August 12, 2024 • 37 mins
First, Dan discussed his trip to Italy and the Amalfi Coast.
Then, Dan dove into his first topic...
Steward Health Care, the company that owns eight hospitals in Massachusetts is $9 billion dollars in debt and filed for bankruptcy back in May. The company has been trying to sell off its hospitals. Despite lining up buyers for six of the MA hospitals, Steward postponed, for the fourth time now, a final sales hearing before a federal judge. Carney Hospital in Boston and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, Massachusetts are slotted to close at the end of August. We discussed this healthcare “crisis” in MA.
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Then, Dan dove into his first topic...
Steward Health Care, the company that owns eight hospitals in Massachusetts is $9 billion dollars in debt and filed for bankruptcy back in May. The company has been trying to sell off its hospitals. Despite lining up buyers for six of the MA hospitals, Steward postponed, for the fourth time now, a final sales hearing before a federal judge. Carney Hospital in Boston and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, Massachusetts are slotted to close at the end of August. We discussed this healthcare “crisis” in MA.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Night's Side with Dan Ray WBS COST New Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
All Right, welcome back. It is shortly after nine o'clock here.
I was trying to figure out where I was a
week ago tonight, which with the time change, and I
was probably sleeping because Italy is six hours ahead of
the US, and so I wanted to just take a
moment to talk a little bit about our tour. We
(00:30):
spent nine days on the road. It was a fast
paced tour and to be really honest with you, one
of the things that we had to deal with was
the heat in Italy at this time of year. We
spent three days in Rome and then five days on
the Amalfi Coast, which very very different in many ways.
(00:55):
In Rome, although the tourist sites were pretty quick outed,
we hit as many as possible. Uh it was it was.
It was a full, a full trip, that's for sure.
We left Boston on Friday night, August two, flew to
Rome overnight. Was greeted there at the airport by a
(01:21):
representative collect travel. No problem when you're traveling with a
group of Nightside listeners, I always have a real sense
that you have to keep the group together because you
don't want to lose anybody. By the way, I do
want to just mention again a word of thanks to
Gary Tangway, to Ben Parker who sat in for me
(01:42):
one night last I think Ben was in on Tuesday night,
and also for Morgan White, who I think was in
five of the nights doing yeomen's work as well as
his own Saturday show. Again, without them, I wouldn't have
an opportunity to engage in some of these these activities.
But so we get into room. We stayed at a
(02:03):
very nice hotel which was across the street from the
US Embassy, which is highly fortified, by the way, in
a really nice, safe section of the city. We were
warned and if you're going to Rome, you have to
worry about pickpockets, and that was a caution, particularly at
the tourist sites such as the Trevy Fountain, which I
(02:26):
think all of us have heard of, the Pantheon, and
we spent a very active day if you will, in
Rome on Monday. On Tuesday was the one of the
most challenging days of the trip. And for those of
you who have been to Rome, feel free to or
(02:48):
to Italy if you want to share your experience. Whether
you're on our trip. When I say our trip, a
trip that I was with with some nice side listeners,
or if you've been there recently talking to someone this morning,
good friend of mine who's headed over to the Maufi Coast,
which is which I'll get to in a moment. But
in Rome on Tuesday, we went to the Vatican, We
(03:09):
went to the Vatican museums, we were at, visited Saint
Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, there was the crypt of
Pope John Paul the second. It was really an amazing morning.
We had lunch at a restaurant right near the Vatican,
(03:29):
and then it was onto the coliseum and if you've
never been to the Carloiseum, that is something you cannot miss.
While in Rome. Uh, it was a fascinating tour, to
be really honest with you, but again challenging a lot
of walking on a hot summer day, Midsummer day, and
then most of us were pretty tired. When we got
(03:51):
back on Tuesday morning, it was off to the Amalfi Coast,
now the Maufi Coast. It's very difficult to describe it
because you know, people talk about Cape Corn in Boston,
or they talk about the Big sur in California. Some
of the spectacular beaches in California, the Amalfi Coast just
(04:15):
was amazing. If you've been there, I'd love to know
your reaction to it. But they are built into the
side of these mountains, homes and hotels, and I just marvel,
how did anybody there was no real roads going There
were roads, but how they could they could transport what
(04:40):
was necessary to build a hotel or to build, for
that matter, a single family home. It was just extraordinary.
We stopped at a Benedictine monastery, Monte Casino, which was
on the top of this huge mountain on the way
and it was actually bombed during World War two. Uh,
(05:03):
and just to to to see how this how how
this was built, I mean, how they were able to
get huge slabs of granite and huge stones up the
side of this mountain to build this magnificent abbey. And
again you did not have to be someone who was
(05:23):
either Catholic or or or familiar with any form of religion,
just to realize that it's extraordinary. That was That was
Tuesday morning, and then we got to our hotel at
the Mountfee Coast and we spent five nights there beautiful hotel,
(05:44):
stunning views. Uh. And the next day we got onto
a boat very similar to like a ferry if you've
been on a ferry to Martha's Vineyard or over to Nantucket.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Stopped at a little town called Positano, just a place
that you would never think existed, and then in the
town of a Maufi. Spent some time there, and then
you know, back home that night Thursday, it was back
to the a Maufi coast again not on the water,
(06:25):
but we were in the town of Sorrento. Uh, and
just a different world where people lived their lives they never,
I'm sure have been. Many of these people have stayed
in their part of the world without ever coming to Boston.
But we were in their part of the world. We
had a what they call a farm to table dinner
(06:49):
at a beautiful is It only an eight acre farm,
but it produced all sorts of different fruit groves. I
just it was kind of amazing and every day was different.
Then I passed on this because frankly I was pretty tired.
(07:11):
But some of our travelers took an optional boat trip
out to the Mediterranean Isle of Capri, which they said
was stunning. I don't have much to report on that.
And then on Saturday, what I thought was the I
mean just it was one of the best days. We
visited the remains of Pompeii, and all of us heard
(07:34):
about Pompeii when we were in school, but to actually
realize that you were on the actual the town square,
You were touching homes where people lived. They died within
a matter of moments when Mount Vesuvius erupted in seventy
(07:55):
nine a d and buried the town. The town was
not discovered after the volcano until the seventeen hundreds, and
there's a lot of questions as to who discovered it
first and where there are others who found it. But
now it has been literally brought back to life. The
(08:17):
original buildings that survived at Amphitheater, shops, homes where people
lived again nearly two thousand years ago, whose lives were
extinguished in the blink of an eye when Mount Vesuvius erupted.
And then we had a went to a winery for
a beautiful lunch and also wine sampling. It was. It
(08:44):
was great. We ended with a pizza party on Saturday
night and then a long day of travel on Sunday,
we're up at two o'clock in the morning. Bus left
the hotel at three point fifteen am. We drove to
the Naples airport, which was packed. I've never seen an airport,
(09:04):
and I've been in a lot of airports packed. The
problem was you couldn't even get into the terminal, and
when you got into the terminal, nothing was moving because
the agents, I don't think, showed up until four. The
people who were the ticket agents, the gate agents, didn't
show up until four in the morning, and it was pandemonium, pandemonium.
