December 11, 2024 • 35 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
Bob and Pat Kuecker’s Coats for Kids program have donated thousands of winter coats to children and teens served by The Salvation Army from across the City of Boston. This year supporters donated more than 3,000 coats! Bob joined Dan to discuss the program.
Google’s annual look at the trillions of searches performed throughout the year. What were the top topics that fascinated the world? Justin Burr - Google trends expert has the answers.
Boston recognized among 2025 Best Hospitals for Maternity Care. What qualifies as having good maternal health care? Jennifer Winston, Ph.D., Health Data Scientist joined Dan.
Wanting to celebrate Christmas alone…They love their family. They just want to spend Christmas alone. Sydney Page – WaPo journalist checked in with Dan to discuss!
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
Bob and Pat Kuecker’s Coats for Kids program have donated thousands of winter coats to children and teens served by The Salvation Army from across the City of Boston. This year supporters donated more than 3,000 coats! Bob joined Dan to discuss the program.
Google’s annual look at the trillions of searches performed throughout the year. What were the top topics that fascinated the world? Justin Burr - Google trends expert has the answers.
Boston recognized among 2025 Best Hospitals for Maternity Care. What qualifies as having good maternal health care? Jennifer Winston, Ph.D., Health Data Scientist joined Dan.
Wanting to celebrate Christmas alone…They love their family. They just want to spend Christmas alone. Sydney Page – WaPo journalist checked in with Dan to discuss!
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!
Mark as Played
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 Delabs, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I would put that in the category of a surprise.
I would have thought Bill Belichick would want to have
coached in the pros again and become the all time
winniest NFL coach. Interesting back to school for Bill Belichick.
Nicely presented there as a breaking news Nicole. Wow. Interesting,
that's one we'll maybe talk about some night, if not tonight.
(00:28):
Later on this week, my name is Dan Ray and
the host of Knightside. We have our Nightside News Update
coming up, which is a Paul Prie of interesting stories.
May not be the biggest news stories of the day,
but they are all interesting oftentimes stories, particularly this time
of year, about folks who are doing positive things. A
little bit later on tonight, we're going to talk about
(00:49):
pot cafes coming to Massachusetts, not next week, not next month,
but certainly probably some next year. Well, then we're going
to ask the question about whether or not jaywalking should
be legalized in Massachusetts, and if we get some time
later tonight, we're going to push for keeping AM radios
in automobiles, which is important, I think to most talk
(01:09):
show hosts and also important to most drivers who listen
to talk shows on AM radios while they are driving
their cars. But we will begin first tonight with a
really feel good story. A couple I believe they're from Wilmington.
I'm ready to be corrected on that. By the way,
Bob and Pat Kuker Coach for Kids program that have
(01:33):
donated thousands of winter coach to children and teens through
the Salvation Army across the city of Boston with us
is Bob Kuker and Bob I'm hoping I'm pronouncing that correctly.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
It's a little unusual, but it's keeeker, like you put
a keenan door.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Keeker. Okay, well I was looking at the Okay, the vowels,
but that's okay, Keeker. We got it right. Okay. Finally,
thank you very much, I said, I thought in reading,
you're a couple from reading, not Wilmington. I don't know why.
I said Wilmington reading very close, but a couple from reading.
So tell us about this idea. How did it all start?
As I understated that you provided coats through this program
(02:14):
to thousands of kids over the past few years. Tell
us about it.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Well, when my wife and I decided to retire. Our
daughter lived in Stoneham and so we wanted to move
up to be closer to our grandkids. So as we
moved up here, I started asking God that he would
give us a program, some kind of a project where
we would be able to have impact in the lives
of people and at the same time involve other people
(02:41):
in that project. So we went to a local church
one evening looking to get involved. We went to Grace
Chapel and they had.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
The well known church in our area here, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Yes, Well Pastor Doug Whalen at the time was taking
a bunch of people down to the Salvation Army Christmas Castle.
They used to hold a Christmas Castle in the Armory
building and they would give out new toys, two new
toys for every child and a used coat. So my
(03:17):
wife and I went down. We volunteered to go down,
and as the day wore on, they started running out
of coats, and then the coats that they had weren't
exactly of the highest quality. So when we came home
that night, my wife said to me, you know, if
we to make our money go as far as possible,
(03:38):
if we waited until the first of the year to
buy you to buy new coats on sale. We could
make an impact that way. So we sought some counsel
from the Salvation Army saying, hey, is this okay? And
Pastor Doug Whalen said, yeah, by all means, go let's
(03:59):
see what happened. So that first year we set a
goal of providing twenty five coats, and we reached out
to some family and friends and we wound up getting
fifty coats. So the second year we said, well, God
gave us fifty coats in their first year, I mean
twenty fifty and we only asked for twenty five. So
this year we're going to ask for one hundred, and
(04:22):
we got two hundred. And that's when we realized this
could really take off. So we continued to reach out
to family and friends and involving people in the project,
and over the years it just kept getting bigger and
bigger to where this passed August. The Salvation Army has
decided two years ago that they instead of giving the
(04:43):
coats out at Christmas time, but when it's already been cold,
and this year has been one of those years where
at night he gets very cold, so when you wake
up in the morning it's not warm. So they decided
that they would start giving the coats out at PD
Garden to their back the School event in August.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
So this year we.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Went to the TV garden and we wound up giving
out over three thousand coats.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
So in total, I'm sure you have a running total.
How many years have you done this and how many
coats have you been able to distribute?
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I think we're probably over seven thousand, and.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
How many years have you been running the program? Six
or seven years at least.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
I assume we've been doing it for six years.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
That's quite content is.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
But we're already collecting donations for next year because we
do it one year in advance, and we do that
so that the coats can be given out in August
at the beginning of the school year.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
So if folks would like to help you, what's the
easiest way they can participate? Contribute? Be involved? However you
want to describe it, Bob. What how can they get
a contact? Do you have a website? Tell us how
people can reach out to you.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
They can go to the Salvation Army website Salvation ARMYMA
dot org, Salvation armyma dot org and they can pay
by check. Just make the check out to Salvation Army
and in the memo line right coats for kids, and
that money will go to buying coats. Or they can
(06:23):
donate by credit card and they can go to the
same website and there's a button in the upper right
hand corner that says donate, and they just follow the
prompts and at some point they're going to be asked
do you want to leave a comment? And you click
on that and you say coats for kids, and then
make sure you hit the save button and then that
(06:44):
money is going to go for coats for kids. We
managed to get connections with a vendor who gives us
the coats at somewhere between eighteen seventeen and eighteen dollars
a coat. So it's easiest for us if people donate money.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, so these are all new coats. You made that
decision early on, and so it is, yes, an opportunity
for people to Probably the easiest thing is to write
a check, but if you're good at navigating the Salvation
Army website, that's easy as well. Bob Keeker, thanks very much,
(07:23):
thank you wife for this program. You said you moved
up here, are you not Massachusetts natives or were you
living outside the state before you decided to come up.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I'm actually from Wisconsin and my wife is an Air
Force brat, and we spent twelve years in Germany and
then we spent thirty years down in Washington, DC. And
I am a golfer and when it came time to retire,
I thought we either going to stay down there or
going to move south. And my wife said, well, actually
she'd like to live near our grandkids and they were
(07:55):
up here. So I'm one of the few golfers who retirement.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, you're you're a snowbird who with the others towards
the blizzards. Well, sometimes on a nice wintersday they have
they have winter golf and the cape. I'm sure you
can find some friends and get around or two in
in January February, so you're all set for the golf season.
