four, he's pitching for the Cleveland Indians, and he's
(16:43):
having great seasons with them and winning twenty games, and
then all of a sudden, he's got the one down
year with Minnesota and the Red Sox, and he kind
of readjusted or whatever, developed a couple of new pitches,
and next thing, he's in the World Series with the
Red Sox in seventy five and the city falls in
love with him. He had such a spirit. I mean,
(17:03):
he never lost the spirit of a young man. Even
as I aged gracefully. He was a young He's always
young at heart.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Yeah, And you know, one of the issues that is
going to come up Ineverabek is why isn't he in
the Hall of Fame? If you look at his numbers,
if you talk to people like Peter Gammons, who calls
him the absolute best player. Not in the Hall of Fame,
but you look at his numbers. I mean, if you
know baseball, one point six to earn one average, he
(17:37):
led the league several years in the era. He gave
us eight dominant years in baseball. And I would venture
to say I was tuck into a texting back with
ex Governor Charlie Baker who said in Alberto, I'm a
little bit older than you, but when I was growing up,
if there was a clutch game to be won, I
didn't want anybody on the mound. But Louis Tian he
(17:58):
was clutched. And then I started looking at his wreck.
Speaker 5 (18:00):
You know, I never lost a playoff game.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
And again we're talking about complete games. One hundred and
forty seven complete games in his career, and in the
World Series, I think it was Game one on one
hundred and sixty pitches, and he pitched three games in
the World Series. Three games his.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
Lifetime walks, hits, innings pitched is an extraordinary number that
alone should put him in the Hall of Fame, you know,
having pitched nearly thirty five hundred innings, five hundred and
seventy games, and his whip, which is now a statistic
that they didn't used to keep, but now it is
probably the most important pitch statistic for a pitcher, even
more important than e RA one point two zero. No
(18:44):
one else comes even close to that.
Speaker 4 (18:46):
Okay, So here's the thing, right, and his family is
probably not going to talk about that now, But I'll
tell you something that he told me several times in
front of Danny dani is his younger son, and then
several times with me when when the whole issue of
the of the of the Hall of Fame would come up,
and he said, Alberto, you know, if they put me
(19:08):
in the Hall of Fame after I'm dead, I don't
want you going to the ceremony. I don't want my
family showing up, because what am I going to do
after dead? That makes you more more qualified? What am
I going to go back and pitch ten more innings
or ten more games. It's gonna put me over the line.
If they're gonna honor me, do it while I'm alive,
not while I'm dead.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
So I mean, there's a lot of pictures in there
whose numbers are all virtually identical. You can read them
in the Boston Globe this morning, and I think Seanisy's
called him, Alberto. We should still get him in the
Hall of Fame. He belongs there. I know he's he's
playing baseball right now in heaven with Babe Ruth and
(19:48):
lou Gerriic and and and and other other great Willie
WILLI will he's probably walking around introducing me and everybody,
because will he just went up there himself a few
a few weeks ago.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
And you know, he's recreating right now the iconic nineteen
seventy five World Series confrontation with Pete Rose because they
both died, you know, just the way very Louis and
Pete Rose up there recreating the seventy five World Series.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
That's not a bad place to be right now, that's
for sure. Alberto, I believe that. You believe that. Whether
others believe it or not, that's their their choice. But
it's a very company thought. Thank you, my friend, Alberto Maassalo,
the president and CEO of Telemundo Boston.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
And Tellamundo people get mad.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
El Mundo is elmund.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
I'm all right, okay, I'm sorry.
Speaker 6 (20:42):
I know we love each other, both we get along.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
It's not it's not competitive, but al.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Elmund okay, what a difference a letter makes. Thanks Thanks Alberto.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
All right, take care of the very well.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Okay, well, okay. When we get back, we are going
to get the latest on Hurricane Milton, which looks like
a nasty storm down in Florida. They are peeping in
Florida right now. Who say a prayer for them. We'll
be back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
It's Night Side with Ray on Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Delighted to be joined by Matthew Belk. He is a
meteorologist from the National Weather Service. I think you guys
who have the National Weather Service in our neck of
the woods down in Norton, Massachusetts. Is that correct?
Speaker 6 (21:32):
My friend Matthew let us correct Dan.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, so welcome to Night's Side. I don't think you've
ever been with us before, but we got a big
story to talk about tonight. Hurricane Milton. Not named after Milton, Massachusetts,
but it's Hurricane Milton. It's ripping it up tonight in Florida.