We did get our flight from Naples to Rome. Rome
(09:27):
a huge airport, a huge airport. Some concern about the ticketing,
but we all got on our planes and I'm sure
nine hours later got on our plane and then nine
hours later landed back in Boston. So the one criticism
that I would have, or two criticisms that I will have,
(09:47):
I will I will talk about on the other side
of the break. If you'd like to join the conversation,
if you were one of the travelers, or if you've
been on a trip this summer that you'd like to
share with us. Travel is great, but there's no place
like home. In my opinion, you know the number six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty or six one seven, nine three one
(10:08):
ten thirty. I got a couple of criticisms, not of
the trip and certainly not of what collect travel did
for us, But I'll mention a couple of things that
I'm sure most of you can't identify with. And you
have to be patient these days as a traveler. We'll
be back in night' said Light. Those phone lines up
coming back right after this.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
Nights Sight Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
No, I don't know how many of you may have
been traveling this summer or not, or have traveled recently,
but there were two aspects of the trip which were
a little disconcerting, and I want to mention it, and
I love to know if you can identify with it.
We flew over on an airline called it TA. The
people in the airline were great, nice, but I gotta
tell you, uh, I can't imagine how anyone who is
(11:04):
bigger than me can even fit in these seats. I'm
truly at one sixty eight okay, one hundred and sixty
eight pounds awaken. When Ady has done a great job
for me over the years, over nine years now. But
these seats are smaller and smaller and tighter and tighter,
less leg room. And then, to top it off, probably
(11:27):
the biggest surprise of the trip when we got home.
And again it was a long day because you started
it well, we started at two o'clock in the morning,
which really was eight o'clock on Saturday evening, so it
was going to be a twenty seven to twenty eight
hour day in best case scenario for most of us. However,
(11:48):
here's the thing that was most disconcerting. When we got
into Boston, into Logan Airport, it was really easy to
go through as American citizens. We just were carrying our
passport and they really got us through very quickly without
(12:08):
big problems. And I don't know what your experience has
been coming back through customs, but no, you have to
do it. You have to prove who you are to
get back into the country. But it was really easy,
and then we waited an hour and a half for
our luggage to come up. Now, I think that is
(12:30):
way too long. I don't know if you've had an
experience like that or not, but it's so frustrating at
the end of a long day, you're just standing there.
And as it turned out, they had directed in the
international terminal a couple of the flights to the wrong
luggage carousel. So even though our carousel was going to
(12:51):
be crowded because we probably had two hundred and fifty
people at least on our plane, it was double that
around the carousel because they had directed the flight that
had come in from Paris to come not to the
(13:11):
carousel which was carousel five, they sent them also to
carousel three. It was it was an absolute too and
I don't know if they were understaffed, and I don't
know if that is a responsibility of Ita, the carrier
which we flew, and didn't have enough people to get
luggage off and get it up to the passengers who
(13:35):
were pitched who were patiently waiting or not. I don't know.
And again, if you travel this summer, it's it's great
to travel, but again it's great to come home. And
it was the easiest part of the trip was that
Collette had provided complementary transportation for our travelers. A fellow
(14:00):
WBZ nightside listeners from secure parking spaces at the w
at WBZ in Medford, provided by the building the WBZ
broadcasts from. We don't own the building from which they were.
The studios, you know, exist right to the door at
(14:22):
a door to door pickup and drop off. So it
was just great. So what I'm going to do is
take a little bit of a break here if you
want to get in and talk about your travel experience
this summer, it was. It was in all and all,
I must tell you, it was amazing to look back
and in that period of about eight days while we
were on the ground, all the places that we visited,
(14:43):
all the things that we're able to do. And by
the way, the heat in early August in Rome, I
don't mind to tell you it was in the nineties
most days, and yet we had a beautiful air conditioned
to bus with Pasqually and Julio, who was our our
(15:04):
tour guide. It could not have been better planned, I
will certainly tell you that. So what I'm going to
do is when we get back, if you want to
talk about this, your travel, your experience, you're welcome six one, seven, two, five,
four to ten thirty or six one seven, nine thirty.
If not, then one subject that I would like to
(15:26):
get to, to be honest with you, is the Steward
health crisis here in Massachusetts. So we'll see what you
want to do. Right after the news break at the
bottom of the hour, actually about a minute or two early,
Rob if they're ready, let's go to the newsroom.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
It's Night's Eye with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Okay, so I have given you our synopsis of our trip,
but I want to switch to a topic which is
one that we have not talked about much, but one
that and frankly one that I haven't followed as closely
(16:10):
as I should. But it is the Stewart Hospital crisis.
Apparently there was supposed to be hearing in Texas tomorrow
that has now been postponed for three days. I don't
know whether you read into that a positive or a negative,
but just to give this in some perspective, Stewart and
(16:32):
I'm reading from a Reuter's report from late last month,
file for bankruptcy in May. Now this seems to me
to not only be a crisis, but it's also a controversy.
It put up it's bankrupt. Stuart Healthcare apparently is definitely
(16:52):
going to close two locations here in Massachusetts. That is
a tragedy. Stuart has apparently some buyers for some of
its properties, but receive no bids for the Carnee Hospital
in Dorchester or the Nishoba Valley Medical Center in Air, Massachusetts.
(17:13):
Just think about the number of people who are going
to have to find new doctors, new hospitals. I mean,
it is just insane. They do have some buyers, but
not for the Carnie, not for the Nishoba Valley Medical
Center and Air. Both of those hospitals are expected to
(17:33):
close by the end of August. How are those people
going to find new doctors? Now? Of course, Stewart, which
has great public relations says, according to Reuters, this is
a challenging and unfortunate situation and the effect that we'll
have on our patients, our employees and the communities we
serve as regrettable. Regrettable that's the best term you can
(17:56):
come up with. Regrettable. Look this as in any bankruptcy procedure,
any corporation has a right to declare bankruptcy. Now, we
live in a one party state here in Massachusetts, so
our leaving politicians, including Governor Mara Healey and Senator Elizabeth Warren.
(18:20):
And by the way, I blame Senator Elizabeth Warren for
this much more than I blame Healey. But Warren, when
she was running for office, it was like, this is
not going to happen corporations and blah blah blah. Well
this has happened under her nose. She's been a US
senator here since twenty twelve, so she is up for
her well, her third election, her second reelection. Governor Healey's
(18:44):
been in office now for not quite two years. The governor,
according to Reuters, has blamed the CEO, a guy named
Ralph Dellatore, greeding mismanagement. Apparently this dude has spent most
of the last week while everybody's trying to figure out
what they're going to do. He's been in his yacht
(19:07):
or his yacht has been somewhere in the Mediterranean. He's
been spending a lot of time at the Olympics in Paris.