Bob Keeker, thank you very much for what you've done
for all of these kids across the Coomwal to the
(08:22):
Massachusetts and thank you wife for us as well. Please,
thank you.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
I will do thank you all right.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
When we get back, we're going to talk with Justin Burr.
He's a trends expert on Google. I'm not sure if
he works for Google or not. We'll find out, but
we're going to find out what were the biggest number,
what subjects, what issues were searched for the most throughout
this year. He has all the stats, and we'll see
(08:51):
if your searches line up with the searches of most
other people. Back on nights On. My name is Dan Ray.
This is a Wednesday night. If you're driving out there,
please be careful tonight because at different times it is
coming down literally in pockets. This is all the rain
we didn't get in September and October piled into one
rainstorm here in December. But it'll all even out in
(09:12):
the end, will be okay, but please be careful driving tonight.
Listen to WBZ on Boston's news radio ten thirty or
AM dial. You also can find us on the Night
on the on the iHeart, not the Nightheart, the iHeart
app real simple, just downloaded. You can listen to a
variety of iHeart stations, but most importantly WBZ three sixty
five twenty four seven. My name is Dan Ray. Back
(09:35):
on Nightside with our next guest right after this. Now
back to Dan Ray Live from the Window World Nightside
Studios on WBZ News Radio. All of us, I think,
well most of us occasionally use Google to search for something,
whether it's a news story or whether it's some item
(09:56):
we might like to buy with us is Justin Burr's
a Google trends expert? Justin do you work for Google
or do you do this on your own?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
I work at Google. Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Okay, well I figured you'd have to have access to
all this information. How many Google searches are performed every year?
Is it really in the truths?
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Trillions?
Speaker 1 (10:20):
In the trillions? Yeah, it's a lot.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
And how do you you know? I know how political
posters try to figure out how elections are going to go.
They they pick a sample size and a thousand people.
You can figure out pretty much how the country's going
if you balance it correctly. Do you folks monitor the
searches or do you have just a sense of the
subjects that are searched most frequently?
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah? Well, you know, anybody can look at this data.
You can go to trends dot Google dot com and
you can see what's trending in your region in real
time historical trends. So anybody can look at this stuff.
It's not like we've got any secret data. But what
we do for the Year in Search is we look
at anonymized aggregate trends, so nothing is tied back to
(11:08):
a specific individual. We don't know what you're searching for.
It's all anonymized. But we're looking specifically for what made
twenty twenty four unique related to other years. So for example,
Taylor Swift, Beyonce, those types of individuals, they're always trending,
but they're not on our Year in Search twenty twenty
four list because we want to paint a picture of
(11:28):
what is unique to this year. So we're looking for
spikes and a lot of specific interest in these three
hundred and sixty five days.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Okay, so let's have at it. I'm going to take
a guest that Donald Trump must have spiked in twenty
twenty four RZ in that category, the Taylor Swift Beyonce category,
where he's always going to be there anyway.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Yeah, it's good, it's no, you are spot on. He
was the number one searched person in twenty twenty four
in Kamala Harrison number two, and then jd Vance and
Joe Biden rounding up top four. So yes, I think
you're spot on. What twenty twenty four was an extremely
political driven year and that was reflected in the search
interest So all four of those individuals tons of search
(12:11):
interests compared to other years.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
But we say, you said Trump, Harris JD. Vance, and
the fourth.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Was which is Joe Biden? Yep?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
What about two walls?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
He came into number six actually right behind Catherine, Princess
of Wales.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
We had some medical she had some medical problems, right,
m Yeah, So so that I guess would would would
make sense. Was there one that you just didn't expect?
I mean, it sounds to me like you might have
had a pretty good inkling on this is Was there
something that uh, you know, it was so hot for
(12:55):
like three weeks it was able to maintain itself, but
we've forgotten about it already, if you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
I think so the one that I want that I
point back to here is the number one searched athlete,
Mike Tyson, which I you know, he fought Jake Paul
last month and bought things. But that one's so surprising
because like if you would have thought three years ago,
if you were like, I wonder what the number one
trending athlete in twenty twenty four is going to be.
(13:21):
No one is picking Mike Tyson. But because of that fight,
he drove a lot of search interest and yeah, it's
crazy to think that he was the number one trending
athlete this year.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
All right, that's that's interesting. So I assume that because
we have eleven and a half months done, these these
figures and these individuals or these topics are pretty much
locked in what was there a topic? It seems to
(13:51):
me that obviously we're talking in all these categories individuals,
was there a topic that perhaps uh was also what
was the top trending topic? If if if you if
you have that?
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, we kind of broke things down into more sort
of subtopics, and I think one of the most surprising
ones is we have different categories for Internet theories. We
have different categories for trend meaning in an also aesthetic,
and we make those categories because we're seeing strong search
interests amongst those categories. So, for example, in the Internet
(14:25):
theory category, we have the burnt toast theory, the orange
peel theory, the October theory. I don't know if you
know what any of those things are, but they were
very strong on social media.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
And that case, I'm assuming the October theory is it
will there be an Octoba surprise?
Speaker 1 (14:45):
What is what does that mean?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
An Octoba surprise is what political people are always saying
up as they run up to an election, They'll be
an October surprise. So obviously, what what was the theory
of October? Since if it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Politically Yeah, that is an interesting that's an interesting one. Okay, yeah, no,
it's not that. So the October theory is, how so
it's saying that October is a better month for you
to like that reflections and set new Year's resolutions, rather
than doing that right before January first, because then you
(15:24):
have the pressure of Christmas and then you have the
pressure of the new year. But October is a better
month for that sort of reflection.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
What was the orange theory?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:34):
The orange peel theory is also it looks at how
your romantic partner is able to take on small tasks
for you and then their representation of longevity related to that. So,
for example, if you ask your partner to peel an
orange for you and they say yes, they'll do that,
(15:54):
then that is a good indication of longevity there. But
if they're not willing to peel an orange for you
and for some sort of a small task like that,
maybe it's an indication to get out of there.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Interesting And what was the first theories? I know that
was the third and the second? What was the first one?
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yeah, the first one was the burnt toast theory.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
And okay, okay, so what's the I'm all layers on
this one, go ahead justin okay.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
So this one is in the morning, you're getting ready
for work, you're getting ready for your day or whatever,
you accidentally burn your toast and you have to make
new toasts. So that then sets your day back like
two to three minutes. And then what cascade of events
would that have in terms of the rest of your day.