How bad are the conditions down there in Florida? This
thing has now made landfall. Correct.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
As of a thirty PM, the National Hurricane Center is
indicated that Milton did make landfall as a category three
hurricane near Csta Keith, Florida. As far as what's specifically
going on right down there in Tampa Bay right now,
it's just probably a lot of strong wind and some
very heavy rainfall. Earlier today, there were numerous widespread tornadoes.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Yeah, I read that. I saw that. I think they
said something like twenty tornadoes and some of them were
These weren't like waterspout tornadoes waterspouts. These were full blown
tornadoes like you'd see at Kansas in Kansas in August,
are Kansas in September? Is that abnormal for a hurricane
to spin off tornadoes or is that expected?
Speaker 6 (22:41):
It's actually expected in the northeast quadrant, And in some
cases the tornadoes don't even have to be right near
the circulation of the hurricane. It could actually be several
states away.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
So is what is likely to happen tonight? Take us
to the next twenty four hours. If this has made landfall,
it's going to go straight across Florida for more of
the projections I saw, so it's not going from Key
West up to Georgia. It's cutting across the state. It's
going to do a lot of damage. I get that,
but it will be out back over the Atlantic Ocean,
(23:14):
probably by this time tomorrow night.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
Right, probably by sometime tomorrow morning, it's expected to be
at least the eye will be expected to be off
the coast to be fully done with the rain bands
on the backside of the storm. Yeah, it would probably
be sometime, you know, twenty four hours from now.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
So a quick, relatively quick, easy for us to say,
easy for me to say, but what could have been
a more prolonged storm on land will be relatively quick.
But it's still going to do tremendous damage, and it's
going to hit parts of Florida that were hit a
week and a half ago by Helene.
Speaker 6 (23:51):
Correct well, actually Helene actually went through the Panhandle of Florida,
so they kind of got a glancing blow from Helene.
This time they're going to get hit full on right across,
going across through central Florida. So they saw from what
I saw from reports, they had a seven foot storm
surge from Helene. And there are some areas along the
(24:12):
west coast of Florida tonight that are expected to see
a storm surge approaching nine to thirteen feet, from Anna
Marie Island to Boca Grande.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So in terms of just raw numbers, seven feet up
to nine feet obviously is worse. But I'm assuming this
sort of a multiple factor here. Seven nine doesn't sound
much more than seven. However, I suspect that nine feet
up to thirteen is going to do significant more damage
(24:45):
than a tide of seven feet helped me out.
Speaker 6 (24:49):
Well, it's not just a question of really anything over
six feet, you know, since most of us aren't more
than six feet tall. You're talking about life threatening storm surge.
When you start approaching nine to thirteen feet in most
first stories of homes, or only ten feet, that's basically
an unsurvivable situation. If you're remaining on the first floor building.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Well, that's the problem.
Speaker 6 (25:11):
That's really the concern that we have.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, well, I saw some reports tonight that said that
there were people who are going to try to ride
it out. And I know that Hurricane Helene which really
hit the Carolinas and some of those southeastern states and cause,
you know, in terms of death totals, I mean, you're
talking about two hundred and twenty people strewn across from
(25:34):
Florida up through Georgia, South a little bit of South Carolina,
western North Carolina, and into Tennessee. This is going to
be more of a Florida centric storm. Is the death
total here expected to exceed Helene or will it? Will
it not be as much because it doesn't not going
(25:55):
to spend that much time over land.
Speaker 6 (25:58):
I don't have any knowledge on those projections, but generally,
to your point, what we advise people to do in
the National Weather Service is to run from the water
and hide from the wind. If you're in a structure
that can withstand the wind, it's perfectly fine to stay
where you are. Where you really do need to leave
if you're going to become in an area that gets
completely flooded or in an area that gets severely isolated from flooding,
(26:23):
as we saw with heline in North Carolina with a
lot of the roads washed out, a lot of people
became isolated very quickly, and then it becomes very difficult
to begin the recovery process or to get aid. So
that's really where we would advise people to leave, as
if you're going to be in an area that's going
to flood or become isolated for a really long time
(26:43):
due to flooding.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Yeah, the problem with that formulation, when you think about it,
is that if you're again picked not to pick on Kansas,
but if you're in Kansas in the middle of a
big tornado, they have all of these tornado cellars. You
go into tornado sella and you ride it out and
you come up and you hope the house is still there.