He could not be reached for comment. Obviously not Warren,
said Senator Warren. You know the person who's going to
keep her eye on everything. She keeps her eye on
nothing said. The closures are quote, direct consequences of looting
by Stewart executives, private equity investors in corporate landlords at
(19:31):
the expense of patients healthcare workers in Massachusetts communities. Unquote,
talk is cheap, Senator Warren, where's the action? Why weren't
you aware of what was going on here? Now? Seward
is owned by a private equity company called I guess
Severus Capital Management. It was owned until twenty twenty. It
(19:53):
apparently sold the land under its hospitals to a real
estate company, saddling its own cell with over six point
six billion dollars in long term rent obligations. That sounds brilliant.
A US Senate committee has issued a subpoena too. Delatore
testify in September twelfth and September twelfth. Most of these
(20:16):
hospitals well, some of these hospitals will be closed. This
is really frustrating. Governor Heally, We've been very active. I've
been very active. Our Secretary of Health and Human Services
and our Commissioner of Public Health have been very active
in working with and helping to save these hospitals. This
is according to a piece on the State House News Service.
(20:38):
I'll just say at the outset, it breaks my heart
to see a hospital close. Yeah, it breaks my heart too.
About it breaks it breaks the heart and the pocketbook
of these patients. It breaks my heart to see patients
and residents worry about where they're going to excess care.
It breaks my heart to see nurses and healthcare workers
facing the specter of losing jobs. I hate it. Okay,
(20:59):
that's fine, but again, Dilatory was apparently vacationing in France
at the Olympic dressage events at the Palace of Versailles. Wow.
Now the fate of Stewart's Holy Family Hospital in habr
was also in the mix. This according to State House
(21:21):
News Service, you got a state center of the bray
Feinegeld whose district includes the hospital, saying here the facility
was not going to be included in the bidding process.
This is so overwhelming. How this could get to this
point here. Local officials in air in Boston have called
them the governor to clear a public health emergency to
(21:41):
keep the Connie and Nashoba open. There's a The vice
president of the United Healthcare Workers East eleven ninety nine
Seiu said, we caught upon the healthy administration and the
state legislature to do what is necessary for patients, caregivers,
(22:02):
the patients and the communities they serve. By taking action
to ensure the transfer of all six hospitals, including Holy
Family Hospital Harol, to new ownership. Well sounds to me
like the horses left the barn here. I was quoting
there from Ratcle written by Alison Kuznetz of the State
(22:23):
House News Service. It goes on and on here. This
is at risk. Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Holy Name,
Holy Family Hospitals in Harol, and Methuen Morton Hospital, and
taught these are big hospitals. Sat Anne's Hospital in Fall
River and Saint Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton. It looks
(22:48):
like the carney is doomed in Dorchester and the Nishouba
Valley Medical Center and air Where are those people going
to rere? They going to find medical care? Try to
find a doctor these days. Last quote from Governor Healy
talking about Ralph Delatori, the CEO doctor. I have no
(23:11):
idea what sort of a doctor this guy is. He
should be in there working with patients. He basically stole
millions out of Stewart on the backs of workers and
patients and brought himself fancy yachts, mansions and now apparently
lavish trips to Versailles. You're referring about him going to
these dressage events in Versailles. I hope he gets his
just doing that. Federal investigators will come after him for
(23:31):
his actions. I would remind the governor she was the
attorney general for eight years before becoming governor in twenty
twenty two. Our administration is working nine and day to
protect jobs, protect patients, and pick up the pieces of
the situation that Ralph Delatori has put us in. He
said in a statement. Well, I gotta tell you, it
(23:54):
sounds to me, and I don't want to be overly
tough here, but it sounds to me like all our
political leaders here in Massachusetts we're sleeping the switch. And
why shouldn't they they be They get returned to offers
just because they have a D after their name six
one seven, two four ten thirty six one seven, nine
three one ten thirty. I'm sure some of you out
there are more intimately affected, uh and imminently affected by
(24:18):
this than I am. But let's start off with Rob
in Dunstable, Massachusetts. Rob, appreciate you getting us going here.
Welcome to Nightside, Rob, go right ahead.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Yeah, then I really appreciate you bringing to the forefront
and using your voice and your platform here to out
this community out here. Then they're really hurting.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Well my pleasure. I must apologize. I think I might
have been late to the party. I've watched this develop
and while I was away, I thought to myself, why
have I not hit this topic? And so I'm hitting
it tonight. I wish I've been hitting it two or
three weeks ago. But we're on it tonight and we'll
and we'll stick with it this weekend. Yeah, until it
gets alo.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
I had a personal situation here in July eighteenth. I
had an accident myself. I'm in a business owner out
in the air community, and my accident led me to
Michilba Valley Medical Center and the day I was in
the emergency. While I was in an emergency, I realized
(25:21):
that the the hospital was being auctioned off that as
as I was in the emergency room that day on
the eighteenth, I was so fortunate then that I had
in Michilba Valley Medical Center, with its geographical location and
its proximate to air. My goal was to try to
get myself to Low General, but I wasn't going to
(25:43):
make it and thankfully for me. I had a Michoba
Valley Medical Center ready for Boston.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Rock. Hold On, I do want to make sure unstand
that you were in an accident.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Yeah, I was in an accident on the eighteenth of
July at the end.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Okay, one of those jack hold On, let me ask
you a couple of questions. Hold On, Okay, I want
to try to help you. So you were in an accident,
and then did you transport yourself to my buddy?
Speaker 3 (26:17):
I did. I don't know if it was just my
emission reaction. I got up, I looked in it was
a law More accident. I was taking care of my property.
I had a law More accident. And I looked down
and I was like, I need to get attention fast.
I mean the fastest way I knew how to do
was jump in my truck, wrapped my foot and drove.
(26:40):
I lost two toes in the process. And this accident
that I had, and I can't tell you the love
and compassion from the er staff that I got up
there at the show, but and that they assured me
and got me straightened out and got me into Tufts Medical.
I can't thank all of the people.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Let's assume let's assume that instead of having the accident
in July, you had the accident in September. After if.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Closed, so then I'm not driving myself then, I guess
at that point, and as someone once told me in Touch,
like next time you'll you call nine one one, baby, baby,
I thought I had.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
A shot to make it the loll well, Rob, I
am so happy that you had that option, and I'm
also so happy that you had the composure to try
to get somewhere.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
I'm so grateful that I hadn't showed there that was
able to the first thing in an imputation is infection.
The first thing that they didn't was treat that to me,
and they got me, you know, right away. They took it.
They took attention to my foot, and unfortunately, I think
I'm going to hold on to I got a pin
(27:58):
in my third toe, but I'm going to hold on
to that too. And I really believed if it wasn't
for that attention and the care that I got into Showba,
I might have had a little bit of a different
outcome in my situation.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
I I've never advocated or done anything like this game,
but I'm so grateful that you've taken up this topic tonight,
because you know what, I'm so frustrated with the governor
that the senators they just all lip service. I'll tell
you if there wasn't for Jamie Aldreds taking the charge
out there and our area a state Reped Dancina Moderick
(28:35):
Stasdale at the local level. But I feel like we're
at the local level that we're not getting the attention
from the governor, nor the Senators or Congress.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Of all of them. Of all of them. You have Warren.
