March 10, 2025 • 38 mins
We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about!
Dr. Shelby Harris - Sleep psychologist explains why sleep gets more difficult as you age and expert tips to help.
Bruins trade captain Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, and Brandon Carlo! Brian Antonelli – WBZ NewsRadio Sports Reporter checked in.
What is hantavirus, the infection that killed Betsy Arakawa, Gene Hackman’s wife? Dr. Shira Doron - Chief Infection Control Officer for Tufts Medicine and Hospital Epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center explained.
Falling Back: The Army is losing nearly one-quarter of soldiers in the first 2 years of enlistment. : Jim Blythe - third generation U.S. Navy Combat Veteran and outspoken advocate for the military and host of the Veterans' Impact Show stopped by to discuss it with Dan.
Listen to WBZ NewsRadio on the NEW iHeart Radio app and be sure to set WBZ NewsRadio as your #1 preset!
Dr. Shelby Harris - Sleep psychologist explains why sleep gets more difficult as you age and expert tips to help.
Bruins trade captain Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, and Brandon Carlo! Brian Antonelli – WBZ NewsRadio Sports Reporter checked in.
What is hantavirus, the infection that killed Betsy Arakawa, Gene Hackman’s wife? Dr. Shira Doron - Chief Infection Control Officer for Tufts Medicine and Hospital Epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center explained.
Falling Back: The Army is losing nearly one-quarter of soldiers in the first 2 years of enlistment. : Jim Blythe - third generation U.S. Navy Combat Veteran and outspoken advocate for the military and host of the Veterans' Impact Show stopped by to discuss it with Dan.
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 (00:01):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thank you very much the goal as we start off
our Monday night here, the full week of Nightside coming
up five nights Monday through Friday from eight until midnight.
My name is Dan Ray. Rob Brooks back from a
brief respite this weekend. He had Friday night off and
Mike Templeton did a great job in his place, but
Rob is back in his regular position. Tonight. We have
(00:29):
our news update coming up this hour, four interesting guests talking.
You're going to talk about sleep, going to talk about
the state of the Bruins, going to talk about hint
of virus, the infection that killed Gene Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa.
And also the US Army is losing now nearly a
(00:49):
quarter of its soldiers during the first two years of
their enlistment. So those are the subjects. Later on tonight,
we're going to talk about improving the mass economy with
a new alliance called the Massive Massachusetts Opportunity Alliance. Talk
with the president of that group, Chris Anderson. And then
later we've got to ask the question that Donald Trump
didn't want to answer over the weekend. We're looking and
(01:11):
heading towards a recession. His non answer probably contributed somewhat
to the tanking of the stock market today. But before
we get to those subjects that incorporate phone calls from
the audience, we will spend an hour talking with four guests.
We're going to start off with doctor Shelby Harris, who
is a sleep psychologist. All of us at one point
(01:32):
have needed a sleep psychologist. The question Chris Wall. Welcome,
doctor Harris. I promise you won't go to sleep during
this interview. I promise you that. How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Man?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Now? Thank you so much. It's very good to be here.
Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
You very welcome. So let's talk about sleep now. I'm
in that generation that you're talking about, the older Americans
who find sleep more difficult as you age. I want
you to know that last I went to sleep at
ten PM and I woke up at seven point thirty
this morning. I had a very comfortable nine and a
(02:09):
half hours of sleep. If I'm doing my math correctly,
And there are nights when I sleep like a baby,
and then there are other nights where I don't sleep
as well. What do we need to be concerned about
as we get older, because I guess generally I used
to be able to sleep twelve hours as a teenager.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Oh my god. Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, I think
there's a few things you need to think about. So
the first thing that I stress for people of any
age is that perfection is not the goal. Despite what
everyone online is saying about optimizing your sleep, if you're
content with your sleep five nights a week, then you're
(02:48):
probably doing fine. So that means that there's individual variation
from night to night. There might just be a night
here and there that's not great. But if at least
five nights a week you're content with it, you're good.
Thing as you should be concerned about though, especially as
you get older. Are it's normal to get a little
less sleep. We're talking like a half hour, because sometimes
(03:08):
people want they get older, they nat more during the day.
