April 23, 2025 • 39 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
Survey: 53% of Consumers Don't Know What a FICO Score Is! Adriana Ocanas - consumer credit cards analyst at U.S. News & World Report joined Dan to discuss!
Susan Shapiro -gender expert and bestselling author of "Estranged: How Strained Female Friendships are Mended or Ended." The complexities of female friendships and how they differ than male relationships.
Lowell General Hospital’s TeamWalk for Cancer Care is coming up on Sunday, May 4th! Bruce Robinson - Board of trustees Development Chair, Lowell General Hospital stopped by.
CDC weighing end to universal COVID vaccine recommendations. Dr. Shira Doron - Chief Infection Control Officer for Tufts Medicine and Hospital Epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center checked in.
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
Survey: 53% of Consumers Don't Know What a FICO Score Is! Adriana Ocanas - consumer credit cards analyst at U.S. News & World Report joined Dan to discuss!
Susan Shapiro -gender expert and bestselling author of "Estranged: How Strained Female Friendships are Mended or Ended." The complexities of female friendships and how they differ than male relationships.
Lowell General Hospital’s TeamWalk for Cancer Care is coming up on Sunday, May 4th! Bruce Robinson - Board of trustees Development Chair, Lowell General Hospital stopped by.
CDC weighing end to universal COVID vaccine recommendations. Dr. Shira Doron - Chief Infection Control Officer for Tufts Medicine and Hospital Epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center checked in.
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's nice eyes.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm going Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
I'm a great job. Thanks very much for that kind introduction.
As we head off on a four hour flight of
conversation here on night Side every Monday through Friday night,
Rob Brooks the great producer back at the control room
at the broadcast Center, and I basically throw some topics
out for discussion and conversation, and most often you folks
(00:32):
are interested in comply. We have four quick guests coming
up here in the eight o'clock hour, just very briefly
at nine, we're gonna give you every piece of information
you will need to protect yourselves and your family against
what will be the onslaught of ticks if you go
outside in New England. This year, tick Man Dan joins
(00:54):
us for one of his annual visits with just a
lot of great information. And then we will celebrate the
decision by the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, along
with the Department of Health and Human Services to phase
out all petroleum based artificial food dies in the nation's
food supply. And I'll tell you many people thought Robert F.
(01:18):
Kennedy Junior was a little different. Well on this one,
I couldn't agree with him more and he has done
a great job, and we'll discuss that and give him
the credit that he is due. But first let's get
to our guests. We're going to start for off with
Adriana o'conness. Adriana, Welcome to night Side.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
How are you hi, Ked'm good? How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
You're just fine. You're a consumer credit card analyst for
US News and World Report, and it looks as if
we are wallowing we as a country, a wallowing in
ignorance when it comes to the value of credit cards,
how much we are spending on credit cards. And I
(02:04):
guess more than half of us don't even know that
there's something called a FYCO score, which is a really
important thing to know about what's going on.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, So we since April is Financial Literacy Month, we
wanted to do a survey kind of gauge consumers general
financial knowledge, and we found about half of respondence, about
fifty three percent didn't know that your FYCO score is
what lenders look at to determine your credit worthiness. And
(02:36):
actually over forty percent of people were confusing Fyco with
one of the credit scoring heros, so they thought FICO
was experience or equafax.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Well, it's funny because I did not know what FYCO
stood for. I know what it is, obviously, I get
a member of these credit bureaus and trying to make
sure that my credit stays in good shape. I'm somebody
who goes over my credit card bill every month with
a fine tooth comb to make sure that nothing else
(03:08):
is on that credit that credit bill that I perhaps
didn't pay for. Every once in a while, some you
catch something. But the point is FIGO I've learned today,
and I will admit I looked it up stands for
fair Isaac and Company, which is just an acronym for
a predecessor of one of the credit score companies.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
H Yeah, and it's it's fine because we don't expect
consumers to know like what FYCO stands for. But it's
just really important that consumers know that what their FYCO
score is because so many either confuse it for one
of the bureaus or didn't know outright that that's what
lenders look at to determine their credit worthiness.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, so what how do we solve this? I mean,
I do believe last night we had well actually I
think it was two nights ago. We had a high
school teacher along with a student, a group of students
who are going to a financial literacy competition the Massachusetts
(04:12):
state champion. So there are schools. In this case, it
was Lexington High School, famous town, you know, the Battle
of Lexington and conquered or conquered in Lexington. Which order
you put it in depends upon where you grow up
or where you live, right, And so one school is
doing a great job. They have these kids who were
really savants and they they they would run circles around me.
(04:34):
And I think I have some level of financial knowledge.
But what's going on with the rest of the country.
I mean all these people who are just blowing through
their credit card schools. I mean this is dangerous stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Yeah, and a lot of it just comes down to
the blind leading the blind. Because we asked consumers like, hey,
where do you get your financial advice? Where do you
go when you've got your financial questions? And almost fifty
percent of respondents said that they seek out their financial
advice from friends and family, you know, and the as
far as like reading online publications, you know, like US News,
(05:13):
you know, only twenty five percent admitted to getting the
information they needed from online publications, and we even found
out over thirty percent don't seek out financial advice at all.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Do they do? They get their medical advice and their
legal advice from like their uncle Hubert? I mean you.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Do?
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Actually do actually? Do they actually go to like a
doctor or a lawyer if they if they have a medical.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Legalist, you wouldn't go to uncle Hubert for a medical opinion,
Like why would you go to aunt Carrol when you
have a question about your finances?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I guess it's convenient. I don't know what other other answer.
I got a question about my finances. Here. One of
the things that people do young people, they get credit
cards and they think, who time to just buy? What?
How big at a big screen TV? Can I buy?
You know, I want one bit, say four hundred inches diagonally? Yeah,
(06:09):
so I could put it on the side of the house.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
But yeah, a lot of back, yeah, a lot of
a lot of what we found is like when we
asked consumers like, hey, like your first credit card, like,
be honest, did you max it out? You know? And
about forty percent of respondents were like, yeah, I maxed
out my first credit card, And the reasons why are
pretty much what you expect. You know that I was
(06:33):
young and dumb. I had there were so many things
to buy and I had so little income, so I
just put it on my credit card, you know. So
it's it makes sense. You know a lot of young
consumers they get that first credit card and they don't
have that guiding hand, so they end up over sending
and as a result, they can end up maxing out
that credit card.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Yeah. One of the things I find out really early
when I got my first credit card, which is a
long time ago, I said, wait a, say, I'm being
charged an annual fee by this company to have a card. Oh,
that's not going to work. I called them up and
I said, want to cancel the card? Cancel the card,
And the nice person in the end Refluence, said well,
(07:13):
why do you want to do that because you're charging
me a fee. You're charging me a fee. Oh, we
can remove that fee if you'd like, Okay, then don't
cancel the don't cancel the.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Card, ye make I always recommend to consumers and readers like, Hey,
if you're you're struggling and you can't do that financial fee,
call up your instrum and see how they can help you.
If they can't waive the fee, they'll more than likely
try and give you like some sort of credit so
that way they can kind of help ease that financial burden.
But honestly, it never hurts to call an ask.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah. I think that most of the credit crowd companies
now have gotten away from charging the fee because they
think that there are enough of us who are young
and dumb or old and dumb who pay off. You know,
the ten percent that you know your credit card bill
of fourteen hundred dollars you only have to pay how
forty that sounds like a great deal, right, yes? And
then the twenty seven percent compounded interests daily or hourly
(08:07):
adds up.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Let's possibly go wrong?