She can talk a game, but I don't know that
she produces, okay, and I think that that that that
she is a paper paper tiger.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
And she's going to be so tough on corporations and
all of that. A lot of these corporations are producing
products and they make some money. Hospitals are providing this
critical care and now they're going to walk away and
somehow they're a sleeping the sleep.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Realize until I had this experience almost a month ago,
now getting closer to but I always thought we were
run by nonprofit organizations that ran in the hospitals. I
never knew it was all the private equities that we
have in the system.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Well, there's nothing wrong with private equity per se. But
when you're on private equity and you want to invest
let us say in I don't know, you know, football
teams or or or or airports, that's one thing. But
when you're investing in in hospitals, medical care, someone's got
to be watching what you're doing. Rob. Thank you've never
(29:52):
called before, right, first time caller, I've never called.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
It's really damn It's a public safety issue out here
in our community.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
I know that.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Yeah, you I made abundantly care that they don't even
care about us out there.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Well, let me tell you I care about you, and
I mean that seriously. And I apologize for you for
not jumping on this earlier. But we're going to jump
on it and stay on it, I promise you.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Okay, great, greatly appreciated, d and thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
I want to give you a round of applause. Is
a first time calling, that's uh, And I want you
to become a regular caller. Okay, and best of luck.
I hope that all the medical circumstances that you're dealing with,
UH turn out perfect at the end.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Okay, Yeah, don't bles Chappelle.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Thanks right, Thanks you a great night boy. That's a
great call. Back on Night's side, if you like to
join the conversation. You know this is a forum. All
I can do is give you the opportunity to talk
about this problem. And I'm I'm I'm ready to criticize
our senior center to here because you know they're on
these very powerful committees. They have huge staffs in Washington.
The only thing they have to worry about is taking
(30:56):
care of their own constituents. And I think that you
folks need to look very carefully and very closely. Forget
her record, look at Senator Warren's record of accomplishments. Are
whack thereof Back on Night Side right after this, join
the conversation if you like. The only line opened six
seven thirty.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Sorry, let me go to Kerry and Brockton. Carry want
to get you and at least one more in here
before the ten o'clock news. Go ahead.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Kerry, Hi, Dan, thanks for taking my call. I was
just calling because I worked for Quincy Medical Center that
was owned by Stuart and the employees of the hospital,
and the residents of the city of Quincy put up
a great fight to try to make the importance of
that hospital known. And I just feel like, and I
(31:53):
don't want to speak for the coworkers or people in
the city, but we really felt like the politicians could
have done more, especially, you know, our mayor at the time,
could have done some bigger things to try to make
that hospital stay in place.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
You have a long serving mayor down there, Tom Cooke, right, yes, correct,
So he was the mayor at the time.
Speaker 5 (32:16):
When did Quincy close twenty fourteen? The end of twenty fourteen, Okay,
And I don't know this to be true for sure,
but if anyone's interested in looking it up, I had
heard at one point that Quincy, after it closed, Quincy
was the largest city in New England without a hospital.
And the city mayor Coke has done a lot to
(32:39):
build the city up. There is a large number of
new you know, apartment complexes. The city's growing and to be,
you know, before the hospital even closed and the city
grew the way that it has recently, there are a
ton of elderly housing, skilled facilities.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
I mean, there is so much need for a hospital
in that city. And what's there now condos condos, and
that's not what was needed. And I feel terrible for
the local the other local hospitals. They are absolutely you know, I.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Lay this one clearly and squarely at the feet of
Senator Elizabeth Warren. Uh. She came in and she was
gonna make sure the greedy you know, you know, corporate
people or were brought to task. And here you have
somebody who apparently is living an elegant lifestyle while running
(33:39):
a company into the ground. I mean, where was Elizabeth
Warren on this one? Where was Elizabeth Warren? Not today
to give us some phony, blooney press release, but to
do something that actually would have an impact on on
a positive result. You know, six months ago, two years ago,
she was she was missing an action, simple as that.
Speaker 5 (34:02):
I agree. And you know they're supposed to be representing
us and working for us.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
And I can tell you for sure that is a
long time employee there at Quincy Medical Center. Myself and
my coworkers spot really hard to make our voices heard
and advocate.
Speaker 5 (34:19):
For our patients that we took care of, and nobody
was listening.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Well, I appreciate Well again, I hope you remember that
in November. She's up for reelection here, I surely do. Okay,
tell your friends.
Speaker 5 (34:32):
Okay, thank you, Dan, thank you, have a great night.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Bye bye you too.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
All right, let me let me go next very quickly,
to Marie in Middleborough. Marie, I only got about two
minutes for you. I want to get you in and
we'll get other calls on the other side. Go right ahead, Marie.
Speaker 6 (34:50):
Hi, Dan, this is Marie. Last time from Middleborough. Last
time I spoke to you, it was when Barack Obama
and Hillary Cliff were running for president. Anyway, I today Saturday,
I received a letter in the mail. He opened it
up and it was a letter, a legal letter asking me.
(35:11):
It was a lawsuit against the patients and versus Stuart
Medical health Care. So I immediately said, oh my goodness,
I'm not going to have my doctors. So I'll wait
till Monday morning. I called them this morning and asked them.
I said, Hi, this is Marie. Am I to be concerned?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Well?
Speaker 6 (35:31):
She said, first of all, as of November first, you
will no longer have a provider. I said, when were
you going to let me know? I said, you know,
I kind of thought that maybe doctor. I don't want
to say his name, and the nurse practitioner would go
in business for himself.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Both.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
We had these doctors go into private family family general
practice to take care of us. Now I'm healthy, I
get a physical once a year. I've been working as
a registered nurse for fifty five years. And I was
taken so back by the nonchalance and uncaring and I thought,
(36:08):
I said, to them, what are these people doing that
has cancer treatments, et cetera. You're just walk isn't that
desertion to just disregards the patients. I mean, I will
find somebody else, But I.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Think about these poor people there who owns the hospital?
So are you a steward?
Speaker 6 (36:29):
So that my medical the southeast of medical building, my physicians,
the physicians all joined Stewart Healthcare, so a lot of
lot of the doctors left. I had toughs they made.
They weren't going to take toughs. So I wanted to
look across the show jump find with. But the point
(36:49):
being is I'm healthy. I only need I said, can't
you please keep me on? They're not going to send
you a letter to refer you to anybody just dropping
us here, So I a I have a.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Friend of mine who was dropped by a doctor who
had been her doctor for I think over twenty years
because she was going the doctor was going into a
concierge practice. UH and she uh had to really scramble
around to get a doctor. This this is the sort
of thing that Senator Elizabeth Warren and the other politicians
should have been looking at. Marie. I got you in
(37:21):
before the break. Thank you for joining us. But we
got it broake for news. We will stay on top
of this, I promise you. Okay, you're gonna stick. You're
very welcome. Thanks, Marie. I want to learn more about it.