But if you're getting a lot less sleep than you
used to, if you are finding that the quality of
the sleep is much more disturbed, you're waking up you
don't feel like it's restorative, or you find the timing
of your sleep is really bothersome, meaning that you've suddenly
now are sleeping on and off throughout the day, or
(03:29):
you're going to bed a lot earlier and waking up
at three in the morning. If something like that has happened,
you often want to talk with a sleep specialist.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, and sleep specialists are easily available. I mean they
all can't call you doctor harrisy. I know that you'd
be pretty busy.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
We're busy, that's for sure. So there's different ways to start.
So you can always talk with your primary care doctor
and they can guide you to the right place. So
if they think that you might need a sleep study,
for example, because they're suspecting acnea, which is really common
in men and women as they get older, they might
(04:09):
be able to Sometimes some tribrary care doctors will call
out for at home sleep studies on their own, or
they might refer you to sleep medicine, and there are
sleep clinics and sleep doctors who will do that. When
it comes to more specialized insomnia care or more specialized
issues like narcolepsy and other more specific issues, you might
want to find someone who really has experience in that.
(04:31):
But there are lots of people out there, pulmonary specialists
who will do this initial evaluation for you. But you
can always start with your primary care doctor doctaires.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I think that's great advice, but I must tell you,
in Massachusetts it is very difficult for me area people
to get a primary care physician. I don't know, yes,
going on nationwide, but here in Massachusetts and in the
greater Boston area we think is the medical capital of
the world with you know, I know, I know, the
(05:01):
clinic and all of that.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Well, here's the thing I'm from. Yeah, I'm from Rhode
Island and all my families actually in the Boston area,
so I hear this all the time. So it is
very very be's I know, it is extremely, extremely difficult.
But you if you don't have a primary care doctor
but you're concerned, then maybe you have to go to
an urgent care and ask them and say there's significant
(05:23):
issues with your sleep quality. But you do need to
have someone. Even sometimes if you don't have your own
primary care doctor, you can call. It really depends on
the kind of insurance you have, but there are sleep
clinics that you could sometimes just go to directly if
you really need to, or like I said, pulmonary doctors.
Other people it might be a wait, but you can
(05:44):
start there.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, all great questions and Uh, it does. I'm ashamed
to say that here in Massachusetts, but we have treated doctors,
particularly primary care doctors I know, shabbily and and a
lot of them. And this was aggravated obviously by the
COVID virus because I had a great doctor who probably
(06:09):
retired a couple of years more earlier than he thought
he would. But a lot of the doctors who are
still hanging on here as PCPs, they're delused with paperwork.
Everything is sure, paperwork, paperwork, and they are driving people
out of the field of medicine. So again I think
it's the bean counters which are which are the enemy
(06:29):
of us all but particular doctors. Look, how could folks
find more information and we able to follow you on
on a website? Yeah, folks come on here. They appreciate
getting some more some more hits on their websites. Or
maybe you've got a book, Maybe you got a book
you I recommend.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
So I do a lot of steps. So my area
of specialty is insomnia. And so if you have int somnia,
I have a book that came out a few years ago.
You can still get it online called The Women's Guide
to Overcome Insomnia. So and it talks a lot for
women about menopause, perimenopause issues, aging and sleep and treatment
(07:08):
to help with that. And then on top of that,
you can also go to if you use any online,
I have a website that's just DR like doctor Shelby
Harris dot com. And I also do a lot on Instagram.