And it's pointing back towards a positivity that set that
that sets in motion. Maybe you run into an old
(16:42):
friend or you meet somebody that changes the rest of
your day. So there's some sort of thing to say
around like maybe some sort of minor inconvenience in the
morning can actually be a positive throughout the day.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Well, boy, that that is that's like the old glasses
half full or or half full or totally you know,
half full glass positive? How do you describe it? That's interesting.
I would assume they would have said burnt toast cost
me three minutes more to do my toast. I missed
four red lights that I normally hit in succession. Uh,
and my day went downhill from there, sort of like
(17:14):
a waterfall. So I didn't even understand that, But you
didn't understand the October surprise. So hey, we're even justin now,
or even check with me a year from now. I'll
give you some I'll give you some trends.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
But we could we could talk.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I think I think both of us have some some
some common interest and some disparate interest. And if I
could be of help, let me know. I'm always looking
to help out Google. Okay, it's just it.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Hey, thanks so much. I appreciate it, very very much.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Appreciate your time. You're good sport. Thanks so much. When
we get back, we're going to talk about a positive
for Boston, Boston recognized upcoming amongst the butt best hospitals
from maternity care. Those of you who might be expecting
a the stork to stop by, as we say, we're
going to talk with a health data scientist about the studies,
(18:04):
which I believe is based in US News and World Report.
We'll talk about that, and then on our final subject
this hour is going to be people wanting to spread,
to celebrate or spend Christmas alone. Going to talk with
Sidney Page of the Washington Post. So stay with us.
We're going to get to our talk talk topics right
(18:26):
after the nine o'clock news, But first we have the
eight thirty at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
It's night Side with.
Speaker 5 (18:34):
Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Delighted to welcome Jennifer Winston, Doctor Jennifer Winston. She is
going to talk about a new study that suggests that
some of the best maternity hospitals in the world are
right in our backyard. Doctor Winston. Welcome to Nightside. How
are you?
Speaker 4 (18:58):
Thank you? I'm great. How are you now?
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Did you conduct the study or were you involved? You
are You're You're not a physician, but you're a health
data scientist. Were you involved in this study or are
we talking about the US News and World Report a
story from that recently appeared.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Yeah, so I am a health data scientist at US
News and World Report, and it is yes, it is US.
So we are the ones that collected the data and
did this analysis, and we are really happy to announce
the four hundred and fourteen hospitals that we recognized as
best hospitals for maternity care this year.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Now, dumb question, but how many hospitals in the country
have maternity care? I mean, I'm just curious how selective
a figure of four hundred and fourteen is.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
It's pretty selective. There are over two thousand hospitals that
provide maternity care throughout the country. Those eight hundred and
seventeen participated in the survey this year. That's an all
time high for US. And so then of those eight
hundred and seventeen, we recognized just about half as best
(20:12):
hospitals from eternity care.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
So how are we doing here in New England? Even
more specifically within the greater Boston area.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Boston area is doing great. There are six hospitals best
hospitals from maternity care in the larger Boston area. Boston
Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Mount
Auburn Hospital, Melrose Wakefield Hospital in Boston and then Wentworth A.
(20:42):
Douglas Hospital in Dover, New Hampshire were all recognized as
best hospitals from maternity care.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
So with those the sixth that you introduced us to
one in New Hampshire. Are there other hospitals in New
England as well? Or is that number here in New England?
Speaker 4 (21:02):
That is, there are others in New England. There are
two others actually in Massachusetts South Coast Hospitals Fall River,
New Bedford and Wareham and then also Berkshire Medical Center
in Pittsfield are also best hospitals.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Well, the hospital that my wife and I had our
children at was Newton Wellesley Hospital, which is a great hospital. Unfortunately,
not interested in your group, but we're blessed to have
all of these hospitals around. Is there at least one,
you know, superior or one really exceptional maternity hospital in
(21:40):
every state all fifty states?
Speaker 4 (21:44):
I'm sure that there are. We are there. We do
have some states that we haven't received hospital surveys from, Okay,
so but we do. It is a nationwide survey and
we do hope to continue to get more information about
hospitals each year.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
What are the standards that you're looking for? Are there
some common characteristics that separate the good hospitals from the
great hospitals or from the great hospitals from the good hospitals,
I should say absolutely.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
We collect data on a number of both outcome measures
and then best practice measures, and there really is a
pretty stark difference between the hospitals that we're recognizing as
high performing and the hospitals that didn't quite make that cut. So,
for example, the hospitals that are recognized as best hospitals
(22:42):
from Eternity Care have C section rates that are on
average twenty two percent lower than unrecognized hospitals and severe
unexpected newborn complication rates that are forty four percent lower
than unrecognized hospitals. They're also more likely to get in
these best practices, so they're forty seven percent more likely
(23:03):
to be designated as baby friendly, which indicates that they're
taking important steps to support breastfeeding. And they are more
likely to be reporting data on whether they have any
disparities by race and ethnicity, which is really important to
trying to bridge those gaps.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
So those are some of the categories where the qualifications
are a determined I guess, and is there one hospital
in this group at the top of the list, whether
it's in New England or not, that should be recognized tonight,
we're heard in about thirty eight states, most states east
of the Mississippi River. I don't know if you've ranked
(23:45):
these hospitals from one to four hundred and seventeen or
whatever the number is, but is there one that is
head and shoulders above all the rest.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
We don't actually rank hospitals for best hospitals from Eternity Care,
but they do. All the hospitals that we rate as
best hospitals really have met these high standards, and we
do provide that list hospital people throughout the country can
look up on dot US news dot com to find
(24:15):
a hospital near them and learn about the quality of
the care that is being provided at that hospital.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
And okay, so that website again give it to us
a little bit more slowly. It's health go ahead.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
Health Health dot usnews dot com.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Does US News Report. I don't want to be ignorant,
but we also rely so much on computers these days.
Does US World and News Report? Do they still publish
a magazine, you know, every every month or every week
that you can hold in your hand. Is it all
online these days?
Speaker 4 (24:51):
It is all online these days. For many, many decades,
we were a print organization, but we have since switched
to an online form of communication, and so we're online
only these days.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
And when was that switch? Maneam just because I've followed this,
I see I've seen with Newsweek and Time and things
like that. And I'm somebody who always loves the tech
tile techtile feel of a magazine or a newspaper. Yeah,
it's a little bit of old school here. When did
you guys make that that switch? Was it abrupt or
was it over some period of time.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
I know that we were one of the first news
organizations US nationwide news organizations to make that switch to
all digital. I don't know off the top of my
head what year it was, but I.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Assume that digital subscriptions are available or or do you
or just get it through the through the website and
then advertising support the Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
Yeah, all information at health dot usnews dot com is
free to the public. So anyone who wants to log
in and check out the information we have there, that's
information is all free.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
That's great. These these sometimes are tough questions to ask
because it's every every media, every aspect of the media business,
whether it's in radio what I work or in television
when I worked in for thirty years. We're all going
through these various transitions, and certainly print journals newspapers are
going through the transitions as well. And I think it's
(26:25):
best if people understand, because you know, there are there
are people, young people who wouldn't remember you as World
of News Report as a magazine, but I certainly did.