But if you're going into some sort of a cellar
in Florida to avoid the wind and then the water
(27:08):
comes in, uh, you are then rocked between the rock,
the proverbial rock and hard place. If you know what
I'm saying. I and a lot of people just don't
have the ability to get a great distance away that
some people don't have cars. We assume everybody has a car.
There's some people that are in Florida who are are
you know, they're not wealthy people and they don't and
(27:29):
they don't live in in houses that you know, that
that are built as solidly as maybe a lot of
houses here in the northeast. This is one that I
hope and pray we get lucky, other people in Florida
get lucky on because this is all all of the
(27:49):
everything that I saw on the news tonight was was terrifying.
And thank god, you know, we've had we have had
hurricanes here in New England, and I don't think we've
ever had one of this magnitude, at least in my lifetime. Matthew,
I appreciate you taking the time and answering some questions.
We don't prepare these interviews, so I appreciate it when
someone says, I don't know the answer to that question,
(28:11):
and that's the right answer when you don't know the
answer to the question, and as they say, I'm just
I like to pick people's brains because you about whether
you know a lot more than I do. And so
thank you for the opportunity to get a lot of
information out in front of a lot of people tonight.
Matthew Belk of the National Weather Service, thanks you for
having me.
Speaker 6 (28:31):
Dan, You're welcome.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
When we get back, going to talk to a woman
named Nicole Puzzo, and she has a very interesting clothing
store called b Free Clothing Company. I will explain on
the other side of this quick break on a Wednesday night,
when thank God, things are quiet here in New England,
but say a prayer for folks in other parts of
(28:54):
the country, particularly the people down in Florida for the
next twenty four hours. Back after this.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Now back to Dan Way live from the Window World
to night Side Studios. I'm WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (29:07):
I want to give a shout out to one of
our regular Nightside listeners, Ken from Florida, who called in
but while he was in the phone he lost power. Ken.
If you get a chance and if you're happy to
able to listen on a battery powet radio, if you're
able to reach us, we would love to hear what's
going on in your own world down there in Florida
tonight and stay safe. My friend Low is our fourth
(29:28):
and final guest here in this edition of the night
Side News Update on Wednesday Night. Occovia ninth ninth delighted
to welcome Nicole Phuso. She's the co founder of bee Free,
one of two moms who started this company. First of all, Nicole,
before we talk about the company, how long has this
company been in business and how did you happen to
(29:50):
start this company? I've read a little bit about it,
but I want to learn more about it. But what
what what made you decide to start your own company?
Speaker 7 (30:03):
Well, my daughter Stella has cerebral palsy and at the
age of five, underwent double hip surgery. And basically it
left her and cast on both legs with a bar
in between and actually nothing to dress her in for
about a three month recovery. And after talking with her
doctors at Children's and asking them what to dress somebody
and during recovery like this, they were like, well, dresses,
(30:26):
long shirts, blankets, And to me, that sounded miserable. So
I went out and I bought a paraprit jam of
bottoms for my daughter and took them apart at the
outer seam and at the time just sewed some bellcrow
and was able to sit her in the pants and
put them around her calf, and it was completely It
just changed her entire recovery process. So yeah, yeah, she
(30:47):
wouldn't even leave the house or anything, and people were
coming going all the time. So it just made her
so much more comfortable and it really did perk her
up a little bit during that timeframe. And my business partner,
who was also one of my longtime friends, Joanne to
commil Hell, came over to visit Stella one day and
saw the pants and we started talking about it and
she was just like, we couldn't believe how simple the
(31:07):
design was and how so many people could benefit from them,
so we decided to move forward with making at the
time just a recovery pant. We were thinking and re
formed be Free in twenty and fifteen. However, we got
sidetracked by COVID and officially launched in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Okay, so it's relatively new. So you manufacture the clothing
or do you? Where? Does where does the clothing come from?
Who is it made for? And it's adaptive clothing as
I understand it, And how can individuals who might be
listening and who might be interested in purchasing. I want
(31:47):
to get all the information. So do you manufacture the clothing?
How does the how does the supply materialize? Pardon the putt?
Speaker 7 (31:57):
Yeah, well, we do have a manufacturer that we used
to actually make the pants, although Joanne's mom made all
of our samples at the beginning when we first started out,
thankfully we had her. But we do have a manufacturer
that we use, and we do all our own distribution,
so we basically do all the fulfillment and shipping and
all of that. Right now, it's just the two of us.
(32:18):
We're really small. Our target market is really anyone that
is recovering from a surgery, any type of lower limb surgery.