So at sleep Doc Shelby where every Wednesday I do
a Q and A where people can ask general questions
and you can always.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Ask me there.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
But you can do that, and then, like I said,
if you're looking for sleep help treatment there, you can
always ask me there, and I can direct you towards
certain directories that might be in your area where you
might be able to find someone as well.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Well. You're very helpful. The website. Your website is DR
for doctor all lower case yes Shelby, s H E
L B Y Harris, H A R R I S
dot com and I got it's a link to books
and materials. And I really appreciate you coming on tonight
because there are a lot of people who were dealing
(08:00):
with sleep issues and thank you for what you do,
and thank you, thank.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
You, thank you. It's so common and there were really
good treatments so don't ignore it.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Sounds great, doctor Sheld, take care. Okay, Well, we get
back when we talk with one of our own WBC
sports reporter, Brian Intonelli about the Bruins fire sale. I
guess would be one way to describe it. Last week,
and then they turned around and they shut out the
Tampa Bay Lightning, one of the better teams in the
(08:31):
league for zip on I guess with Saturday. So it's
lots going on in sports, and we'll check up with
Brian Intonelly. By the way, if you have not already
downloaded the new and improved iHeart app, we would encourage
you to do so. And of course, when you do
get the iHeart app for your cell phone, you can
(08:52):
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so you will have us available at the touch of
a finger three hundred and sixty five days a year,
twenty four to seven. You can listen to Nightside every night,
and you can listen to WBZ twenty four to seven,
three sixty five. My name's Dan Ray, am the host
of Nightside. Back talking a little hockey with Brian Antonelli
(09:14):
right after the break.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Now back to Dan Ray Live from the Window World
Light Side Studios on WBZ News Radio for.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
The Bruins had a fire sale, yard sale, whatever you
want to call it. Last week. They changed about a
third of the roster in a period of a little
over twenty four hours with us as WBZ News Radio
sports reporter Brian Antonelli, Brian, I don't know about you,
but I knew they were going to move some people.
I didn't think they were could have moved that many people,
But your what's your reaction players all this?
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Yeah, and they moved some players that were still under
contract next year, like Brandon Carlow and Charlie Coyle. Everyone
did think that march In was on the move or
like Frederick was on the move. Both of them are
unrestricted free agents after the year. But for them to
move so many of their veterans, it does feel more
(10:09):
like a fire sale.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, of course, ironically, they came out was it Saturday?
They played in Tampa Bay, uh, and they threw a shutout,
had a pretty good Lightning team. It looked to me
as if they might have gotten a lucky goal here
or there. That second goal was kind of deflected in
the Tampa Bay goal. I don't know he was sleeping,
(10:31):
sleeping at that point. But they played a dark, good
game and now they come back here, they got to
face the Panthers without Marshan.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
Without Marshan, Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Wouldn't it be ironic? I mean, this team is only
a couple of points out of one of the wildcard spots.
Wouldn't it be ironic if they went in a run
and they made the playoffs?
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yeah? They have.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
I mean, so they they've played more games than the
other teams in front of them, and they are a
couple points back. That does make it tough and the
trailing like like I think five or six teams for
that on a wild card spot. But this also gets
back into they waited way too long to make these moves,
because it does seem like the team is more relaxed
now knowing that the trade deadline is behind them. They
(11:13):
went weeks being asked about the trade deadline almost daily,
the coach being asked about it, and they all seemed
very uneased about it. Maybe now that it's gone, they
can focus on hockey again, or maybe they'll win a
couple of games and then Water finds its level again.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah. Obviously it's a small sample size with one game,
of course, game in Tampa, there's no question about that.
Now the question has to be focused. You talk about
coach Joe Sacke or interim coach Joe Sacke interim coach, Yeah,
I wonder what the future holds for him if this
team doesn't make the playoffs. He inherited the team in November,
obviously from Jim Montgomery, and that nothing much happened in
(11:51):
the next three or four months. They kind of just
went along. You know what amazes me is there they
are down like between goals four and goals against. They're
in the negative by a wand like forty goals they've had.
That is unbelievable that a Bruins team could be down
forty goals.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
They've had a lot of games where they've allowed six,
seven to eight goals. It seems like when they're being
blown out, it's not that they just give up, but
they'll they'll pull the goalie down by three or third
periods just completely get away from them. There was a
stretch where they got beat on a road trip like
eighteen to two. So it does seem like when when
(12:32):
the snowball starts to fall down the hill, it does
begin to Avalanche, and this team might not have had
the talent on the roster, the leadership in the locker room,
the coaching to weather those types of storms.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Well, they also people, you know, forget you know, Patrice
Bergeron has only been gone, you know, a couple year
and a half now, David Kraichi, they were players who
left at the top of their game. I'm in my opinion,
so you use subtract those guys. What are you making
it up with again, I'm looking at the trades here.