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Hen Yep, absolutely, I take such pride at the end
of the year in December because I love to look
at the amount of interest that I haven't paid on
my credit card bill. Pay it full, get rid of it,
move past it. And if you find it's cost you
do too much, then guess what, you know, just just
back off a little bit. You sound to me like
(08:32):
someone who really knows this subject. And how can people
follow some of your your writing in your wisdom at
US News and World Report.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Well, thank you, Dan. They can head on over to
money dot usnews dot com and there they'll be able
to find all the information they need on credit cards, mortgages,
personal loans. You know, don't let Aunt Carol talk you
into a card with an annual fees, like come read
our reviews first.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah, right, and to get Uncle Hubert at all. I mean,
the guy's been in the attic all these years. He
knows nothing, he's never.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Had a card.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
In fact, last guy you want to talk to, Hey,
I really enjoyed it. Thanks, Adriana, we'll talk again.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
I hope, thank you so much, so good, thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
All Right, we come back with a look at a
different sort of dilemma, and that is how strange, how
strained female relationships either amended or ended. I'm going to
talk with an author. She's a gender expert and best
selling author, Susan Shapiro, And I guess female friendships, how
(09:40):
would I know, are more difficult to sort of maintain,
cultivate than guy friendships. Maybe we're just more transactional and
probably not as as deep. I don't know. We'll figure
it out, Susan Shapiro. Coming back on the other side,
I also want to remind you, as I've done a
couple of times already, that we have some big news
(10:00):
from iHeart. iHeart has just been named the twenty twenty
five Podcast Company of the Year by the Webby Awards,
also known as the Oscars of the Internet. iHeart snagged
fourteen wins and we could not be prouder. Shout out
to the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for
bestowing this incredible honor and showing just such good judgment.
(10:23):
You can find all these award winning podcasts on the
free iHeartRadio app. You can go and check them out
right now. Just download that new and improved app. You
can make WBZ your first preset on the app too,
by the way, which means you will never be more
than a fingertip away from being in contact wherever you
are in the world with WBZ. Three hundred and sixty
(10:45):
five days, twenty four seven, My name's Dan Ray. Were
come on right back talking about the complexity of female friendships.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
If you're on Night Side with Dan Ray on wb Z,
Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Now we're going to talk about something that I know
nothing about. There's a lot of things I know nothing about,
and one of them, is the strain that exists in
female friendships and how those friendships are either ended or mended.
We're don to talk about the complexity of female friendships.
I have friendships with a lot of females, but that's
not the type of friendship we're talking about with us,
(11:23):
is gender expert and best selling author Susan Shapiro. Susan,
I guess I always assume that friendships between women were
similar to friendships between men. Sometimes friendships last your entire life,
and sometimes you get disappointed. But I guess it's a
(11:44):
little different according to your research. Tell us about it.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Oh, it's totally different. And women hold the bar so
high in these female friendships, and we actually feel that
husbands or partners come and go, and jobs change and
you move from here to there. But the female friend,
the best friend or the closest friend, that's you know, forever,
(12:08):
and it's just not what it is and things are
really changing based on my research.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
So how did you get interested in this issue in
the first place. I mean, obviously there must have been
something that prompted you to to get just you know,
get down and dig a little deeper here.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
Yeah, that's true. This is my fourteenth nonfiction book, and
for each of my studies, I'm looking at how women
really feel versus the faces we wear, and how women
are positioned in contemporary American society, which means a patriarchal culture.
So female friendship is, you know, something we've been taught
(12:48):
since we were young, that it's just forever, and yet
women in real time are saying, you know, my friend
betrayed me. My friend didn't respect me. It hasn't been
an equal relationship. My friend has a drug problem, a
drinking problem, and I can't be her enabler anymore. My
friend let someone get between us. You know, everything must
(13:11):
fine until I found a new partner. Now it's a
triangle and doesn't treat me the same. So we're seeing
lots of real stories where women from twenty to eighty
concided that they're now doing something that has to happen
before and that it's their estranging and they're feeling empowered
by that act.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Okay, probably empowered, but maybe a little guilty too. I
guess it's difficult here. It sounds to me, so has
this one.
Speaker 5 (13:40):
They always you're right. I mean, it's not like a
slam dunk. I mean, it takes a while and miss
the friend.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
So has this always existed amongst women, or have they
all of a sudden as they have spent more time
working and in the dog eat patriarchal world that you mentioned,
has that added to the complexities for them? Or is
(14:08):
it something that that is something women have been dealing
with since the Stone Ages.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
Women have been dealing with it but not really facing
it because we've all been told that these friendships have
to last, and that that's our safety haven.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
But I who told you? I don't understand that. Who
told them that? I'm a little confused on that point.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
Did they learn that in school little messaging? Our mothers,
our aunts are teachers, female teachers, They've all, you know,
just it's been the story that sure there. I did
a whole study in two thousand and six on female
competition and rivalry. It's called tripping the prom queen. So
it isn't that women haven't always known that there can
(14:54):
be jealousy or competition among us, but that we were
also always told that the true friend and this book
is about your closest friend. It's not just about an
acquaintance or someone you're not that close with. And how
that person is someone you can rely on and it's
not always the case. And what's interesting is that in
(15:14):
the last two elections, and with vaccines and with raising
children with or without vaccines beyond the COVID vaccine, these
decisions have been very divisive for women. So some of
the younger women in the study have said, you know,
my friend and I don't have the same values anymore,
and I can't live with that. I'm not comfortable anymore.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
And women didn't do that, just so I understand what
you're saying there. Okay, so you're saying that when you
mentioned the elections, I assume you're talking about presidential elections.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
I am. I am the last soul where it was
like a line in the sand.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
If your bestie, if your bestie for thirty years all
of a sudden confides in you that they've decided to
vote different than you have in this election. It's like
when a husband tells a wife that you know they're
going to vote differently. That destroys a thirty year relationship.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
Not always, but for some women it seemed to be
a deal breaker that when their values weren't the same.
It was in the last two years when I started
this research, you know, on a deadline to get the
book finished, and I was listening to so many women,
and it was a very diverse group of women, and
(16:32):
they kept saying that things seemed more black and white
than it used to be, not so great, and that
was just one of the deal breakers, which was interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
I've done politics for a long time and it's it
was always black and white in terms of Democrat and Republican.
I know that everybody likes to say, let's go back
to the good old days. Unfortunately, sadly, there were there
have been elections throughout you know, our retireity street going
back millennium, not millennium, but a couple of centuries where
(17:05):
they've got a really, really nasty let me come back
to So you've defined the problem for particularly women, and
I suspect that there have been some men who decided
that their best bowling buddy now is going to vote
off from them, that that costs some male relationship some
male friendships too. But I have no research like you have.
(17:27):
So what do women have to do to to basically,
I guess, get past this obstacle? Or is it just
an obstacle that unfortunately is going to be there forever
well in.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
Terms of having different values.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
It really in terms of not being able to say
to a close friend, you know what. You and I
disagree on this, Okay, I mean, but you're still my
best friend and I'll vote this way, you vote that way.
Let's go have a drink. How do you how do
you get past? Now? I'm not just talking about the election,
but all of a sudden you're going to lose a
(18:03):
friend over something, I don't know what, whether it's an
election or all of a sudden you find out that
your friend is a closet Yankee fan. I've known you
all these years, You've gone to be with you with
Red Sox games, and now you have a picture of
Derek Jeter in your apartment. Why didn't you tell me
(18:25):
I'm never speaking to you again. I'm trying to write
this up.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
A little bit, okay, but Dan, it doesn't really play
out like that. I mean, it's that's just one section
of the book. But in my study, women talked about
being betrayed by a friend, feeling that the friend didn't
respect them, they weren't treated equally. The friend had chosen
a very different lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
So what's the solution. Unfortunately, I'm getting close to my
to the end of our time here, and I'm having
fun with this. I'm really enjoying this conversation. I think
you and I, if we have had dinner together, we
would either be friends or would be screaming of each other.