If you've had experience, give me a call one line
at six month seven two five, four to ten thirty,
A couple at six months seven nine three one ten thirty.
I think this is an important issue. Please join the conversation.
(37:44):
Let me know what your experience has been. Use our
microphone to get your concerns out there on this program.
It's Night's Side with Dan Ray WBS COST New Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
All Right, welcome back. It is shortly after nine o'clock here.
I was trying to figure out where I was a
week ago tonight, which with the time change, and I
was probably sleeping because Italy is six hours ahead of
the US, and so I wanted to just take a
moment to talk a little bit about our tour. We
(00:30):
spent nine days on the road. It was a fast
paced tour and to be really honest with you, one
of the things that we had to deal with was
the heat in Italy at this time of year. We
spent three days in Rome and then five days on
the Amalfi Coast, which very very different in many ways.
(00:55):
In Rome, although the tourist sites were pretty quick outed,
we hit as many as possible. Uh it was it was.
It was a full, a full trip, that's for sure.
We left Boston on Friday night, August two, flew to
Rome overnight. Was greeted there at the airport by a
(01:21):
representative collect travel. No problem when you're traveling with a
group of Nightside listeners, I always have a real sense
that you have to keep the group together because you
don't want to lose anybody. By the way, I do
want to just mention again a word of thanks to
Gary Tangway, to Ben Parker who sat in for me
(01:42):
one night last I think Ben was in on Tuesday night,
and also for Morgan White, who I think was in
five of the nights doing yeomen's work as well as
his own Saturday show. Again, without them, I wouldn't have
an opportunity to engage in some of these these activities.
But so we get into room. We stayed at a
(02:03):
very nice hotel which was across the street from the
US Embassy, which is highly fortified, by the way, in
a really nice, safe section of the city. We were
warned and if you're going to Rome, you have to
worry about pickpockets, and that was a caution, particularly at
the tourist sites such as the Trevy Fountain, which I
(02:26):
think all of us have heard of, the Pantheon, and
we spent a very active day if you will, in
Rome on Monday. On Tuesday was the one of the
most challenging days of the trip. And for those of
you who have been to Rome, feel free to or
(02:48):
to Italy if you want to share your experience. Whether
you're on our trip. When I say our trip, a
trip that I was with with some nice side listeners,
or if you've been there recently talking to someone this morning,
good friend of mine who's headed over to the Maufi Coast,
which is which I'll get to in a moment. But
in Rome on Tuesday, we went to the Vatican, We
(03:09):
went to the Vatican museums, we were at, visited Saint
Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, there was the crypt of
Pope John Paul the second. It was really an amazing morning.
We had lunch at a restaurant right near the Vatican,
(03:29):
and then it was onto the coliseum and if you've
never been to the Carloiseum, that is something you cannot miss.
While in Rome. Uh, it was a fascinating tour, to
be really honest with you, but again challenging a lot
of walking on a hot summer day, Midsummer day, and
then most of us were pretty tired. When we got
(03:51):
back on Tuesday morning, it was off to the Amalfi Coast,
now the Maufi Coast. It's very difficult to describe it
because you know, people talk about Cape Corn in Boston,
or they talk about the Big sur in California. Some
of the spectacular beaches in California, the Amalfi Coast just
(04:15):
was amazing. If you've been there, I'd love to know
your reaction to it. But they are built into the
side of these mountains, homes and hotels, and I just marvel,
how did anybody there was no real roads going There
were roads, but how they could they could transport what
(04:40):
was necessary to build a hotel or to build, for
that matter, a single family home. It was just extraordinary.
We stopped at a Benedictine monastery, Monte Casino, which was
on the top of this huge mountain on the way
and it was actually bombed during World War two. Uh,
(05:03):
and just to to to see how this how how
this was built, I mean, how they were able to
get huge slabs of granite and huge stones up the
side of this mountain to build this magnificent abbey. And
again you did not have to be someone who was
(05:23):
either Catholic or or or familiar with any form of religion,
just to realize that it's extraordinary. That was That was
Tuesday morning, and then we got to our hotel at
the Mountfee Coast and we spent five nights there beautiful hotel,
(05:44):
stunning views. Uh. And the next day we got onto
a boat very similar to like a ferry if you've
been on a ferry to Martha's Vineyard or over to Nantucket.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Stopped at a little town called Positano, just a place
that you would never think existed, and then in the
town of a Maufi. Spent some time there, and then
you know, back home that night Thursday, it was back
to the a Maufi coast again not on the water,
(06:25):
but we were in the town of Sorrento. Uh, and
just a different world where people lived their lives they never,
I'm sure have been. Many of these people have stayed
in their part of the world without ever coming to Boston.
But we were in their part of the world. We
had a what they call a farm to table dinner
(06:49):
at a beautiful is It only an eight acre farm,
but it produced all sorts of different fruit groves. I
just it was kind of amazing and every day was different.
Then I passed on this because frankly I was pretty tired.
(07:11):
But some of our travelers took an optional boat trip
out to the Mediterranean Isle of Capri, which they said
was stunning. I don't have much to report on that.
And then on Saturday, what I thought was the I
mean just it was one of the best days. We
visited the remains of Pompeii, and all of us heard
(07:34):
about Pompeii when we were in school, but to actually
realize that you were on the actual the town square,
You were touching homes where people lived. They died within
a matter of moments when Mount Vesuvius erupted in seventy
(07:55):
nine a d and buried the town. The town was
not discovered after the volcano until the seventeen hundreds, and
there's a lot of questions as to who discovered it
first and where there are others who found it. But
now it has been literally brought back to life. The
(08:17):
original buildings that survived at Amphitheater, shops, homes where people
lived again nearly two thousand years ago, whose lives were
extinguished in the blink of an eye when Mount Vesuvius erupted.
And then we had a went to a winery for
a beautiful lunch and also wine sampling. It was. It
(08:44):
was great. We ended with a pizza party on Saturday
night and then a long day of travel on Sunday,
we're up at two o'clock in the morning. Bus left
the hotel at three point fifteen am. We drove to
the Naples airport, which was packed. I've never seen an airport,
(09:04):
and I've been in a lot of airports packed. The
problem was you couldn't even get into the terminal, and
when you got into the terminal, nothing was moving because
the agents, I don't think, showed up until four. The
people who were the ticket agents, the gate agents, didn't
show up until four in the morning, and it was pandemonium, pandemonium.