The Carlo trade has some potential. Minton was a high
(13:09):
draft choice to get a first round draft choice in
two thousand and six. They're not gonna get much from Marshand,
I don't think. And then the question is going to
be what does march Haan do once on June fifteenth
comes and the season is over. Either he's going to
celebrate a Stalley Cup with the Panthers or he'll begin
talking with the Bruins about reupping with the Bruins. I
(13:30):
think he'll probably.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
I don't think he's gonna be re upping with the Bruins.
Can you think of any player in any sport that
left it or was traded and then came back to
the team in the off season the next year. Because
I've been rattling my brains since Friday about this and
I can't think of one. Because the one that everyone
always thought might happen was when the Red Sox traded
(13:54):
John Lester, that then they would go out and get
John Lester in the off season, but that obviously didn't happen.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
I think baseball is different from hockey, to be honest
with you, and I think that the money in baseball
is a little bit better than the money in hunt.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
I know, but I also I also think that hockey
players are are a bit more prideful when they're offered
a contract that they think not insulting. But Don Sweeney
talked about having having the gap in their negotiations, and
if the gaps were that big, I don't think Marshan
comes back here looking for they've I've seen reports of
(14:36):
he got offered something similar to the AAV that he's
making right now, but he wanted something more than that,
and maybe he looked at some free agents that the
Bruins have signed in the past off seasons, like say
Elias Linholm, who's making close to eight million dollars, and
he said, I want something like he's making.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yeah, but again, well we'll see. Let you and I
plan a another session, Honor about July fifteenth, when those
resignings occur. I remember early in the year I talk
with Kevin Paul DuPont and we were talking about when
Pasternak was kind of lingering around fifteen goals and you know,
(15:17):
you know people do sort of seek their level, and
I said, look, you know he'll have his thirty. Of course,
he's going to have probably thirty five, maybe even forty
before the season is over. I don't know. I think
the ad that marsh And wrote or published in the
Boston Globe today, I think was pretty heartfelt. Yeah, and
(15:37):
you know, no, Boston is a lot closer than to
his home Turiff. He's a Nova Scotia guy, right, If
I'm not mistaken, then he would be if he was
going to go play for the Utah whatever the name
of that hockey club is going to be. I don't
know it's going to make. Is that what they're going
(15:58):
to call themselves?
Speaker 5 (15:59):
The Utah that I had, that's one of the options.
I think they have three options, and that's one of them.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah, I was hoping the Utah Mormons. Maybe I don't know,
you know that that it just it was weird. This
season one was just the Utah Hockey Club and obviously
they have formerly the Phoenix Coyotes. Uh, maybe they could
have called him the Utah Skiers. We'll see the mammoth
would be good, that would be good. We got the
(16:25):
krack and we got the Sharks, so we can keep
it in kind of the animal kingdom out there out
there in the West. Brian Antonelli as always, so you're
predicting Brad is not coming back to the Bruins.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
And correct. I think he's. I think he's gonna sign elsewhere.
And even if he does sign for something similar to
what he was playing with here, which is roughly six
and a like six and change six point three average
annual value, I think he's gonna look somewhere else if
it's something similar to that.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah, well of course, remember we got the millionaires tax
in Massachusetts, so that's gonna take an extra bite. So
if it's close, you might be right. You never know.
Brian is always great to hear. You've always great to
talk with you see at the gym, see my dad
all right, come it up right after the break here
at the eight thirty newscast. At the bottom of the hour,
we're going to talk about the virus that took the
(17:16):
life of Gene Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa. It's Hanta virus
and it sounds like pretty nasty stuff. This whole death
of both of these fine people, Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa,
tragic in so many ways. And how people get so
(17:41):
isolated that nobody was checking on them for days. Just
it's a crazy story. But the theory is that the
wife was dead for a week. We'll get to all
of that with our guest, doctor Shirah Deron, chief Infection
Control Officer for Toff's Medicine and hospital epidemiologist at Tuft's
(18:01):
Medical Center.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
With Dan Ray, I'mbzy Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Thank you very much, Nicole. We have all been following
for the last couple of weeks the tragic story the
death of the great actor Oscar winning actor Gene Hackman
and his wife Betsy Arakawa at their home in New Mexico.