And I was wondering if it if it was still
available in you know, in actual pay per form, But
now I know, and I thank you for that, and
I thank you for providing all this information about the
best maternity hospitals. People can look it up, check it out,
(26:48):
and pick that into consideration when they decide to have
that that new member of the family and during twenty
twenty five or beyond. Thank you so much, Jennifer, appreciate
your call.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Thank you, talk to you again.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Okay, this is kind of an interesting one coming up
at a well it's a forty seven now, so we're
a minute or two late. We're going to talk with
Sydney Page, she's a Washington Post journalist, about people wanting
to celebrate Christmas alone. They love their family, but they
just want to spend Christmas alone. I've got some interesting
(27:26):
questions for I think a very interesting topic coming right up.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
Nice Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
On the surface, this sounds like a sad story, but
maybe not waiting to celebrate wanting to celebrate Christmas alone
with a Sydney Page Washington Post journalist. Hi Sydney How
are you tonight?
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Hi?
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Dan?
Speaker 5 (27:50):
I'm good things. How are you?
Speaker 2 (27:52):
This is an interesting story, tell us about it. These
are not people who are necessarily anti Christmas on people
who are saying bah humbug. This is people who just
kind of want to, I guess, disassociate themselves from all
of the family related activity that revolves around the holidays,
and not only the Christmas but Hanka kwansa, et cetera
(28:14):
during this time of year. Let's what did you find out?
How'd you hook onto this story? It's interesting.
Speaker 5 (28:20):
It was just an idea that came to me. I
wondered about people who might be spending the holidays alone,
and I started doing some digging online on social media
and actually finding people who were kind of glamorizing the
experience of a solo Christmas by choice. And I think
that the key factor is by choice, and that's kind
of what makes this not a sad story but in
(28:40):
fact sort of a joyful one. It's people who are
empowered to do something that they know is going to
be a better outcome for them than perhaps you know,
and meeting up with families. There's a lot of pressure
around the holidays, so I think that you know, a
lot of people have decided I'm going to do what's
good for me this year.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
So what is the common end? I don't know how
many folks you might have talked to. I saw when
I read the article that there were people you talk to,
but just sort of what's the commonality. I assume there
might be some people who are restranged and just say
I don't want to go through it again, and then
maybe other people who are overwhelmed and have anxiety issues.
Is there a commonality or no.
Speaker 5 (29:17):
I think it was a mix of things. The majority
of people I spoke with actually do have a very
loving relationship with their families, so it wasn't a situation
where they didn't want to have to be around, you know,
certain family members. It was more so an amalgamation of
stressors that we all experience around the holidays, and the
pressure of travel and spending a lot of money on gifts.
(29:38):
And I think also the proximity between Christmas and Thanksgiving.
A lot of people travel for Thanksgiving and then have
to turn back around and travel yet again. It's another,
you know, big expense, and so people kind of just
get overwhelmed. And I think the common thread was wanting
to just enjoy their own company, not wanting to have
to pick up and move and go to a different location.
(30:00):
And I think that even for people who love their families,
being in an environment where they're surrounded by family members
for a long stretch of time who they haven't necessarily
spent such a concentrated period of time with, you know,
on a regular basis, that can be overwhelming. It can
be stressful.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
So people are just saying, no, you know.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
It's funny when you use the phrase enjoy their own company.
I understand what you mean, but it almost seems oxymoronic
to say that you want to enjoy your own company alone,
because the concept of enjoying company is with other people.
Speaker 5 (30:33):
If you get my drift totally, well, I think, you know.
I spoke to the social psychologist for the story, and
she was explaining to me the difference between loneliness and
solitude and how you know, we often conflate the two,
but there really is a big difference, and solitude is
actually quite a restorative important thing. Spending time with yourself
is an important thing. And I think the key distinguisher
(30:55):
is choice. Is someone choosing to spend time alone. It
is wholly different than someone who feels forced to spend
time alone. And I think that, uh, you know, spend
time alone at the holidays actually can be a really
blissful and relaxing thing for people.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Is there any disparity between the genders here of the
people who you found more males, more females, or kind
of even more split? And again, I know that a
scientific survey, I.
Speaker 5 (31:25):
Guess yeah, So I can't give you a definitive answer there.
I can't say I spoke with more women than men,
but there were men as well, so it wasn't a
huge disparity in terms of who I was able to
find who is choosing to spend Christmas alone? And also
in the comment section on the on the article, one
thing I've been really pleased to see, as a lot
of people are saying, you know, I feel seen this
(31:45):
is exactly how I've how I've approached the holidays for
the last however many years, and it seems as though,
and I can't know for sure, but it seems as
though it's people of all genders and ages, and there's
not really, uh, you know, major group that is feeling
this way. It sort of seems to be spread among
many different people, So it's not just the female thing
(32:07):
or a male thing. It seems to be everyone to
an extent.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
You mentioned earlier on the proximity of Thanksgiving, and you
also mentioned travel. Is there a relationship between the travel
How much of a factor is that? Meaning? I assume
that if you're living in the same town as a
lot of family members, you probably would be looked upon
(32:32):
somewhat skeptically if you said, well, I'm not participating this year.
But if you live at the continent away or a
couple thousand miles away, you can always say, gee, I
just saw you guys, And as much as I'd love
to come back, I don't want to go through the
craziness of airports or train stations. Is there a geographical
factor here?
Speaker 4 (32:52):
Definitely?
Speaker 5 (32:53):
I mean, I think that the three people who are
featured in the article all have family members quite a
way the way. For instance, one woman I interviewed, her
name is Liz. She at the time last Christmas and
the Christmas before she was living in DC. She's now
in New York. Her family is all in San Francisco.
So she goes to San Francisco for Thanksgiving and to
then turn back around and go for Christmas, which is historically.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
What she's done for many many.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
Years, not only with a big financial dream, but also
just the travel flog, especially at that time of year,
is stressful.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
So okay, my last question is the people who spend
Christmas alone away from their families, what do they do?
They do they just stay indoors that you know, and
read a good book or what is the what's their
practice on the Christmas Eve the Christmas Day? Are they
(33:44):
all to themselves or do they go out and mix
and mingle maybe in fro try to find other people
who are who are spending the holiday alone.
Speaker 5 (33:53):
Right, It depends on the person, And I think the
whole idea is they're doing what they want. So it's
very much individual preference. I spoke to one woman who
is very much focused on self care. She takes back,
she does yoga, she cooks, and does things that give
her pleasure and joy. I spoke with a man who
took himself to a four course dinner all on his
(34:14):
own on Christmas Eve, and another woman who booked herself
a trip to New York City for the weekend, and
she's just doing that by herself and going to shows
and doing things there that she's excited to do. So
it just it's totally a personal preference. But it seems
as though people who are choosing to spend the holidays
alone genuinely are doing it alone. They're not mingling out
(34:34):
with other people. They're kind of just doing what they
want on their own.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
All right, Well, there was the story about I think
the New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers who goes off
in these retreats by himself and was perceived as be
kind of an odd thing to do. But maybe this
is a trend. Thank you so much, Siddy, great to
talk with you. I love your enthusiasm at the story.