But so, what can women do? How do you? I
know it must be horrible when you feel that a
(19:09):
friend of thirty or thirty five years turns out to
disappoint you, and I'm sure there's plenty of ways that
can happen. How do you do you have to just
kind of ignore it? Or do you have to say
that's it, I'm finding a new bestie.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
Well, women aren't that good at confronting people. You know,
that's not their favorite things, so they don't.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Really met My wife Susan go ah, okay, well a
lot of I'm teasy. I'm trying to or my daughter.
I'm trying to lighten it up here at you what what? What?
What advice? Well? Better yet, I think what women should do?
So I think they should buy this book so that
that we've we've outlined the problem, and I hope that
(19:53):
that you've provided perhaps some solutions, potential solutions.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
There are solutions there and ideas. Just stranging and feeling
okay about it is one of the solutions for sure.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Excellent, excellent, okay, Susan. When is the book out? Is it?
Is it already out?
Speaker 5 (20:09):
Book is just out now?
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Good? Good? Great? Okay, So they can find it at
I'm sure Amazon are great bookstores. It's simply called I believe.
If I'm wrong, tell me estranged how strained female friendships
are mended or ended?
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Perfect?
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Corrects? All right, thanks joined the conversation. I really did.
I like to get into this stuff, even though it's
a set relatively brief period of time. Uh uh. And
I listen to everything you said, and I'm taking it
into consideration and I really appreciate great.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Thanks very much.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Susan, You're very welcome. Okay. We got the news coming
up at a thirty and then we're going to talk
about a big team walk for cancer care involving the
Lowell General Hospital up in Lowell, which is a great facility.
And we'll also talk a little bit later on at
eight forty five with the Center for Disease Control weighing
some end options of universal COVID vaccine recommendations. Talking with
(21:11):
doctor Shira Doron, who's been with us many times. We'll
be back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
You're on Nightside with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
All right, thank you very much, Emma. As always as
we will continue our conversations here in the eight o'clock hour.
Like to introduce Bruce Robinson. Bruce, welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Thank you, Dan, Thank you for inviting us.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Bruce is on the board of trustees. He's also the
development chair at Lowell General Hospital. And you folks have
a big team walk for cancer Care coming up, not
this Sunday, but the following Sunday. Tell us about this.
Is this a new effort to pull your team together
(22:00):
or is this an annual event that has been going
on for some time at Lowell General.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
This is, in fact, Dan our twenty six annual Team
Walk for Cancer Care. So this has been a long
standing event that we do once a year, and over
the twenty five years to date, we've raised over sixteen
million dollars and we've been able to provide help for
over forty two thousand patients who are fighting cancer.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Wow, twenty five years, sixteen million dollars. So you folks
raise quite a bit of money every year. It looks
I'm looking at the flyer that you folks sent to us,
and I guess you have a parking at the Songus Center,
which makes it easier. This event goes rain or shine.
(22:52):
It starts at eight o'clock on that Sunday morning, May fourth.
It's a three mile walk, so that's a relatively easy route.
You know, not for everybody, but a lot of people
can do the three miles kind of circum navigates. Well,
tell us about tell us where you how much of
(23:12):
woe looks at me like your walkers are going to
see a lot of the city of Lowell. Tell us
about the well, you know, just the experience. First of all,
we can talk about how.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Is your.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Absolutely it is.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
It is a great day. I can tell you, Dan,
it's my favorite day of the year. My wife knows.
It's not my anniversary, it's not my birthday, it's not
the holidays. It is Teamwalk for Cancer Care because the
money we raise is a little bit different than other
cancer raising efforts. We're not looking to find a cure.
Every dollar we raise stays here to help our patients
(23:45):
in the Merrimack Valley fight this disease. There's all kinds
of unknown expenses that happen as a result of this.
So people need help with transportation getting back and forth
for radiation or chemotherapy. People need wigs, they lose their
jobs temporarily. We help pay bills, We buy medications, we
(24:06):
buy prosses, whatever people need. They've got a big enough
shore fighting cancer, and what we're trying to do is
to make that fight a little bit easier in any
way that we can.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
And as long as.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
You're being treated at our cancer center, that's what we do.
The day itself, you are asking about seeing quite a
bit of oil. The walk is absolutely gorgeous. We feature
not only downtown l but we also walk a good
part of the walks along the banks of the Merrimack
River on the River Walk, and it is if you've
(24:40):
never done that, it is really a showcase for the
CEOL to see the rushing river and the mills and
the rapids. It's really quite something. So people that come
don't worry about the three miles. It's all flat. We
have lots of people that come with baby carriages. We
have people to come with their well behaved dogs, you know,
(25:01):
it takes a little woe for an hour, and we
have free coffee and donuts when you get there. We
have face painting for the kids. We have a scavenger
huts for the kids. It's very much an upbeat day.
And my favorite part of the walk in is when
the Canter patients come in. Their share givers are there
at the finish line, putting metals on them, congratulating them
(25:22):
for making the effort and completing their journey. So it's
it is really a superior day. It is very very upbeat.
It's not a down day. There's certainly a lot of
remembrances of people that we lost, but more than that,
there's so many hopes and encouragement of people that are
fighting the fight and have beaten the disease. And that's
(25:45):
the message people need to know that if you get
the diagnosis, don't give up the ship. The fight's just beginning,
and this walk celebrates that spirit.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
That's funny. I'm talking with a friend of mine today
in South Dakota and got a pretty tough diagnosis last fall.
And again, you don't think of South Dakota as being
one of the medical meccas of the world, with all
due respect to my friends in South Dakota, but he
was told this week that you know, he went through
everything he had to go through wasn't easy. Uh, but
(26:17):
but he tells his doctors have told him, you know,
he's free of cancer. And just to hear him express
out on the phone today was was amazing. In terms
of everything that you mentioned about the schedule and the
flat walk, I want you to know you had me
with the magic words for free coffee and donuts.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Dunkin Donuts there They've been with us for so many years.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
And not just you know.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Not just the Plaine Donuts. We have crawlers and sprinkles,
the whole.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
I mean. My favorite is the glaze sticks. I mean
the regular plain glaze sticks. I mean because so you know,
and again, if if dunkin Donuts and playing blaze sticks
were illegal, I would be you know, arrested for for
a variety of reasons. You know, I probably would be
(27:09):
you know, holding them or something. But look, it sounds
like a great event. Let's talk about you welcome new folks.
Obviously you've got a great cadri already. How can people participate?
Can they just sign up the day off or do
they have to join ahead of time. Is there a
minimum to participate? What's the given? No, give us the details.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
Yeah, we want to make it as easy as possible
because everyone is in a different phase of their life
right now with all the turmoil going on.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
So this is easy.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
If you want to come that day and just walk,
you can do it. But what we really would like
people to do to help us raise funds is if
you go to our website teamwalk dot org. You can
go right there and you can make a donation. You
can support a walker or a team, you can offer
to volunteer at the event if you want onto, or
or just once again, just make a donation online. So
(28:04):
it couldn't be any easier. And you know, WBZ has
a big part of this walk and has had for
a number of years. Your traffic reporter in the morning,
Lori Grandy is one of our co hosts along with
Channel five Cindy Fitzgibbon. So they are there and they've
been very strong partners for OZ and so thanks to
(28:24):
WBZ for Laurie.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Well, I know both of them, and you have somebody
that can get you there safe and sound as a
traffic reporter and someone who can make sure that the
weather will be good that day. I mean, you got
every continuency covered here, Bruce.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
If I had a leprechan I'd use that as well.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Oh yeah, absolutely, and utilize the pot of gold that
hopefully the leprechaun could lead you. If there any leprechauns
out there have a pot of gold. Again, give us
that website one more time so folks.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Can get into it wwwteamwalk dot org. And it it's
very simple, very easy. Even I can use it.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
So that's how I'm going to make it even simpler
for you. You don't need the www dot anymore. It's just
teamwalk dot org. Trust me, that www Dot thing is,
you know, And I'm not like mister sophisticated when it
goes to that stuff. Teamwalk dot org. Everybody be there
a be square Sunday, May fourth, free parking at the
(29:24):
Songa Center. Great cause they're not looking for a cure.