We did get our flight from Naples to Rome. Rome
(09:27):
a huge airport, a huge airport. Some concern about the ticketing,
but we all got on our planes and I'm sure
nine hours later got on our plane and then nine
hours later landed back in Boston. So the one criticism
that I would have, or two criticisms that I will have,
(09:47):
I will I will talk about on the other side
of the break. If you'd like to join the conversation,
if you were one of the travelers, or if you've
been on a trip this summer that you'd like to
share with us. Travel is great, but there's no place
like home. In my opinion, you know the number six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty or six one seven, nine three one
(10:08):
ten thirty. I got a couple of criticisms, not of
the trip and certainly not of what collect travel did
for us, But I'll mention a couple of things that
I'm sure most of you can't identify with. And you
have to be patient these days as a traveler. We'll
be back in night' said Light. Those phone lines up
coming back right after this.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
Nights Sight Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
No, I don't know how many of you may have
been traveling this summer or not, or have traveled recently,
but there were two aspects of the trip which were
a little disconcerting, and I want to mention it, and
I love to know if you can identify with it.
We flew over on an airline called it TA. The
people in the airline were great, nice, but I gotta
tell you, uh, I can't imagine how anyone who is
(11:04):
bigger than me can even fit in these seats. I'm
truly at one sixty eight okay, one hundred and sixty
eight pounds awaken. When Ady has done a great job
for me over the years, over nine years now. But
these seats are smaller and smaller and tighter and tighter,
less leg room. And then, to top it off, probably
(11:27):
the biggest surprise of the trip when we got home.
And again it was a long day because you started
it well, we started at two o'clock in the morning,
which really was eight o'clock on Saturday evening, so it
was going to be a twenty seven to twenty eight
hour day in best case scenario for most of us. However,
(11:48):
here's the thing that was most disconcerting. When we got
into Boston, into Logan Airport, it was really easy to
go through as American citizens. We just were carrying our
passport and they really got us through very quickly without
(12:08):
big problems. And I don't know what your experience has
been coming back through customs, but no, you have to
do it. You have to prove who you are to
get back into the country. But it was really easy,
and then we waited an hour and a half for
our luggage to come up. Now, I think that is
(12:30):
way too long. I don't know if you've had an
experience like that or not, but it's so frustrating at
the end of a long day, you're just standing there.
And as it turned out, they had directed in the
international terminal a couple of the flights to the wrong
luggage carousel. So even though our carousel was going to
(12:51):
be crowded because we probably had two hundred and fifty
people at least on our plane, it was double that
around the carousel because they had directed the flight that
had come in from Paris to come not to the
(13:11):
carousel which was carousel five, they sent them also to
carousel three. It was it was an absolute too and
I don't know if they were understaffed, and I don't
know if that is a responsibility of Ita, the carrier
which we flew, and didn't have enough people to get
luggage off and get it up to the passengers who
(13:35):
were pitched who were patiently waiting or not. I don't know.
And again, if you travel this summer, it's it's great
to travel, but again it's great to come home. And
it was the easiest part of the trip was that
Collette had provided complementary transportation for our travelers. A fellow
(14:00):
WBZ nightside listeners from secure parking spaces at the w
at WBZ in Medford, provided by the building the WBZ
broadcasts from. We don't own the building from which they were.
The studios, you know, exist right to the door at
(14:22):
a door to door pickup and drop off. So it
was just great. So what I'm going to do is
take a little bit of a break here if you
want to get in and talk about your travel experience
this summer, it was. It was in all and all,
I must tell you, it was amazing to look back
and in that period of about eight days while we
were on the ground, all the places that we visited,
(14:43):
all the things that we're able to do. And by
the way, the heat in early August in Rome, I
don't mind to tell you it was in the nineties
most days, and yet we had a beautiful air conditioned
to bus with Pasqually and Julio, who was our our
(15:04):
tour guide. It could not have been better planned, I
will certainly tell you that. So what I'm going to
do is when we get back, if you want to
talk about this, your travel, your experience, you're welcome six one, seven, two, five,
four to ten thirty or six one seven, nine thirty.
If not, then one subject that I would like to
(15:26):
get to, to be honest with you, is the Steward
health crisis here in Massachusetts. So we'll see what you
want to do. Right after the news break at the
bottom of the hour, actually about a minute or two early,
Rob if they're ready, let's go to the newsroom.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
It's Night's Eye with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Okay, so I have given you our synopsis of our trip,
but I want to switch to a topic which is
one that we have not talked about much, but one
that and frankly one that I haven't followed as closely
(16:10):
as I should. But it is the Stewart Hospital crisis.
Apparently there was supposed to be hearing in Texas tomorrow
that has now been postponed for three days. I don't
know whether you read into that a positive or a negative,
but just to give this in some perspective, Stewart and
(16:32):
I'm reading from a Reuter's report from late last month,
file for bankruptcy in May. Now this seems to me
to not only be a crisis, but it's also a controversy.
It put up it's bankrupt. Stuart Healthcare apparently is definitely
(16:52):
going to close two locations here in Massachusetts. That is
a tragedy. Stuart has apparently some buyers for some of
its properties, but receive no bids for the Carnee Hospital
in Dorchester or the Nishoba Valley Medical Center in Air, Massachusetts.
(17:13):
Just think about the number of people who are going
to have to find new doctors, new hospitals. I mean,
it is just insane. They do have some buyers, but
not for the Carnie, not for the Nishoba Valley Medical
Center and Air. Both of those hospitals are expected to
(17:33):
close by the end of August. How are those people
going to find new doctors? Now? Of course, Stewart, which
has great public relations says, according to Reuters, this is
a challenging and unfortunate situation and the effect that we'll
have on our patients, our employees and the communities we
serve as regrettable. Regrettable that's the best term you can
(17:56):
come up with. Regrettable. Look this as in any bankruptcy procedure,
any corporation has a right to declare bankruptcy. Now, we
live in a one party state here in Massachusetts, so
our leaving politicians, including Governor Mara Healey and Senator Elizabeth Warren.
(18:20):
And by the way, I blame Senator Elizabeth Warren for
this much more than I blame Healey. But Warren, when
she was running for office, it was like, this is
not going to happen corporations and blah blah blah. Well
this has happened under her nose. She's been a US
senator here since twenty twelve, so she is up for
her well, her third election, her second reelection. Governor Healey's
(18:44):
been in office now for not quite two years. The governor,
according to Reuters, has blamed the CEO, a guy named
Ralph Dellatore, greeding mismanagement. Apparently this dude has spent most
of the last week while everybody's trying to figure out
what they're going to do. He's been in his yacht
(19:07):
or his yacht has been somewhere in the Mediterranean. He's
been spending a lot of time at the Olympics in Paris.
He could not be reached for comment. Obviously not Warren,
said Senator Warren. You know the person who's going to
keep her eye on everything. She keeps her eye on
nothing said. The closures are quote, direct consequences of looting
by Stewart executives, private equity investors in corporate landlords at
(19:31):
the expense of patients healthcare workers in Massachusetts communities. Unquote,
talk is cheap, Senator Warren, where's the action? Why weren't
you aware of what was going on here? Now? Seward
is owned by a private equity company called I guess
Severus Capital Management. It was owned until twenty twenty. It
(19:53):
apparently sold the land under its hospitals to a real
estate company, saddling its own cell with over six point
six billion dollars in long term rent obligations. That sounds brilliant.