(35:00):
I love the fact that you figured it out and
this is a reported generated story. Uh. Again, I always
knew there were people out there who probably were alone
on Christmas, but I never thought of them of being
alone intentionally and it opens up. It opens up I
think my eyes and maybe some other people's eyes as well.
Thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Sydney, Thank you for having me. Take care, love it,
love it.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Love it. They'll have you back. Thanks. All right, four
interesting topics. We're done with the Nightside news update and
we are on to the topics of the night and
we're going to start off with pot cafes Merrick cannabis cafes,
I guess are coming to Massachusetts. Are you excited or
(35:46):
are you concerned? Back on Nightside right after the nine
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Delabs, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I would put that in the category of a surprise.
I would have thought Bill Belichick would want to have
coached in the pros again and become the all time
winniest NFL coach. Interesting back to school for Bill Belichick.
Nicely presented there as a breaking news Nicole. Wow. Interesting,
that's one we'll maybe talk about some night, if not tonight.
(00:28):
Later on this week, my name is Dan Ray and
the host of Knightside. We have our Nightside News Update
coming up, which is a Paul Prie of interesting stories.
May not be the biggest news stories of the day,
but they are all interesting oftentimes stories, particularly this time
of year, about folks who are doing positive things. A
little bit later on tonight, we're going to talk about
(00:49):
pot cafes coming to Massachusetts, not next week, not next month,
but certainly probably some next year. Well, then we're going
to ask the question about whether or not jaywalking should
be legalized in Massachusetts, and if we get some time
later tonight, we're going to push for keeping AM radios
in automobiles, which is important, I think to most talk
(01:09):
show hosts and also important to most drivers who listen
to talk shows on AM radios while they are driving
their cars. But we will begin first tonight with a
really feel good story. A couple I believe they're from Wilmington.
I'm ready to be corrected on that. By the way,
Bob and Pat Kuker Coach for Kids program that have
(01:33):
donated thousands of winter coach to children and teens through
the Salvation Army across the city of Boston with us
is Bob Kuker and Bob I'm hoping I'm pronouncing that correctly.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
It's a little unusual, but it's keeeker, like you put
a keenan door.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Keeker. Okay, well I was looking at the Okay, the vowels,
but that's okay, Keeker. We got it right. Okay. Finally,
thank you very much, I said, I thought in reading,
you're a couple from reading, not Wilmington. I don't know why.
I said Wilmington reading very close, but a couple from reading.
So tell us about this idea. How did it all start?
As I understated that you provided coats through this program
(02:14):
to thousands of kids over the past few years. Tell
us about it.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Well, when my wife and I decided to retire. Our
daughter lived in Stoneham and so we wanted to move
up to be closer to our grandkids. So as we
moved up here, I started asking God that he would
give us a program, some kind of a project where
we would be able to have impact in the lives
of people and at the same time involve other people
(02:41):
in that project. So we went to a local church
one evening looking to get involved. We went to Grace
Chapel and they had.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
The well known church in our area here, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Yes, Well Pastor Doug Whalen at the time was taking
a bunch of people down to the Salvation Army Christmas Castle.
They used to hold a Christmas Castle in the Armory
building and they would give out new toys, two new
toys for every child and a used coat. So my
(03:17):
wife and I went down. We volunteered to go down,
and as the day wore on, they started running out
of coats, and then the coats that they had weren't
exactly of the highest quality. So when we came home
that night, my wife said to me, you know, if
we to make our money go as far as possible,
(03:38):
if we waited until the first of the year to
buy you to buy new coats on sale. We could
make an impact that way. So we sought some counsel
from the Salvation Army saying, hey, is this okay? And
Pastor Doug Whalen said, yeah, by all means, go let's
(03:59):
see what happened. So that first year we set a
goal of providing twenty five coats, and we reached out
to some family and friends and we wound up getting
fifty coats. So the second year we said, well, God
gave us fifty coats in their first year, I mean
twenty fifty and we only asked for twenty five. So
this year we're going to ask for one hundred, and
(04:22):
we got two hundred. And that's when we realized this
could really take off. So we continued to reach out
to family and friends and involving people in the project,
and over the years it just kept getting bigger and
bigger to where this passed August. The Salvation Army has
decided two years ago that they instead of giving the
(04:43):
coats out at Christmas time, but when it's already been cold,
and this year has been one of those years where
at night he gets very cold, so when you wake
up in the morning it's not warm. So they decided
that they would start giving the coats out at PD
Garden to their back the School event in August.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
So this year we.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Went to the TV garden and we wound up giving
out over three thousand coats.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
So in total, I'm sure you have a running total.
How many years have you done this and how many
coats have you been able to distribute?
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I think we're probably over seven thousand, and.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
How many years have you been running the program? Six
or seven years at least.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
I assume we've been doing it for six years.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
That's quite content is.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
But we're already collecting donations for next year because we
do it one year in advance, and we do that
so that the coats can be given out in August
at the beginning of the school year.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
So if folks would like to help you, what's the
easiest way they can participate? Contribute? Be involved? However you
want to describe it, Bob. What how can they get
a contact? Do you have a website? Tell us how
people can reach out to you.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
They can go to the Salvation Army website Salvation ARMYMA
dot org, Salvation armyma dot org and they can pay
by check. Just make the check out to Salvation Army
and in the memo line right coats for kids, and
that money will go to buying coats. Or they can
(06:23):
donate by credit card and they can go to the
same website and there's a button in the upper right
hand corner that says donate, and they just follow the
prompts and at some point they're going to be asked
do you want to leave a comment? And you click
on that and you say coats for kids, and then
make sure you hit the save button and then that
(06:44):
money is going to go for coats for kids. We
managed to get connections with a vendor who gives us
the coats at somewhere between eighteen seventeen and eighteen dollars
a coat. So it's easiest for us if people donate money.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Yeah, so these are all new coats. You made that
decision early on, and so it is, yes, an opportunity
for people to Probably the easiest thing is to write
a check, but if you're good at navigating the Salvation
Army website, that's easy as well. Bob Keeker, thanks very much,
(07:23):
thank you wife for this program. You said you moved
up here, are you not Massachusetts natives or were you
living outside the state before you decided to come up.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I'm actually from Wisconsin and my wife is an Air
Force brat, and we spent twelve years in Germany and
then we spent thirty years down in Washington, DC. And
I am a golfer and when it came time to retire,
I thought we either going to stay down there or
going to move south. And my wife said, well, actually
she'd like to live near our grandkids and they were
(07:55):
up here. So I'm one of the few golfers who retirement.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, you're you're a snowbird who with the others towards
the blizzards. Well, sometimes on a nice wintersday they have
they have winter golf and the cape. I'm sure you
can find some friends and get around or two in
in January February, so you're all set for the golf season.
Bob Keeker, thank you very much for what you've done
for all of these kids across the Coomwal to the
(08:22):
Massachusetts and thank you wife for us as well. Please,
thank you.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
I will do thank you all right.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
When we get back, we're going to talk with Justin Burr.