They're looking for Their cause is to help people who
are dealing with some form of cancer at Lowell General Hospital.
And free coffee and donuts Dunkin Donuts. What more could anyone?
Speaker 4 (29:40):
And we all we say is just please give a
little bit and guess what you'll be making a difference
in the lives of so many of our friends and neighbors.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Dan sounds great. Bruce Robinson, I really do appreciate it.
Your great sport. We talk about we talk during this
hour of the program about some serious subjects. Theres nothing
more series areus than cancer, obviously, and for you to
have the spirit that you have and your walkers, it's inspirational.
Just wanted to say thank you very much for what
you do.
Speaker 4 (30:09):
Thank you, sir, We appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
All Right, we get back. We're going to talk about
a different issue, and that is universal COVID vaccine recommendations
with doctor Shira Doron. We'll be back on Nightside right
after this.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm WBZ Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Okay, Well, COVID is still around all appearances, sometimes to
the contrary, and whenever we talk about COVID, we like
to check in with doctor Shira Dorone, the chief infection
control officer for Tough's Medical Medicine and the hospital epidemiologist
at Tufts Medical Center. And we're talking tonight with doctor Dorone,
(30:55):
who I must immediately say, great to have you back.
Thanks so much for coming back, doctor Dorone.
Speaker 6 (31:00):
Wonderful to be back with you, and.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
We are going to talk tonight. I guess the CDC,
and I assume this is because there's a new leadership
team at the cd to see are weighing some changes
in the universal COVID vaccine recommendations that we have all
become used to over recent years. Am I off too
(31:24):
far off based on that?
Speaker 6 (31:26):
Well, no, I'm glad you said it that way, because
I do want to clarify that the CDC's Advisory Committee
on Immunization Practices did meet last week. They are an
independent external advisory committee, and they discussed covid vaccines, but
not you know, in this conversation, not under the influence
(31:48):
of the new administration.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Okay, So then it seems to me, and I'm looking
to depoliticize this conversation, and I think you are as well.
It seems to me that just because these recommendations might
sound to be more comfortable to the Trump administration and
people in leadership of the Trump administration than maybe the
(32:13):
Biden administration, which might have been a little more strident
on this, it's not their influence is not. This is
this is an advisory committee that is a standing committee.
I guess that maybe at some point in time President
Trump will be able to appoint, but at this point
it's a committee that's a holdover committee from the Biden years.
Speaker 6 (32:34):
Is that that's exactly right. The members are the same,
and their meeting materials were generated before the new administration
took over. The meeting was supposed to happen in February.
It was postponed, but they actually shared a survey of
the work group members on COVID vaccines, and the survey
(32:56):
results show that they already had these opinions before the
new administration place. So there is a lot of confusion
about that because there are some new headlines today that
might suggest otherwise.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Well, as a journalist, and I'm a talk show host,
but primarily I'm a journalist, I'd like to try to
make sure we clarify that. So having done that, these
new recommendations, if adopted, might make the advisories a little
less stringent. If that's a word that I an aeducate
(33:29):
that I could employ.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
Correct, that's right.
Speaker 6 (33:31):
And I wasn't actually expecting this conversation, but I agree
with it. So the Advisory Committee discussed a pretty major
change that they would vote on at the next meeting
in June, and that change is to shift from a
universal recommendation on COVID vaccination, so everyone over the age
(33:55):
of six months gets an initial and an annual vaccine,
to a risk strategy that is really focused on people
at high risk with risk factors.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Yeah. Now I'm not a medical professional, noll I played
one on the radio, but I was very sympathetic to
young people, a group that I left many years ago,
who were saying we're not sure, you know, particularly young
people who were thinking about having a family, young women.
There was a Massachusetts State Police trooper who, amongst others,
(34:31):
a female trooper who they lost their jobs because they
did not comply with the obligation to get a vaccination.
They actually were given some consideration and they said, well,
you don't have to get a vaccination. That's the good news,
but the bad news is that since you're not getting
(34:51):
a vaccination, we have no positions left and we're going
to have to terminate you from the state police because
we want to make sure everyone in the state place.
I'm using them as an example because I'm aware of
it interface with the public, and we cannot afford to
allow you interface with the public unless you're vaccinated. So
it was kind of a you know, ultimate catch twenty
(35:13):
two if you hit my drift. So I was very
empathetic to young people. I mean, COVID might be extremely
I got all my vaccinations FRO. I'm vaccinated up. But
is this the sort of flexibility you think that this
advisory panel is talking about, that you don't treat a
twenty nine year old woman the same as you do
(35:34):
you treat an eighty five year old man, if you
know what I'm trying to get.
Speaker 6 (35:37):
At exactly, so that you know, age would be one
of the major risk factors that would be considered in
the new recommendations. For sure, age is the number one
risk factor for severe COVID and other things like being
immuno compromised, having heart or lung disease. You know, those
(35:59):
are some of the things. You know, it's too late
to sort of go back and re litigate the concept
of the vaccine mandate or the vaccine passport. As you
recall when you couldn't go into certain restaurants and things
were very different when we had overwhelmed hospitals full of COVID,
(36:19):
which we don't have anymore. And we also had that
early clinical trial data on COVID vaccines that showed that
they were ninety five percent effective at preventing the infection.
That unfortunately did not last. And now as we know,
people who are vaccinated continue to get infected over and
over again. It just hasn't been the kind of vaccine
(36:41):
that provides that sort of long term, strong protection, unlike
say the music vaccine, which is that way. And so
it's time it's time to rethink that.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
Yeah, and I think there were a lot of people
back then who I remember when they said, you get
the vaccine, you'd be all set, you won't get COVID.
Then they said, well, if you get the vaccine, a
likely event you get COVID, it won't be bad. And
then they said, yeah, you might have to go to
the hospital, you might have a bad case, but you
won't die. But they were people who got vaccinated.
Speaker 6 (37:10):
Who died, that's right, And they weren't we And these
weren't lies, right, they weren't lies. Things were changing, things
were actually changing over time.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Go ahead, I'm sorry.
Speaker 6 (37:22):
And so one of the issues really is you know
that I think is the most compelling reason to make
this change in recommendation now is that those those feelings
that people had about having, in some cases being forced
to get the vaccine when they weren't ready, and seeing
that people who were getting the vaccine did get infected,
(37:44):
to get hospitalized, did die, some of that is contributing
to today's vaccine skepticism about other vaccines. It's contributing to
the decreased uptake in say, routine childhood back nation, which
then in part is leading to outbreaks like the current
measles outbreak that's really raging in Texas and surrounding states.
(38:08):
And so if we can sort of pull back on
some of the absolutism as it relates to co vaccine,
the hope is that we could regain some of that
public trust or trust in public health.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
We could agree with you Moore, and I also thought,
again there was sort of the great unknown twenty nine
year old woman who was hoping maybe at some point
in her life to have children. There there was no
indication as to what the implications of taking the vaccine
would have been. So anyway, we lived and we learned.