With us is doctor Shira Derome. She's the chief infects
(18:30):
your Control officer for Tufts Medicine and a hospital epidemiologist
at Tuft's Medical Center, and the word is doc. First
of all, doctor Jerome, welcome back to Night's side. Thanks
so much for joining us, for joining us. How are
you tonight?
Speaker 6 (18:44):
Great, wonderful to be back with you.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Great, Thank you very much. So. The autopsy suggested that
I guess Betsy Arkawa, hoping you'm pronouncing your name correctly,
died of something called hintavirus, which I'd never heard of,
and that Gene Hackman, who was suffering from some form
of dementia, was found dead in the home as well,
(19:10):
and some are suggesting that their deaths were about a
week apart. Tragic, tragic, tragic at so many levels. Let's
does that sequence seem reasonable to you? And again, I
know that you haven't been involved in the investigation or
the autopsy, but is that a reasonable sequence you think?
Speaker 6 (19:32):
Well, you know, I can't really comment on what happened
with him, but you know, this is a pretty surprising
diagnosis obviously for her huntavirus very rare, so only eight
hundred and sixty four cases ever reported in the history
(19:53):
of the United States since surveillance began in nineteen ninety three.
That makes it really rare, but it is most common
in New Mexico. So they've had one hundred and twenty
two cases, and that's the largest number that we have
out of all of the states.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Which and again the reports, and we're both kind of
in the dark hair, and I'm asking unscripted questions, as
I always do. She apparently was found in according to
the reports I read, in the kitchen with some medications,
some pills spilled on the floor. Is hantavirus if it's untreated,
(20:30):
is it always going to be fatal? Or could it
be that she was suffering with something and she didn't
realize what it was.
Speaker 6 (20:37):
Well, most people don't go untreated, so it's really hard
to say, you know what the natural course would be
if you got no supportive care at all? Right, So
you know, supportive care meaning you know, being in a hospital,
getting oxygen, getting intravenous fluids. Those are the kinds of
things that we can do for somebody who has, you know,
(20:58):
a viral illness, which typically what happens with hantavirus is
that if it goes to the lungs, if it causes pneumonia,
and we certainly we know that other viruses, COVID flu.
You know, once they involve the lower parts of the lungs,
they can be quite dangerous and hauntavirus once it gets
into the lungs has a pretty high mortality rate, and
(21:19):
so you know, the way to avoid that is obviously
getting to a doctor, getting to a hospital and getting
some of that supportive care oxygen, maybe a mechanical ventilator
if you need it, until your body, you know, controls
the infection. But unfortunately she didn't get that care.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Let's talk about it's a real disease. You said eight
hundred and fifty four cases in the last thirty or
so years. That works out to less than thirty cases
a year. My understanding is that it's spread through rep
through droppings of rodents. Is that how it's spread.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
Right droppings You're in saliva, so you know, typically we're
talking about somebody coming upon often an enclosed space that's
got a you know, a nest or someplace with a
lot of urine or droppings that haven't been cleaned in
a long time, so it's in the air and you
breathe it in. And the other sort of common thing
(22:18):
would be camping related, so where you're sleeping right on
the ground in an area that has a lot of
you know, rodent feces or urine, and that you're breathing
it in kind of all night. And those are the
kinds of stories that we hear that lead to hauntavirus infection,
but not person to person spread.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
And is it when you say rodents that covers a
variety of species. It's not just.
Speaker 6 (22:46):
Rats, right, it's actually mostly mice.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Wow, Okay for those of us who occasionally have have
had a trap of mouse you get to worry about.