He's a trends expert on Google. I'm not sure if
he works for Google or not. We'll find out, but
we're going to find out what were the biggest number,
what subjects, what issues were searched for the most throughout
this year. He has all the stats, and we'll see
(08:51):
if your searches line up with the searches of most
other people. Back on nights On. My name is Dan Ray.
This is a Wednesday night. If you're driving out there,
please be careful tonight because at different times it is
coming down literally in pockets. This is all the rain
we didn't get in September and October piled into one
rainstorm here in December. But it'll all even out in
(09:12):
the end, will be okay, but please be careful driving tonight.
Listen to WBZ on Boston's news radio ten thirty or
AM dial. You also can find us on the Night
on the on the iHeart, not the Nightheart, the iHeart
app real simple, just downloaded. You can listen to a
variety of iHeart stations, but most importantly WBZ three sixty
five twenty four seven. My name is Dan Ray. Back
(09:35):
on Nightside with our next guest right after this. Now
back to Dan Ray Live from the Window World Nightside
Studios on WBZ News Radio. All of us, I think,
well most of us occasionally use Google to search for something,
whether it's a news story or whether it's some item
(09:56):
we might like to buy with us is Justin Burr's
a Google trends expert? Justin do you work for Google
or do you do this on your own?
Speaker 1 (10:06):
I work at Google. Yeah?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Okay, well I figured you'd have to have access to
all this information. How many Google searches are performed every year?
Is it really in the truths?
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Trillions?
Speaker 1 (10:20):
In the trillions? Yeah, it's a lot.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
And how do you you know? I know how political
posters try to figure out how elections are going to go.
They they pick a sample size and a thousand people.
You can figure out pretty much how the country's going
if you balance it correctly. Do you folks monitor the
searches or do you have just a sense of the
subjects that are searched most frequently?
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah? Well, you know, anybody can look at this data.
You can go to trends dot Google dot com and
you can see what's trending in your region in real
time historical trends. So anybody can look at this stuff.
It's not like we've got any secret data. But what
we do for the Year in Search is we look
at anonymized aggregate trends, so nothing is tied back to
(11:08):
a specific individual. We don't know what you're searching for.
It's all anonymized. But we're looking specifically for what made
twenty twenty four unique related to other years. So for example,
Taylor Swift, Beyonce, those types of individuals, they're always trending,
but they're not on our Year in Search twenty twenty
four list because we want to paint a picture of
(11:28):
what is unique to this year. So we're looking for
spikes and a lot of specific interest in these three
hundred and sixty five days.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Okay, so let's have at it. I'm going to take
a guest that Donald Trump must have spiked in twenty
twenty four RZ in that category, the Taylor Swift Beyonce category,
where he's always going to be there anyway.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Yeah, it's good, it's no, you are spot on. He
was the number one searched person in twenty twenty four
in Kamala Harrison number two, and then jd Vance and
Joe Biden rounding up top four. So yes, I think
you're spot on. What twenty twenty four was an extremely
political driven year and that was reflected in the search
interest So all four of those individuals tons of search
(12:11):
interests compared to other years.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
But we say, you said Trump, Harris JD. Vance, and
the fourth.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Was which is Joe Biden? Yep?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
What about two walls?
Speaker 1 (12:26):
He came into number six actually right behind Catherine, Princess
of Wales.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
We had some medical she had some medical problems, right,
m Yeah, So so that I guess would would would
make sense. Was there one that you just didn't expect?
I mean, it sounds to me like you might have
had a pretty good inkling on this is Was there
something that uh, you know, it was so hot for
(12:55):
like three weeks it was able to maintain itself, but
we've forgotten about it already, if you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
I think so the one that I want that I
point back to here is the number one searched athlete,
Mike Tyson, which I you know, he fought Jake Paul
last month and bought things. But that one's so surprising
because like if you would have thought three years ago,
if you were like, I wonder what the number one
trending athlete in twenty twenty four is going to be.
(13:21):
No one is picking Mike Tyson. But because of that fight,
he drove a lot of search interest and yeah, it's
crazy to think that he was the number one trending
athlete this year.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
All right, that's that's interesting. So I assume that because
we have eleven and a half months done, these these
figures and these individuals or these topics are pretty much
locked in what was there a topic? It seems to
(13:51):
me that obviously we're talking in all these categories individuals,
was there a topic that perhaps uh was also what
was the top trending topic? If if if you if
you have that?
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, we kind of broke things down into more sort
of subtopics, and I think one of the most surprising
ones is we have different categories for Internet theories. We
have different categories for trend meaning in an also aesthetic,
and we make those categories because we're seeing strong search
interests amongst those categories. So, for example, in the Internet
(14:25):
theory category, we have the burnt toast theory, the orange
peel theory, the October theory. I don't know if you
know what any of those things are, but they were
very strong on social media.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
And that case, I'm assuming the October theory is it
will there be an Octoba surprise?
Speaker 1 (14:45):
What is what does that mean?
Speaker 2 (14:48):
An Octoba surprise is what political people are always saying
up as they run up to an election, They'll be
an October surprise. So obviously, what what was the theory
of October? Since if it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Politically Yeah, that is an interesting that's an interesting one. Okay, yeah, no,
it's not that. So the October theory is, how so
it's saying that October is a better month for you
to like that reflections and set new Year's resolutions, rather
than doing that right before January first, because then you
(15:24):
have the pressure of Christmas and then you have the
pressure of the new year. But October is a better
month for that sort of reflection.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
What was the orange theory?
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:34):
The orange peel theory is also it looks at how
your romantic partner is able to take on small tasks
for you and then their representation of longevity related to that. So,
for example, if you ask your partner to peel an
orange for you and they say yes, they'll do that,
(15:54):
then that is a good indication of longevity there. But
if they're not willing to peel an orange for you
and for some sort of a small task like that,
maybe it's an indication to get out of there.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Interesting And what was the first theories? I know that
was the third and the second? What was the first one?
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yeah, the first one was the burnt toast theory.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
And okay, okay, so what's the I'm all layers on
this one, go ahead justin okay.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
So this one is in the morning, you're getting ready
for work, you're getting ready for your day or whatever,
you accidentally burn your toast and you have to make
new toasts. So that then sets your day back like
two to three minutes. And then what cascade of events
would that have in terms of the rest of your day.
And it's pointing back towards a positivity that set that
that sets in motion. Maybe you run into an old
(16:42):
friend or you meet somebody that changes the rest of
your day. So there's some sort of thing to say
around like maybe some sort of minor inconvenience in the
morning can actually be a positive throughout the day.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Well, boy, that that is that's like the old glasses
half full or or half full or totally you know,
half full glass positive? How do you describe it? That's interesting.