Let's put it like that, doctor Thank you so much,
(38:38):
doctor Drone for coming on with us, because you always
explain things so clearly, and I'm sorry if I stumbled
a little bit in the beginning. I wanted to make
sure that we got it right from the start. So
thank you so much for your for your cooperation.
Speaker 6 (38:51):
Tonight, and thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Your good nature. Thanks so much. All right, good night.
When we come back, we're going to tell you everything.
Well I won't, but tick me and Dan will tell
you everything you need to do about ticks, how to
prevent being bitten by a tick, and what to do
if you get a tick so you don't get lime disease.
We got it all coming up for you, lots of
good information and we'll take all questions for the next
(39:13):
hour back on nightsight after this
It's nice eyes.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I'm going Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
I'm a great job. Thanks very much for that kind introduction.
As we head off on a four hour flight of
conversation here on night Side every Monday through Friday night,
Rob Brooks the great producer back at the control room
at the broadcast Center, and I basically throw some topics
out for discussion and conversation, and most often you folks
(00:32):
are interested in comply. We have four quick guests coming
up here in the eight o'clock hour, just very briefly
at nine, we're gonna give you every piece of information
you will need to protect yourselves and your family against
what will be the onslaught of ticks if you go
outside in New England. This year, tick Man Dan joins
(00:54):
us for one of his annual visits with just a
lot of great information. And then we will celebrate the
decision by the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, along
with the Department of Health and Human Services to phase
out all petroleum based artificial food dies in the nation's
food supply. And I'll tell you many people thought Robert F.
(01:18):
Kennedy Junior was a little different. Well on this one,
I couldn't agree with him more and he has done
a great job, and we'll discuss that and give him
the credit that he is due. But first let's get
to our guests. We're going to start for off with
Adriana o'conness. Adriana, Welcome to night Side.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
How are you hi, Ked'm good? How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
You're just fine. You're a consumer credit card analyst for
US News and World Report, and it looks as if
we are wallowing we as a country, a wallowing in
ignorance when it comes to the value of credit cards,
how much we are spending on credit cards. And I
(02:04):
guess more than half of us don't even know that
there's something called a FYCO score, which is a really
important thing to know about what's going on.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
Yeah, So we since April is Financial Literacy Month, we
wanted to do a survey kind of gauge consumers general
financial knowledge, and we found about half of respondence, about
fifty three percent didn't know that your FYCO score is
what lenders look at to determine your credit worthiness. And
(02:36):
actually over forty percent of people were confusing Fyco with
one of the credit scoring heros, so they thought FICO
was experience or equafax.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Well, it's funny because I did not know what FYCO
stood for. I know what it is, obviously, I get
a member of these credit bureaus and trying to make
sure that my credit stays in good shape. I'm somebody
who goes over my credit card bill every month with
a fine tooth comb to make sure that nothing else
(03:08):
is on that credit that credit bill that I perhaps
didn't pay for. Every once in a while, some you
catch something. But the point is FIGO I've learned today,
and I will admit I looked it up stands for
fair Isaac and Company, which is just an acronym for
a predecessor of one of the credit score companies.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
H Yeah, and it's it's fine because we don't expect
consumers to know like what FYCO stands for. But it's
just really important that consumers know that what their FYCO
score is because so many either confuse it for one
of the bureaus or didn't know outright that that's what
lenders look at to determine their credit worthiness.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, so what how do we solve this? I mean,
I do believe last night we had well actually I
think it was two nights ago. We had a high
school teacher along with a student, a group of students
who are going to a financial literacy competition the Massachusetts
(04:12):
state champion. So there are schools. In this case, it
was Lexington High School, famous town, you know, the Battle
of Lexington and conquered or conquered in Lexington. Which order
you put it in depends upon where you grow up
or where you live, right, And so one school is
doing a great job. They have these kids who were
really savants and they they they would run circles around me.
(04:34):
And I think I have some level of financial knowledge.
But what's going on with the rest of the country.
I mean all these people who are just blowing through
their credit card schools. I mean this is dangerous stuff.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Yeah, and a lot of it just comes down to
the blind leading the blind. Because we asked consumers like, hey,
where do you get your financial advice? Where do you
go when you've got your financial questions? And almost fifty
percent of respondents said that they seek out their financial
advice from friends and family, you know, and the as
far as like reading online publications, you know, like US News,
(05:13):
you know, only twenty five percent admitted to getting the
information they needed from online publications, and we even found
out over thirty percent don't seek out financial advice at all.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Do they do? They get their medical advice and their
legal advice from like their uncle Hubert? I mean you.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Do?
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Actually do actually? Do they actually go to like a
doctor or a lawyer if they if they have a medical.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Legalist, you wouldn't go to uncle Hubert for a medical opinion,
Like why would you go to aunt Carrol when you
have a question about your finances?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I guess it's convenient. I don't know what other other answer.
I got a question about my finances. Here. One of
the things that people do young people, they get credit
cards and they think, who time to just buy? What?
How big at a big screen TV? Can I buy?
You know, I want one bit, say four hundred inches diagonally? Yeah,
(06:09):
so I could put it on the side of the house.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
But yeah, a lot of back, yeah, a lot of
a lot of what we found is like when we
asked consumers like, hey, like your first credit card, like,
be honest, did you max it out? You know? And
about forty percent of respondents were like, yeah, I maxed
out my first credit card, And the reasons why are
pretty much what you expect. You know that I was
(06:33):
young and dumb. I had there were so many things
to buy and I had so little income, so I
just put it on my credit card, you know. So
it's it makes sense. You know a lot of young
consumers they get that first credit card and they don't
have that guiding hand, so they end up over sending
and as a result, they can end up maxing out
that credit card.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Yeah. One of the things I find out really early
when I got my first credit card, which is a
long time ago, I said, wait a, say, I'm being
charged an annual fee by this company to have a card. Oh,
that's not going to work. I called them up and
I said, want to cancel the card? Cancel the card,
And the nice person in the end Refluence, said well,
(07:13):
why do you want to do that because you're charging
me a fee. You're charging me a fee. Oh, we
can remove that fee if you'd like, Okay, then don't
cancel the don't cancel the.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Card, ye make I always recommend to consumers and readers like, Hey,
if you're you're struggling and you can't do that financial fee,
call up your instrum and see how they can help you.
If they can't waive the fee, they'll more than likely
try and give you like some sort of credit so
that way they can kind of help ease that financial burden.
But honestly, it never hurts to call an ask.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah. I think that most of the credit crowd companies
now have gotten away from charging the fee because they
think that there are enough of us who are young
and dumb or old and dumb who pay off. You know,
the ten percent that you know your credit card bill
of fourteen hundred dollars you only have to pay how
forty that sounds like a great deal, right, yes? And
then the twenty seven percent compounded interests daily or hourly
(08:07):
adds up.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Let's possibly go wrong?
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Hen Yep, absolutely, I take such pride at the end
of the year in December because I love to look
at the amount of interest that I haven't paid on
my credit card bill. Pay it full, get rid of it,
move past it. And if you find it's cost you
do too much, then guess what, you know, just just
back off a little bit. You sound to me like
(08:32):
someone who really knows this subject. And how can people
follow some of your your writing in your wisdom at
US News and World Report.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Well, thank you, Dan. They can head on over to
money dot usnews dot com and there they'll be able
to find all the information they need on credit cards, mortgages,
personal loans. You know, don't let Aunt Carol talk you
into a card with an annual fees, like come read
our reviews first.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Yeah, right, and to get Uncle Hubert at all. I mean,
the guy's been in the attic all these years. He
knows nothing, he's never.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Had a card.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
In fact, last guy you want to talk to, Hey,
I really enjoyed it. Thanks, Adriana, we'll talk again.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
I hope, thank you so much, so good, thank you.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
All Right, we come back with a look at a
different sort of dilemma, and that is how strange, how
strained female relationships either amended or ended. I'm going to
talk with an author. She's a gender expert and best
selling author, Susan Shapiro, And I guess female friendships, how
(09:40):
would I know, are more difficult to sort of maintain,
cultivate than guy friendships. Maybe we're just more transactional and
probably not as as deep. I don't know. We'll figure
it out, Susan Shapiro. Coming back on the other side,
I also want to remind you, as I've done a
couple of times already, that we have some big news
(10:00):
from iHeart. iHeart has just been named the twenty twenty
five Podcast Company of the Year by the Webby Awards,
also known as the Oscars of the Internet. iHeart snagged
fourteen wins and we could not be prouder. Shout out
to the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for
bestowing this incredible honor and showing just such good judgment.