I mean, they're amazing for that. It seems to be
even just like for the aging population. Adaptive sports is
a huge population for us. We have both adult and
(32:39):
used sizes, and we sell off of our website, which
is befreeco dot com, and we also have an Etsy shop.
We have multiple sizes and multiple colors. And again our
pants are really easy to put on and take off.
You basically they end up completely on the utter seme,
allowing you to dress somebody without having to go up
(33:00):
through their legs. So they are really a game changer
for a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
So are you a Boston or a New England based company?
I see the phone numbers of six one seven number?
Do you have a do you have a brick and mortarsaur?
Is everything done over the.
Speaker 7 (33:16):
Internet right now? It's over the internet. It's we are
in Boston, well they're north of Boston win Swampscott and
we're just out of our home office doing all the
fulfillment and ourselves.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
So do you create clothing for not only kids like
your daughter? How's your daughter doing? By the way, she
got it's when you.
Speaker 7 (33:43):
Started, right, Yeah, she's fifteen. I can't even believe it.
But yeah, she's doing really well. Luckily she hasn't had
to follow up with another surgery similar to that, so
that's been amazing. But yeah, she's doing great, She is
doing great, excellent.
Speaker 4 (33:59):
I had to I had to add, so thank you.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
You do you do again? If I use the word
adaptive clothing, is that a proper term? Is there a
better term for it?
Speaker 7 (34:09):
Well, I would say adaptive and inclusive. I mean, basically,
we've had people ironically use our pants for like stuff.
We never even dreamed that. We have people that have
used them for horseback riding and fishing and gymnastics just
you know, just because they like the ease of taking
the pants on and off without having to take their
shoes off.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
You know.
Speaker 7 (34:28):
So what we like the We like the term universal
or adaptive, but you know it's I don't think either
one is wrong to use.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Okay, okay. So so if someone is dealing with a
child who who needs to get some clothes that would
be more adaptive, they could contact you and this would
also work other I assume for folks on the other
age end of the age spectrum who might be now
(34:56):
more limited as they get older in their ability needs
to maneuver and jump out of bed in the morning
and get dressed in two minutes. Anything that would make
life easier for someone who is caring for an older parent,
I assume that those would be people who could take
advantage as well.
Speaker 7 (35:14):
Correct, Oh, yes, definitely, I think there. Our pants are
really great for caregivers. They do make dressing and undressing.
Our tagline is Dressed with Us Stress for a reason
because it does make that process just a little bit
easier and more dignified for everybody involved. And that's one
of our main goals is just to make everything a
(35:35):
little bit easier. And living it firsthand I can speak
to the how truly easy it is and life changing
for the person you're caring for. I also think that
somebody with limited mobility or somebody who you know can
dress themselves. It's also a great product for them too.
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Well. It's funny I keep thinking about the phrase that
necessity is the mother of invention. Yeah, you know, you
found yourself in a situation where you had to come
up with something and now it's going to benefit other people.
So let's get a website and then let's talk about
how people can get you easily. What U is the website.
Speaker 7 (36:13):
The website is WW dot bfreeco dot com.
Speaker 2 (36:18):
Okay, so all that is is the WWW stuff. I
don't even worry about that anymore. Just go B free
just be b e eco dot com. So bfreeco dot com,
which will okay, yep, and then tell us about the
website at C. I'm familiar with it, but not as
familiar as I should be.
Speaker 7 (36:38):
So at the site that you know, anybody really any
type of idea can be sold on, and we are
on there do The nice thing is that shipps internationally,
so if anyone you know wants to ship out of
the US, they can do that through at D. But
you know, they carry all different types of products from
home goods to clothing to outdoor stuff everything. It's just
(37:00):
another third party seller.
Speaker 2 (37:03):
Excellent, excellent. Well look it sounds like a great purpose
and your meeting with success. B free The website again,
just for to simplify it is bfreeco dot com. Check
it out. B E F R E E c O
all one word, eight letters, lowercase bfreeco dot com. Thank
(37:28):
you so much, Nicol. I enjoyed talking with you, and
please say hello to your daughter for us, and we
wish her every success. I'm sure she's going to have
a great academic experience and she will adapt to whatever
physical limitations she might end up having to deal with.
But she's in our thoughts and press.
Speaker 7 (37:48):
Thank you so much, Nicoll, thank you for having me,
thank you, good night, thank you very welcome.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Here comes to nine o'clock News, and on the other side,
we're going to talk about e b T cards in Massachusetts.
I think you're going to be surprised at some numbers
that we will share right after the nine
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