A US Senate committee has issued a subpoena too. Delatore
testify in September twelfth and September twelfth. Most of these
(20:16):
hospitals well, some of these hospitals will be closed. This
is really frustrating. Governor Heally, We've been very active. I've
been very active. Our Secretary of Health and Human Services
and our Commissioner of Public Health have been very active
in working with and helping to save these hospitals. This
is according to a piece on the State House News Service.
(20:38):
I'll just say at the outset, it breaks my heart
to see a hospital close. Yeah, it breaks my heart too.
About it breaks it breaks the heart and the pocketbook
of these patients. It breaks my heart to see patients
and residents worry about where they're going to excess care.
It breaks my heart to see nurses and healthcare workers
facing the specter of losing jobs. I hate it. Okay,
(20:59):
that's fine, but again, Dilatory was apparently vacationing in France
at the Olympic dressage events at the Palace of Versailles. Wow.
Now the fate of Stewart's Holy Family Hospital in habr
was also in the mix. This according to State House
(21:21):
News Service, you got a state center of the bray
Feinegeld whose district includes the hospital, saying here the facility
was not going to be included in the bidding process.
This is so overwhelming. How this could get to this
point here. Local officials in air in Boston have called
them the governor to clear a public health emergency to
(21:41):
keep the Connie and Nashoba open. There's a The vice
president of the United Healthcare Workers East eleven ninety nine
Seiu said, we caught upon the healthy administration and the
state legislature to do what is necessary for patients, caregivers,
(22:02):
the patients and the communities they serve. By taking action
to ensure the transfer of all six hospitals, including Holy
Family Hospital Harol, to new ownership. Well sounds to me
like the horses left the barn here. I was quoting
there from Ratcle written by Alison Kuznetz of the State
(22:23):
House News Service. It goes on and on here. This
is at risk. Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Holy Name,
Holy Family Hospitals in Harol, and Methuen Morton Hospital, and
taught these are big hospitals. Sat Anne's Hospital in Fall
River and Saint Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton. It looks
(22:48):
like the carney is doomed in Dorchester and the Nishouba
Valley Medical Center and air Where are those people going
to rere? They going to find medical care? Try to
find a doctor these days. Last quote from Governor Healy
talking about Ralph Delatori, the CEO doctor. I have no
(23:11):
idea what sort of a doctor this guy is. He
should be in there working with patients. He basically stole
millions out of Stewart on the backs of workers and
patients and brought himself fancy yachts, mansions and now apparently
lavish trips to Versailles. You're referring about him going to
these dressage events in Versailles. I hope he gets his
just doing that. Federal investigators will come after him for
(23:31):
his actions. I would remind the governor she was the
attorney general for eight years before becoming governor in twenty
twenty two. Our administration is working nine and day to
protect jobs, protect patients, and pick up the pieces of
the situation that Ralph Delatori has put us in. He
said in a statement. Well, I gotta tell you, it
(23:54):
sounds to me, and I don't want to be overly
tough here, but it sounds to me like all our
political leaders here in Massachusetts we're sleeping the switch. And
why shouldn't they they be They get returned to offers
just because they have a D after their name six
one seven, two four ten thirty six one seven, nine
three one ten thirty. I'm sure some of you out
there are more intimately affected, uh and imminently affected by
(24:18):
this than I am. But let's start off with Rob
in Dunstable, Massachusetts. Rob, appreciate you getting us going here.
Welcome to Nightside, Rob, go right ahead.
Speaker 3 (24:28):
Yeah, then I really appreciate you bringing to the forefront
and using your voice and your platform here to out
this community out here. Then they're really hurting.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Well my pleasure. I must apologize. I think I might
have been late to the party. I've watched this develop
and while I was away, I thought to myself, why
have I not hit this topic? And so I'm hitting
it tonight. I wish I've been hitting it two or
three weeks ago. But we're on it tonight and we'll
and we'll stick with it this weekend. Yeah, until it
gets alo.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
I had a personal situation here in July eighteenth. I
had an accident myself. I'm in a business owner out
in the air community, and my accident led me to
Michilba Valley Medical Center and the day I was in
the emergency. While I was in an emergency, I realized
(25:21):
that the the hospital was being auctioned off that as
as I was in the emergency room that day on
the eighteenth, I was so fortunate then that I had
in Michilba Valley Medical Center, with its geographical location and
its proximate to air. My goal was to try to
get myself to Low General, but I wasn't going to
(25:43):
make it and thankfully for me. I had a Michoba
Valley Medical Center ready for Boston.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
Rock. Hold On, I do want to make sure unstand
that you were in an accident.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Yeah, I was in an accident on the eighteenth of
July at the end.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
Okay, one of those jack hold On, let me ask
you a couple of questions. Hold On, Okay, I want
to try to help you. So you were in an accident,
and then did you transport yourself to my buddy?
Speaker 3 (26:17):
I did. I don't know if it was just my
emission reaction. I got up, I looked in it was
a law More accident. I was taking care of my property.
I had a law More accident. And I looked down
and I was like, I need to get attention fast.
I mean the fastest way I knew how to do
was jump in my truck, wrapped my foot and drove.
(26:40):
I lost two toes in the process. And this accident
that I had, and I can't tell you the love
and compassion from the er staff that I got up
there at the show, but and that they assured me
and got me straightened out and got me into Tufts Medical.
I can't thank all of the people.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Let's assume let's assume that instead of having the accident
in July, you had the accident in September. After if.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Closed, so then I'm not driving myself then, I guess
at that point, and as someone once told me in Touch,
like next time you'll you call nine one one, baby, baby,
I thought I had.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
A shot to make it the loll well, Rob, I
am so happy that you had that option, and I'm
also so happy that you had the composure to try
to get somewhere.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
I'm so grateful that I hadn't showed there that was
able to the first thing in an imputation is infection.
The first thing that they didn't was treat that to me,
and they got me, you know, right away. They took it.
They took attention to my foot, and unfortunately, I think
I'm going to hold on to I got a pin
(27:58):
in my third toe, but I'm going to hold on
to that too. And I really believed if it wasn't
for that attention and the care that I got into Showba,
I might have had a little bit of a different
outcome in my situation.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
I I've never advocated or done anything like this game,
but I'm so grateful that you've taken up this topic tonight,
because you know what, I'm so frustrated with the governor
that the senators they just all lip service. I'll tell
you if there wasn't for Jamie Aldreds taking the charge
out there and our area a state Reped Dancina Moderick
(28:35):
Stasdale at the local level. But I feel like we're
at the local level that we're not getting the attention
from the governor, nor the Senators or Congress.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Of all of them. Of all of them. You have Warren.