(10:23):
You can find all these award winning podcasts on the
free iHeartRadio app. You can go and check them out
right now. Just download that new and improved app. You
can make WBZ your first preset on the app too,
by the way, which means you will never be more
than a fingertip away from being in contact wherever you
are in the world with WBZ. Three hundred and sixty
(10:45):
five days, twenty four seven, My name's Dan Ray. Were
come on right back talking about the complexity of female friendships.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
If you're on Night Side with Dan Ray on wb Z,
Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Now we're going to talk about something that I know
nothing about. There's a lot of things I know nothing about,
and one of them, is the strain that exists in
female friendships and how those friendships are either ended or mended.
We're don to talk about the complexity of female friendships.
I have friendships with a lot of females, but that's
not the type of friendship we're talking about with us,
(11:23):
is gender expert and best selling author Susan Shapiro. Susan,
I guess I always assume that friendships between women were
similar to friendships between men. Sometimes friendships last your entire life,
and sometimes you get disappointed. But I guess it's a
(11:44):
little different according to your research. Tell us about it.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Oh, it's totally different. And women hold the bar so
high in these female friendships, and we actually feel that
husbands or partners come and go, and jobs change and
you move from here to there. But the female friend,
the best friend or the closest friend, that's you know, forever,
(12:08):
and it's just not what it is and things are
really changing based on my research.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
So how did you get interested in this issue in
the first place. I mean, obviously there must have been
something that prompted you to to get just you know,
get down and dig a little deeper here.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
Yeah, that's true. This is my fourteenth nonfiction book, and
for each of my studies, I'm looking at how women
really feel versus the faces we wear, and how women
are positioned in contemporary American society, which means a patriarchal culture.
So female friendship is, you know, something we've been taught
(12:48):
since we were young, that it's just forever, and yet
women in real time are saying, you know, my friend
betrayed me. My friend didn't respect me. It hasn't been
an equal relationship. My friend has a drug problem, a
drinking problem, and I can't be her enabler anymore. My
friend let someone get between us. You know, everything must
(13:11):
fine until I found a new partner. Now it's a
triangle and doesn't treat me the same. So we're seeing
lots of real stories where women from twenty to eighty
concided that they're now doing something that has to happen
before and that it's their estranging and they're feeling empowered
by that act.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Okay, probably empowered, but maybe a little guilty too. I
guess it's difficult here. It sounds to me, so has
this one.
Speaker 5 (13:40):
They always you're right. I mean, it's not like a
slam dunk. I mean, it takes a while and miss
the friend.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
So has this always existed amongst women, or have they
all of a sudden as they have spent more time
working and in the dog eat patriarchal world that you mentioned,
has that added to the complexities for them? Or is
(14:08):
it something that that is something women have been dealing
with since the Stone Ages.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
Women have been dealing with it but not really facing
it because we've all been told that these friendships have
to last, and that that's our safety haven.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
But I who told you? I don't understand that. Who
told them that? I'm a little confused on that point.
Speaker 5 (14:32):
Did they learn that in school little messaging? Our mothers,
our aunts are teachers, female teachers, They've all, you know,
just it's been the story that sure there. I did
a whole study in two thousand and six on female
competition and rivalry. It's called tripping the prom queen. So
it isn't that women haven't always known that there can
(14:54):
be jealousy or competition among us, but that we were
also always told that the true friend and this book
is about your closest friend. It's not just about an
acquaintance or someone you're not that close with. And how
that person is someone you can rely on and it's
not always the case. And what's interesting is that in
(15:14):
the last two elections, and with vaccines and with raising
children with or without vaccines beyond the COVID vaccine, these
decisions have been very divisive for women. So some of
the younger women in the study have said, you know,
my friend and I don't have the same values anymore,
and I can't live with that. I'm not comfortable anymore.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
And women didn't do that, just so I understand what
you're saying there. Okay, so you're saying that when you
mentioned the elections, I assume you're talking about presidential elections.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
I am. I am the last soul where it was
like a line in the sand.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
If your bestie, if your bestie for thirty years all
of a sudden confides in you that they've decided to
vote different than you have in this election. It's like
when a husband tells a wife that you know they're
going to vote differently. That destroys a thirty year relationship.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
Not always, but for some women it seemed to be
a deal breaker that when their values weren't the same.
It was in the last two years when I started
this research, you know, on a deadline to get the
book finished, and I was listening to so many women,
and it was a very diverse group of women, and
(16:32):
they kept saying that things seemed more black and white
than it used to be, not so great, and that
was just one of the deal breakers, which was interesting.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
I've done politics for a long time and it's it
was always black and white in terms of Democrat and Republican.
I know that everybody likes to say, let's go back
to the good old days. Unfortunately, sadly, there were there
have been elections throughout you know, our retireity street going
back millennium, not millennium, but a couple of centuries where
(17:05):
they've got a really, really nasty let me come back
to So you've defined the problem for particularly women, and
I suspect that there have been some men who decided
that their best bowling buddy now is going to vote
off from them, that that costs some male relationship some
male friendships too. But I have no research like you have.
(17:27):
So what do women have to do to to basically,
I guess, get past this obstacle? Or is it just
an obstacle that unfortunately is going to be there forever
well in.
Speaker 5 (17:40):
Terms of having different values.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
It really in terms of not being able to say
to a close friend, you know what. You and I
disagree on this, Okay, I mean, but you're still my
best friend and I'll vote this way, you vote that way.
Let's go have a drink. How do you how do
you get past? Now? I'm not just talking about the election,
but all of a sudden you're going to lose a
(18:03):
friend over something, I don't know what, whether it's an
election or all of a sudden you find out that
your friend is a closet Yankee fan. I've known you
all these years, You've gone to be with you with
Red Sox games, and now you have a picture of
Derek Jeter in your apartment. Why didn't you tell me
(18:25):
I'm never speaking to you again. I'm trying to write
this up.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
A little bit, okay, but Dan, it doesn't really play
out like that. I mean, it's that's just one section
of the book. But in my study, women talked about
being betrayed by a friend, feeling that the friend didn't
respect them, they weren't treated equally. The friend had chosen
a very different lifestyle.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
So what's the solution. Unfortunately, I'm getting close to my
to the end of our time here, and I'm having
fun with this. I'm really enjoying this conversation. I think
you and I, if we have had dinner together, we
would either be friends or would be screaming of each other.
But so, what can women do? How do you? I
know it must be horrible when you feel that a
(19:09):
friend of thirty or thirty five years turns out to
disappoint you, and I'm sure there's plenty of ways that
can happen. How do you do you have to just
kind of ignore it? Or do you have to say
that's it, I'm finding a new bestie.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
Well, women aren't that good at confronting people. You know,
that's not their favorite things, so they don't.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Really met My wife Susan go ah, okay, well a
lot of I'm teasy. I'm trying to or my daughter.
I'm trying to lighten it up here at you what what? What?
What advice? Well? Better yet, I think what women should do?