I would assume they would have said burnt toast cost
me three minutes more to do my toast. I missed
four red lights that I normally hit in succession. Uh,
and my day went downhill from there, sort of like
(17:14):
a waterfall. So I didn't even understand that, But you
didn't understand the October surprise. So hey, we're even justin now,
or even check with me a year from now. I'll
give you some I'll give you some trends.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
But we could we could talk.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
I think I think both of us have some some
some common interest and some disparate interest. And if I
could be of help, let me know. I'm always looking
to help out Google. Okay, it's just it.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Hey, thanks so much. I appreciate it, very very much.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Appreciate your time. You're good sport. Thanks so much. When
we get back, we're going to talk about a positive
for Boston, Boston recognized upcoming amongst the butt best hospitals
from maternity care. Those of you who might be expecting
a the stork to stop by, as we say, we're
going to talk with a health data scientist about the studies,
(18:04):
which I believe is based in US News and World Report.
We'll talk about that, and then on our final subject
this hour is going to be people wanting to spread,
to celebrate or spend Christmas alone. Going to talk with
Sidney Page of the Washington Post. So stay with us.
We're going to get to our talk talk topics right
(18:26):
after the nine o'clock news, But first we have the
eight thirty at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
It's night Side with.
Speaker 5 (18:34):
Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Delighted to welcome Jennifer Winston, Doctor Jennifer Winston. She is
going to talk about a new study that suggests that
some of the best maternity hospitals in the world are
right in our backyard. Doctor Winston. Welcome to Nightside. How
are you?
Speaker 4 (18:58):
Thank you? I'm great. How are you now?
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Did you conduct the study or were you involved? You
are You're You're not a physician, but you're a health
data scientist. Were you involved in this study or are
we talking about the US News and World Report a
story from that recently appeared.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Yeah, so I am a health data scientist at US
News and World Report, and it is yes, it is US.
So we are the ones that collected the data and
did this analysis, and we are really happy to announce
the four hundred and fourteen hospitals that we recognized as
best hospitals for maternity care this year.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Now, dumb question, but how many hospitals in the country
have maternity care? I mean, I'm just curious how selective
a figure of four hundred and fourteen is.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
It's pretty selective. There are over two thousand hospitals that
provide maternity care throughout the country. Those eight hundred and
seventeen participated in the survey this year. That's an all
time high for US. And so then of those eight
hundred and seventeen, we recognized just about half as best
(20:12):
hospitals from eternity care.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
So how are we doing here in New England? Even
more specifically within the greater Boston area.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
Boston area is doing great. There are six hospitals best
hospitals from maternity care in the larger Boston area. Boston
Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Mount
Auburn Hospital, Melrose Wakefield Hospital in Boston and then Wentworth A.
(20:42):
Douglas Hospital in Dover, New Hampshire were all recognized as
best hospitals from maternity care.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
So with those the sixth that you introduced us to
one in New Hampshire. Are there other hospitals in New
England as well? Or is that number here in New England?
Speaker 4 (21:02):
That is, there are others in New England. There are
two others actually in Massachusetts South Coast Hospitals Fall River,
New Bedford and Wareham and then also Berkshire Medical Center
in Pittsfield are also best hospitals.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Well, the hospital that my wife and I had our
children at was Newton Wellesley Hospital, which is a great hospital. Unfortunately,
not interested in your group, but we're blessed to have
all of these hospitals around. Is there at least one,
you know, superior or one really exceptional maternity hospital in
(21:40):
every state all fifty states?
Speaker 4 (21:44):
I'm sure that there are. We are there. We do
have some states that we haven't received hospital surveys from, Okay,
so but we do. It is a nationwide survey and
we do hope to continue to get more information about
hospitals each year.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
What are the standards that you're looking for? Are there
some common characteristics that separate the good hospitals from the
great hospitals or from the great hospitals from the good hospitals,
I should say absolutely.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
We collect data on a number of both outcome measures
and then best practice measures, and there really is a
pretty stark difference between the hospitals that we're recognizing as
high performing and the hospitals that didn't quite make that cut. So,
for example, the hospitals that are recognized as best hospitals
(22:42):
from Eternity Care have C section rates that are on
average twenty two percent lower than unrecognized hospitals and severe
unexpected newborn complication rates that are forty four percent lower
than unrecognized hospitals. They're also more likely to get in
these best practices, so they're forty seven percent more likely
(23:03):
to be designated as baby friendly, which indicates that they're
taking important steps to support breastfeeding. And they are more
likely to be reporting data on whether they have any
disparities by race and ethnicity, which is really important to
trying to bridge those gaps.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
So those are some of the categories where the qualifications
are a determined I guess, and is there one hospital
in this group at the top of the list, whether
it's in New England or not, that should be recognized tonight,
we're heard in about thirty eight states, most states east
of the Mississippi River. I don't know if you've ranked
(23:45):
these hospitals from one to four hundred and seventeen or
whatever the number is, but is there one that is
head and shoulders above all the rest.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
We don't actually rank hospitals for best hospitals from Eternity Care,
but they do. All the hospitals that we rate as
best hospitals really have met these high standards, and we
do provide that list hospital people throughout the country can
look up on dot US news dot com to find
(24:15):
a hospital near them and learn about the quality of
the care that is being provided at that hospital.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
And okay, so that website again give it to us
a little bit more slowly. It's health go ahead.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
Health Health dot usnews dot com.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Does US News Report. I don't want to be ignorant,
but we also rely so much on computers these days.
Does US World and News Report? Do they still publish
a magazine, you know, every every month or every week
that you can hold in your hand. Is it all
online these days?
Speaker 4 (24:51):
It is all online these days. For many, many decades,
we were a print organization, but we have since switched
to an online form of communication, and so we're online
only these days.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
And when was that switch? Maneam just because I've followed this,
I see I've seen with Newsweek and Time and things
like that. And I'm somebody who always loves the tech
tile techtile feel of a magazine or a newspaper. Yeah,
it's a little bit of old school here. When did
you guys make that that switch? Was it abrupt or
was it over some period of time.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
I know that we were one of the first news
organizations US nationwide news organizations to make that switch to
all digital. I don't know off the top of my
head what year it was, but I.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Assume that digital subscriptions are available or or do you
or just get it through the through the website and
then advertising support the Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:52):
Yeah, all information at health dot usnews dot com is
free to the public. So anyone who wants to log
in and check out the information we have there, that's
information is all free.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
That's great. These these sometimes are tough questions to ask
because it's every every media, every aspect of the media business,
whether it's in radio what I work or in television
when I worked in for thirty years. We're all going
through these various transitions, and certainly print journals newspapers are
going through the transitions as well. And I think it's
(26:25):
best if people understand, because you know, there are there
are people, young people who wouldn't remember you as World
of News Report as a magazine, but I certainly did.
And I was wondering if it if it was still
available in you know, in actual pay per form, But
now I know, and I thank you for that, and
I thank you for providing all this information about the
best maternity hospitals. People can look it up, check it out,
(26:48):
and pick that into consideration when they decide to have
that that new member of the family and during twenty
twenty five or beyond. Thank you so much, Jennifer, appreciate
your call.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
Thank you, talk to you again.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Okay, this is kind of an interesting one coming up
at a well it's a forty seven now, so we're
a minute or two late. We're going to talk with
Sydney Page, she's a Washington Post journalist, about people wanting
to celebrate Christmas alone. They love their family, but they
just want to spend Christmas alone. I've got some interesting
(27:26):
questions for I think a very interesting topic coming right up.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
Nice Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
On the surface, this sounds like a sad story, but
maybe not waiting to celebrate wanting to celebrate Christmas alone
with a Sydney Page Washington Post journalist. Hi Sydney How
are you tonight?