She can talk a game, but I don't know that
she produces, okay, and I think that that that that
she is a paper paper tiger.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
And she's going to be so tough on corporations and
all of that. A lot of these corporations are producing
products and they make some money. Hospitals are providing this
critical care and now they're going to walk away and
somehow they're a sleeping the sleep.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Realize until I had this experience almost a month ago,
now getting closer to but I always thought we were
run by nonprofit organizations that ran in the hospitals. I
never knew it was all the private equities that we
have in the system.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Well, there's nothing wrong with private equity per se. But
when you're on private equity and you want to invest
let us say in I don't know, you know, football
teams or or or or airports, that's one thing. But
when you're investing in in hospitals, medical care, someone's got
to be watching what you're doing. Rob. Thank you've never
(29:52):
called before, right, first time caller, I've never called.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
It's really damn It's a public safety issue out here
in our community.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
I know that.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Yeah, you I made abundantly care that they don't even
care about us out there.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
Well, let me tell you I care about you, and
I mean that seriously. And I apologize for you for
not jumping on this earlier. But we're going to jump
on it and stay on it, I promise you.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Okay, great, greatly appreciated, d and thanks for taking my call.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
I want to give you a round of applause. Is
a first time calling, that's uh, And I want you
to become a regular caller. Okay, and best of luck.
I hope that all the medical circumstances that you're dealing with,
UH turn out perfect at the end.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Okay, Yeah, don't bles Chappelle.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Thanks right, Thanks you a great night boy. That's a
great call. Back on Night's side, if you like to
join the conversation. You know this is a forum. All
I can do is give you the opportunity to talk
about this problem. And I'm I'm I'm ready to criticize
our senior center to here because you know they're on
these very powerful committees. They have huge staffs in Washington.
The only thing they have to worry about is taking
(30:56):
care of their own constituents. And I think that you
folks need to look very carefully and very closely. Forget
her record, look at Senator Warren's record of accomplishments. Are
whack thereof Back on Night Side right after this, join
the conversation if you like. The only line opened six
seven thirty.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Sorry, let me go to Kerry and Brockton. Carry want
to get you and at least one more in here
before the ten o'clock news. Go ahead.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Kerry, Hi, Dan, thanks for taking my call. I was
just calling because I worked for Quincy Medical Center that
was owned by Stuart and the employees of the hospital,
and the residents of the city of Quincy put up
a great fight to try to make the importance of
that hospital known. And I just feel like, and I
(31:53):
don't want to speak for the coworkers or people in
the city, but we really felt like the politicians could
have done more, especially, you know, our mayor at the time,
could have done some bigger things to try to make
that hospital stay in place.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
You have a long serving mayor down there, Tom Cooke, right, yes, correct,
So he was the mayor at the time.
Speaker 5 (32:16):
When did Quincy close twenty fourteen? The end of twenty fourteen, Okay,
And I don't know this to be true for sure,
but if anyone's interested in looking it up, I had
heard at one point that Quincy, after it closed, Quincy
was the largest city in New England without a hospital.
And the city mayor Coke has done a lot to
(32:39):
build the city up. There is a large number of
new you know, apartment complexes. The city's growing and to be,
you know, before the hospital even closed and the city
grew the way that it has recently, there are a
ton of elderly housing, skilled facilities.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
I mean, there is so much need for a hospital
in that city. And what's there now condos condos, and
that's not what was needed. And I feel terrible for
the local the other local hospitals. They are absolutely you know, I.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Lay this one clearly and squarely at the feet of
Senator Elizabeth Warren. Uh. She came in and she was
gonna make sure the greedy you know, you know, corporate
people or were brought to task. And here you have
somebody who apparently is living an elegant lifestyle while running
(33:39):
a company into the ground. I mean, where was Elizabeth
Warren on this one? Where was Elizabeth Warren? Not today
to give us some phony, blooney press release, but to
do something that actually would have an impact on on
a positive result. You know, six months ago, two years ago,
she was she was missing an action, simple as that.
Speaker 5 (34:02):
I agree. And you know they're supposed to be representing
us and working for us.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
And I can tell you for sure that is a
long time employee there at Quincy Medical Center. Myself and
my coworkers spot really hard to make our voices heard
and advocate.
Speaker 5 (34:19):
For our patients that we took care of, and nobody
was listening.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Well, I appreciate Well again, I hope you remember that
in November. She's up for reelection here, I surely do. Okay,
tell your friends.
Speaker 5 (34:32):
Okay, thank you, Dan, thank you, have a great night.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Bye bye you too.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
All right, let me let me go next very quickly,
to Marie in Middleborough. Marie, I only got about two
minutes for you. I want to get you in and
we'll get other calls on the other side. Go right ahead, Marie.
Speaker 6 (34:50):
Hi, Dan, this is Marie. Last time from Middleborough. Last
time I spoke to you, it was when Barack Obama
and Hillary Cliff were running for president. Anyway, I today Saturday,
I received a letter in the mail. He opened it
up and it was a letter, a legal letter asking me.
(35:11):
It was a lawsuit against the patients and versus Stuart
Medical health Care. So I immediately said, oh my goodness,
I'm not going to have my doctors. So I'll wait
till Monday morning. I called them this morning and asked them.
I said, Hi, this is Marie. Am I to be concerned?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Well?
Speaker 6 (35:31):
She said, first of all, as of November first, you
will no longer have a provider. I said, when were
you going to let me know? I said, you know,
I kind of thought that maybe doctor. I don't want
to say his name, and the nurse practitioner would go
in business for himself.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
Both.
Speaker 6 (35:47):
We had these doctors go into private family family general
practice to take care of us. Now I'm healthy, I
get a physical once a year. I've been working as
a registered nurse for fifty five years. And I was
taken so back by the nonchalance and uncaring and I thought,
(36:08):
I said, to them, what are these people doing that
has cancer treatments, et cetera. You're just walk isn't that
desertion to just disregards the patients. I mean, I will
find somebody else, But I.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Think about these poor people there who owns the hospital?
So are you a steward?
Speaker 6 (36:29):
So that my medical the southeast of medical building, my physicians,
the physicians all joined Stewart Healthcare, so a lot of
lot of the doctors left. I had toughs they made.
They weren't going to take toughs. So I wanted to
look across the show jump find with. But the point
(36:49):
being is I'm healthy. I only need I said, can't
you please keep me on? They're not going to send
you a letter to refer you to anybody just dropping
us here, So I a I have a.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Friend of mine who was dropped by a doctor who
had been her doctor for I think over twenty years
because she was going the doctor was going into a
concierge practice. UH and she uh had to really scramble
around to get a doctor. This this is the sort
of thing that Senator Elizabeth Warren and the other politicians
should have been looking at. Marie. I got you in
(37:21):
before the break. Thank you for joining us. But we
got it broake for news. We will stay on top
of this, I promise you. Okay, you're gonna stick. You're
very welcome. Thanks, Marie. I want to learn more about it.
If you've had experience, give me a call one line
at six month seven two five, four to ten thirty,
A couple at six months seven nine three one ten thirty.
I think this is an important issue. Please join the conversation.
(37:44):
Let me know what your experience has been. Use our
microphone to get your concerns out there on this program.
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