So I think they should buy this book so that
that we've we've outlined the problem, and I hope that
(19:53):
that you've provided perhaps some solutions, potential solutions.
Speaker 5 (19:58):
There are solutions there and ideas. Just stranging and feeling
okay about it is one of the solutions for sure.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Excellent, excellent, okay, Susan. When is the book out? Is it?
Is it already out?
Speaker 5 (20:09):
Book is just out now?
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Good? Good? Great? Okay, So they can find it at
I'm sure Amazon are great bookstores. It's simply called I believe.
If I'm wrong, tell me estranged how strained female friendships
are mended or ended?
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Perfect?
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Corrects? All right, thanks joined the conversation. I really did.
I like to get into this stuff, even though it's
a set relatively brief period of time. Uh uh. And
I listen to everything you said, and I'm taking it
into consideration and I really appreciate great.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Thanks very much.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Susan, You're very welcome. Okay. We got the news coming
up at a thirty and then we're going to talk
about a big team walk for cancer care involving the
Lowell General Hospital up in Lowell, which is a great facility.
And we'll also talk a little bit later on at
eight forty five with the Center for Disease Control weighing
some end options of universal COVID vaccine recommendations. Talking with
(21:11):
doctor Shira Doron, who's been with us many times. We'll
be back on Nightside right after this.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
You're on Nightside with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
All right, thank you very much, Emma. As always as
we will continue our conversations here in the eight o'clock hour.
Like to introduce Bruce Robinson. Bruce, welcome to Nightside.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Thank you, Dan, Thank you for inviting us.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Bruce is on the board of trustees. He's also the
development chair at Lowell General Hospital. And you folks have
a big team walk for cancer Care coming up, not
this Sunday, but the following Sunday. Tell us about this.
Is this a new effort to pull your team together
(22:00):
or is this an annual event that has been going
on for some time at Lowell General.
Speaker 4 (22:06):
This is, in fact, Dan our twenty six annual Team
Walk for Cancer Care. So this has been a long
standing event that we do once a year, and over
the twenty five years to date, we've raised over sixteen
million dollars and we've been able to provide help for
over forty two thousand patients who are fighting cancer.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Wow, twenty five years, sixteen million dollars. So you folks
raise quite a bit of money every year. It looks
I'm looking at the flyer that you folks sent to us,
and I guess you have a parking at the Songus Center,
which makes it easier. This event goes rain or shine.
(22:52):
It starts at eight o'clock on that Sunday morning, May fourth.
It's a three mile walk, so that's a relatively easy route.
You know, not for everybody, but a lot of people
can do the three miles kind of circum navigates. Well,
tell us about tell us where you how much of
(23:12):
woe looks at me like your walkers are going to
see a lot of the city of Lowell. Tell us
about the well, you know, just the experience. First of all,
we can talk about how.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Is your.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Absolutely it is.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
It is a great day. I can tell you, Dan,
it's my favorite day of the year. My wife knows.
It's not my anniversary, it's not my birthday, it's not
the holidays. It is Teamwalk for Cancer Care because the
money we raise is a little bit different than other
cancer raising efforts. We're not looking to find a cure.
Every dollar we raise stays here to help our patients
(23:45):
in the Merrimack Valley fight this disease. There's all kinds
of unknown expenses that happen as a result of this.
So people need help with transportation getting back and forth
for radiation or chemotherapy. People need wigs, they lose their
jobs temporarily. We help pay bills, We buy medications, we
(24:06):
buy prosses, whatever people need. They've got a big enough
shore fighting cancer, and what we're trying to do is
to make that fight a little bit easier in any
way that we can.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
And as long as.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
You're being treated at our cancer center, that's what we do.
The day itself, you are asking about seeing quite a
bit of oil. The walk is absolutely gorgeous. We feature
not only downtown l but we also walk a good
part of the walks along the banks of the Merrimack
River on the River Walk, and it is if you've
(24:40):
never done that, it is really a showcase for the
CEOL to see the rushing river and the mills and
the rapids. It's really quite something. So people that come
don't worry about the three miles. It's all flat. We
have lots of people that come with baby carriages. We
have people to come with their well behaved dogs, you know,
(25:01):
it takes a little woe for an hour, and we
have free coffee and donuts when you get there. We
have face painting for the kids. We have a scavenger
huts for the kids. It's very much an upbeat day.
And my favorite part of the walk in is when
the Canter patients come in. Their share givers are there
at the finish line, putting metals on them, congratulating them
(25:22):
for making the effort and completing their journey. So it's
it is really a superior day. It is very very upbeat.
It's not a down day. There's certainly a lot of
remembrances of people that we lost, but more than that,
there's so many hopes and encouragement of people that are
fighting the fight and have beaten the disease. And that's
(25:45):
the message people need to know that if you get
the diagnosis, don't give up the ship. The fight's just beginning,
and this walk celebrates that spirit.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
That's funny. I'm talking with a friend of mine today
in South Dakota and got a pretty tough diagnosis last fall.
And again, you don't think of South Dakota as being
one of the medical meccas of the world, with all
due respect to my friends in South Dakota, but he
was told this week that you know, he went through
everything he had to go through wasn't easy. Uh, but
(26:17):
but he tells his doctors have told him, you know,
he's free of cancer. And just to hear him express
out on the phone today was was amazing. In terms
of everything that you mentioned about the schedule and the
flat walk, I want you to know you had me
with the magic words for free coffee and donuts.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Dunkin Donuts there They've been with us for so many years.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
And not just you know.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
Not just the Plaine Donuts. We have crawlers and sprinkles,
the whole.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
I mean. My favorite is the glaze sticks. I mean
the regular plain glaze sticks. I mean because so you know,
and again, if if dunkin Donuts and playing blaze sticks
were illegal, I would be you know, arrested for for
a variety of reasons. You know, I probably would be
(27:09):
you know, holding them or something. But look, it sounds
like a great event. Let's talk about you welcome new folks.
Obviously you've got a great cadri already. How can people participate?
Can they just sign up the day off or do
they have to join ahead of time. Is there a
minimum to participate? What's the given? No, give us the details.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
Yeah, we want to make it as easy as possible
because everyone is in a different phase of their life
right now with all the turmoil going on.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
So this is easy.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
If you want to come that day and just walk,
you can do it. But what we really would like
people to do to help us raise funds is if
you go to our website teamwalk dot org. You can
go right there and you can make a donation. You
can support a walker or a team, you can offer
to volunteer at the event if you want onto, or
or just once again, just make a donation online. So
(28:04):
it couldn't be any easier. And you know, WBZ has
a big part of this walk and has had for
a number of years. Your traffic reporter in the morning,
Lori Grandy is one of our co hosts along with
Channel five Cindy Fitzgibbon. So they are there and they've
been very strong partners for OZ and so thanks to
(28:24):
WBZ for Laurie.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Well, I know both of them, and you have somebody
that can get you there safe and sound as a
traffic reporter and someone who can make sure that the
weather will be good that day. I mean, you got
every continuency covered here, Bruce.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
If I had a leprechan I'd use that as well.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Oh yeah, absolutely, and utilize the pot of gold that
hopefully the leprechaun could lead you. If there any leprechauns
out there have a pot of gold. Again, give us
that website one more time so folks.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Can get into it wwwteamwalk dot org. And it it's
very simple, very easy. Even I can use it.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
So that's how I'm going to make it even simpler
for you. You don't need the www dot anymore. It's just
teamwalk dot org. Trust me, that www Dot thing is,
you know, And I'm not like mister sophisticated when it
goes to that stuff. Teamwalk dot org. Everybody be there
a be square Sunday, May fourth, free parking at the
(29:24):
Songa Center. Great cause they're not looking for a cure.