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Hi?
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Dan?
Speaker 5 (27:50):
I'm good things. How are you?
Speaker 2 (27:52):
This is an interesting story, tell us about it. These
are not people who are necessarily anti Christmas on people
who are saying bah humbug. This is people who just
kind of want to, I guess, disassociate themselves from all
of the family related activity that revolves around the holidays,
and not only the Christmas but Hanka kwansa, et cetera
(28:14):
during this time of year. Let's what did you find out?
How'd you hook onto this story? It's interesting.
Speaker 5 (28:20):
It was just an idea that came to me. I
wondered about people who might be spending the holidays alone,
and I started doing some digging online on social media
and actually finding people who were kind of glamorizing the
experience of a solo Christmas by choice. And I think
that the key factor is by choice, and that's kind
of what makes this not a sad story but in
(28:40):
fact sort of a joyful one. It's people who are
empowered to do something that they know is going to
be a better outcome for them than perhaps you know,
and meeting up with families. There's a lot of pressure
around the holidays, so I think that you know, a
lot of people have decided I'm going to do what's
good for me this year.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
So what is the common end? I don't know how
many folks you might have talked to. I saw when
I read the article that there were people you talk to,
but just sort of what's the commonality. I assume there
might be some people who are restranged and just say
I don't want to go through it again, and then
maybe other people who are overwhelmed and have anxiety issues.
Is there a commonality or no.
Speaker 5 (29:17):
I think it was a mix of things. The majority
of people I spoke with actually do have a very
loving relationship with their families, so it wasn't a situation
where they didn't want to have to be around, you know,
certain family members. It was more so an amalgamation of
stressors that we all experience around the holidays, and the
pressure of travel and spending a lot of money on gifts.
(29:38):
And I think also the proximity between Christmas and Thanksgiving.
A lot of people travel for Thanksgiving and then have
to turn back around and travel yet again. It's another,
you know, big expense, and so people kind of just
get overwhelmed. And I think the common thread was wanting
to just enjoy their own company, not wanting to have
to pick up and move and go to a different location.
(30:00):
And I think that even for people who love their families,
being in an environment where they're surrounded by family members
for a long stretch of time who they haven't necessarily
spent such a concentrated period of time with, you know,
on a regular basis, that can be overwhelming. It can
be stressful.
Speaker 4 (30:16):
So people are just saying, no, you know.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
It's funny when you use the phrase enjoy their own company.
I understand what you mean, but it almost seems oxymoronic
to say that you want to enjoy your own company alone,
because the concept of enjoying company is with other people.
Speaker 5 (30:33):
If you get my drift totally, well, I think, you know.
I spoke to the social psychologist for the story, and
she was explaining to me the difference between loneliness and
solitude and how you know, we often conflate the two,
but there really is a big difference, and solitude is
actually quite a restorative important thing. Spending time with yourself
is an important thing. And I think the key distinguisher
(30:55):
is choice. Is someone choosing to spend time alone. It
is wholly different than someone who feels forced to spend
time alone. And I think that, uh, you know, spend
time alone at the holidays actually can be a really
blissful and relaxing thing for people.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Is there any disparity between the genders here of the
people who you found more males, more females, or kind
of even more split? And again, I know that a
scientific survey, I.
Speaker 5 (31:25):
Guess yeah, So I can't give you a definitive answer there.
I can't say I spoke with more women than men,
but there were men as well, so it wasn't a
huge disparity in terms of who I was able to
find who is choosing to spend Christmas alone? And also
in the comment section on the on the article, one
thing I've been really pleased to see, as a lot
of people are saying, you know, I feel seen this
(31:45):
is exactly how I've how I've approached the holidays for
the last however many years, and it seems as though,
and I can't know for sure, but it seems as
though it's people of all genders and ages, and there's
not really, uh, you know, major group that is feeling
this way. It sort of seems to be spread among
many different people, So it's not just the female thing
(32:07):
or a male thing. It seems to be everyone to
an extent.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
You mentioned earlier on the proximity of Thanksgiving, and you
also mentioned travel. Is there a relationship between the travel
How much of a factor is that? Meaning? I assume
that if you're living in the same town as a
lot of family members, you probably would be looked upon
(32:32):
somewhat skeptically if you said, well, I'm not participating this year.
But if you live at the continent away or a
couple thousand miles away, you can always say, gee, I
just saw you guys, And as much as I'd love
to come back, I don't want to go through the
craziness of airports or train stations. Is there a geographical
factor here?
Speaker 4 (32:52):
Definitely?
Speaker 5 (32:53):
I mean, I think that the three people who are
featured in the article all have family members quite a
way the way. For instance, one woman I interviewed, her
name is Liz. She at the time last Christmas and
the Christmas before she was living in DC. She's now
in New York. Her family is all in San Francisco.
So she goes to San Francisco for Thanksgiving and to
then turn back around and go for Christmas, which is historically.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
What she's done for many many.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
Years, not only with a big financial dream, but also
just the travel flog, especially at that time of year,
is stressful.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
So okay, my last question is the people who spend
Christmas alone away from their families, what do they do?
They do they just stay indoors that you know, and
read a good book or what is the what's their
practice on the Christmas Eve the Christmas Day? Are they
(33:44):
all to themselves or do they go out and mix
and mingle maybe in fro try to find other people
who are who are spending the holiday alone.
Speaker 5 (33:53):
Right, It depends on the person, And I think the
whole idea is they're doing what they want. So it's
very much individual preference. I spoke to one woman who
is very much focused on self care. She takes back,
she does yoga, she cooks, and does things that give
her pleasure and joy. I spoke with a man who
took himself to a four course dinner all on his
(34:14):
own on Christmas Eve, and another woman who booked herself
a trip to New York City for the weekend, and
she's just doing that by herself and going to shows
and doing things there that she's excited to do. So
it just it's totally a personal preference. But it seems
as though people who are choosing to spend the holidays
alone genuinely are doing it alone. They're not mingling out
(34:34):
with other people. They're kind of just doing what they
want on their own.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
All right, Well, there was the story about I think
the New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers who goes off
in these retreats by himself and was perceived as be
kind of an odd thing to do. But maybe this
is a trend. Thank you so much, Siddy, great to
talk with you. I love your enthusiasm at the story.
(35:00):
I love the fact that you figured it out and
this is a reported generated story. Uh. Again, I always
knew there were people out there who probably were alone
on Christmas, but I never thought of them of being
alone intentionally and it opens up. It opens up I
think my eyes and maybe some other people's eyes as well.
Thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Sydney, Thank you for having me. Take care, love it,
love it.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Love it. They'll have you back. Thanks. All right, four
interesting topics. We're done with the Nightside news update and
we are on to the topics of the night and
we're going to start off with pot cafes Merrick cannabis cafes,
I guess are coming to Massachusetts. Are you excited or
(35:46):
are you concerned? Back on Nightside right after the nine
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