They're looking for Their cause is to help people who
are dealing with some form of cancer at Lowell General Hospital.
And free coffee and donuts Dunkin Donuts. What more could anyone?
Speaker 4 (29:40):
And we all we say is just please give a
little bit and guess what you'll be making a difference
in the lives of so many of our friends and neighbors.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Dan sounds great. Bruce Robinson, I really do appreciate it.
Your great sport. We talk about we talk during this
hour of the program about some serious subjects. Theres nothing
more series areus than cancer, obviously, and for you to
have the spirit that you have and your walkers, it's inspirational.
Just wanted to say thank you very much for what
you do.
Speaker 4 (30:09):
Thank you, sir, We appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
All Right, we get back. We're going to talk about
a different issue, and that is universal COVID vaccine recommendations
with doctor Shira Doron. We'll be back on Nightside right
after this.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm WBZ Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Okay, Well, COVID is still around all appearances, sometimes to
the contrary, and whenever we talk about COVID, we like
to check in with doctor Shira Dorone, the chief infection
control officer for Tough's Medical Medicine and the hospital epidemiologist
at Tufts Medical Center. And we're talking tonight with doctor Dorone,
(30:55):
who I must immediately say, great to have you back.
Thanks so much for coming back, doctor Dorone.
Speaker 6 (31:00):
Wonderful to be back with you, and.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
We are going to talk tonight. I guess the CDC,
and I assume this is because there's a new leadership
team at the cd to see are weighing some changes
in the universal COVID vaccine recommendations that we have all
become used to over recent years. Am I off too
(31:24):
far off based on that?
Speaker 6 (31:26):
Well, no, I'm glad you said it that way, because
I do want to clarify that the CDC's Advisory Committee
on Immunization Practices did meet last week. They are an
independent external advisory committee, and they discussed covid vaccines, but
not you know, in this conversation, not under the influence
(31:48):
of the new administration.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Okay, So then it seems to me, and I'm looking
to depoliticize this conversation, and I think you are as well.
It seems to me that just because these recommendations might
sound to be more comfortable to the Trump administration and
people in leadership of the Trump administration than maybe the
(32:13):
Biden administration, which might have been a little more strident
on this, it's not their influence is not. This is
this is an advisory committee that is a standing committee.
I guess that maybe at some point in time President
Trump will be able to appoint, but at this point
it's a committee that's a holdover committee from the Biden years.
Speaker 6 (32:34):
Is that that's exactly right. The members are the same,
and their meeting materials were generated before the new administration
took over. The meeting was supposed to happen in February.
It was postponed, but they actually shared a survey of
the work group members on COVID vaccines, and the survey
(32:56):
results show that they already had these opinions before the
new administration place. So there is a lot of confusion
about that because there are some new headlines today that
might suggest otherwise.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Well, as a journalist, and I'm a talk show host,
but primarily I'm a journalist, I'd like to try to
make sure we clarify that. So having done that, these
new recommendations, if adopted, might make the advisories a little
less stringent. If that's a word that I an aeducate
(33:29):
that I could employ.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
Correct, that's right.
Speaker 6 (33:31):
And I wasn't actually expecting this conversation, but I agree
with it. So the Advisory Committee discussed a pretty major
change that they would vote on at the next meeting
in June, and that change is to shift from a
universal recommendation on COVID vaccination, so everyone over the age
(33:55):
of six months gets an initial and an annual vaccine,
to a risk strategy that is really focused on people
at high risk with risk factors.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Yeah. Now I'm not a medical professional, noll I played
one on the radio, but I was very sympathetic to
young people, a group that I left many years ago,
who were saying we're not sure, you know, particularly young
people who were thinking about having a family, young women.
There was a Massachusetts State Police trooper who, amongst others,
(34:31):
a female trooper who they lost their jobs because they
did not comply with the obligation to get a vaccination.
They actually were given some consideration and they said, well,
you don't have to get a vaccination. That's the good news,
but the bad news is that since you're not getting
(34:51):
a vaccination, we have no positions left and we're going
to have to terminate you from the state police because
we want to make sure everyone in the state place.
I'm using them as an example because I'm aware of
it interface with the public, and we cannot afford to
allow you interface with the public unless you're vaccinated. So
it was kind of a you know, ultimate catch twenty
(35:13):
two if you hit my drift. So I was very
empathetic to young people. I mean, COVID might be extremely
I got all my vaccinations FRO. I'm vaccinated up. But
is this the sort of flexibility you think that this
advisory panel is talking about, that you don't treat a
twenty nine year old woman the same as you do
(35:34):
you treat an eighty five year old man, if you
know what I'm trying to get.
Speaker 6 (35:37):
At exactly, so that you know, age would be one
of the major risk factors that would be considered in
the new recommendations. For sure, age is the number one
risk factor for severe COVID and other things like being
immuno compromised, having heart or lung disease. You know, those
(35:59):
are some of the things. You know, it's too late
to sort of go back and re litigate the concept
of the vaccine mandate or the vaccine passport. As you
recall when you couldn't go into certain restaurants and things
were very different when we had overwhelmed hospitals full of COVID,
(36:19):
which we don't have anymore. And we also had that
early clinical trial data on COVID vaccines that showed that
they were ninety five percent effective at preventing the infection.
That unfortunately did not last. And now as we know,
people who are vaccinated continue to get infected over and
over again. It just hasn't been the kind of vaccine
(36:41):
that provides that sort of long term, strong protection, unlike
say the music vaccine, which is that way. And so
it's time it's time to rethink that.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
Yeah, and I think there were a lot of people
back then who I remember when they said, you get
the vaccine, you'd be all set, you won't get COVID.
Then they said, well, if you get the vaccine, a
likely event you get COVID, it won't be bad. And
then they said, yeah, you might have to go to
the hospital, you might have a bad case, but you
won't die. But they were people who got vaccinated.
Speaker 6 (37:10):
Who died, that's right, And they weren't we And these
weren't lies, right, they weren't lies. Things were changing, things
were actually changing over time.
Speaker 1 (37:20):
Go ahead, I'm sorry.
Speaker 6 (37:22):
And so one of the issues really is you know
that I think is the most compelling reason to make
this change in recommendation now is that those those feelings
that people had about having, in some cases being forced
to get the vaccine when they weren't ready, and seeing
that people who were getting the vaccine did get infected,
(37:44):
to get hospitalized, did die, some of that is contributing
to today's vaccine skepticism about other vaccines. It's contributing to
the decreased uptake in say, routine childhood back nation, which
then in part is leading to outbreaks like the current
measles outbreak that's really raging in Texas and surrounding states.
(38:08):
And so if we can sort of pull back on
some of the absolutism as it relates to co vaccine,
the hope is that we could regain some of that
public trust or trust in public health.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
We could agree with you Moore, and I also thought,
again there was sort of the great unknown twenty nine
year old woman who was hoping maybe at some point
in her life to have children. There there was no
indication as to what the implications of taking the vaccine
would have been. So anyway, we lived and we learned.
Let's put it like that, doctor Thank you so much,
(38:38):
doctor Drone for coming on with us, because you always
explain things so clearly, and I'm sorry if I stumbled
a little bit in the beginning. I wanted to make
sure that we got it right from the start. So
thank you so much for your for your cooperation.
Speaker 6 (38:51):
Tonight, and thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Your good nature. Thanks so much. All right, good night.
When we come back, we're going to tell you everything.
Well I won't, but tick me and Dan will tell
you everything you need to do about ticks, how to
prevent being bitten by a tick, and what to do
if you get a tick so you don't get lime disease.
We got it all coming up for you, lots of
good information and we'll take all questions for the next
(39:13):
hour back on nightsight after this
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