Speaker 6 (23:00):
Well, the good thing. The good news is that Matha,
Massachusetts Department of Public House says that there have been
no cases of hauntavirus acquired in Massachusetts. So if you
look on the CDC's website they show one case. Ever,
I'm gathering that that means diagnosed in Massachusetts, not acquired
in Massachusetts. So it is not something that we need
(23:23):
to worry about if we see mice in our house.
Again that even if I was in New Mexico or Arizona,
where they've had more cases, it's not the single mouse
that might be running around and leaving a dropping here
and there. It's really you know, you come upon you
know you're doing construction and you come upon a spot
where a lot of mice have been hanging out for
(23:44):
a long period of time, where it's really loaded with
their extra excremen and you're in and that you're really
breathing in air that's full of it.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Wow. Now, the gene Hackman and his wife lived in
a beautiful looking home. I mean they were in a
gated community. You know, you talked about people who might
be in other, you know, less affluent circumstances. This is
(24:16):
kind of a warning to everyone. I guess I just
and this is probably not a fair question for you,
but it really does, in my mind, point out how
when folks get a little older and they lose a
lot of their friends and their contacts and their circle
of friends closes, they would apparently one of them was
(24:41):
dead for since February eleventh. The other Gene Hackman they
estimated past in February eighteenth. This does so emphasize the
responsibility to check on neighbors and friends and even a
phone call or two periodically to make sure they're doing okay.
That's the lesson I want to take from this this story.
Speaker 6 (25:02):
It's so true, and you know, you wonder if she
didn't want to go to the hospital because she was
taking care of him, and you know, it is so
so terribly tragic, and then you know, to find out
that it's an infection that you know, perhaps if she
had gotten some of that supportive care from a hospital setting,
perhaps she would have survived. Who knows.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
But you also think that when you're talking with people
who are talking about people who are sophisticated, that there
should have been in place some additional support for the
two of them. I mean, it looked as if no
one had checked on them for some period of time,
and it was only someone who came by and looked
(25:45):
in the windows. I think what they called the caretaker.
At least that was what that caretaker was referred to.
But to me, it's inexplicable. I mean, you read a
story about some person who has no relatives, no friends,
and they die alone, and you say, isn't that horrible?
There was nobody on the street that went over it
occasionally just knock on the door. This is an example
(26:07):
that it can happen even to you know, movie stars,
and if it can happen to movie stars, it can
happen to any one of us.
Speaker 6 (26:16):
Terribly sad, very very sad.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
You know, and I just I would hope that out
of this, maybe everyone listening to the broadcast tonight, if
you have an older relative or a neighbor, it doesn't hurt.
Every once in a while, just call them up and
see how they're doing, maybe, or stop by, and even
if it's just to say hello for five minutes, it's
(26:40):
something that should be done. And if if you're living far,
if you're living here within the sun of a voice,
and your parents are getting older and they're living halfway
or all the way across the country, I think you've
got to make sure that they are in a community
where there are people who see them every day and
can observe them. And this is just, I mean, what
(27:02):
a sad sad ending doctor Drone, Shira Dorone, thank you
so much. I know again we probably veered off away
from your expertise here and they didn't mean to do
that to you, but this story is just it's a
haunting story to think that this could have been the
end for this this couple, who you know, probably had
(27:24):
had more friends than most of us have. If if
you're friends and or fians, right, let me put it
like that, Thanks so much, doctor Derome for joining us.
A pleasure all right soon, Hopefully next time it'll be
a more uplifting topic. Yes, when we get back, we're
going to talk about the fact that the army, uh,
(27:44):
not only has had some recruitment problems the military. US
military has had some recruitment problems over recent years, but
they're also losing about a quarter of the soldiers who
actually do exist. That's in the Army. We're going to
talk with a third generation in US Navy combat veteran
outspoken advocate for the military and host of the Veterans
Impact Show, Jim Blythe. Will be back with Jim and
(28:08):
after that we're going to get to topics of the
night and phone calls will ensue after nine o'clock. Back
on night Side. My name's Dan Ray. This is Nightside.
You're listening to WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
We're delighted to be joined by Jim Blythe. Jim. I
hope I pronounce your name correctly.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Hi, just like it's like California, hottest place in California.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Okay. Jim is a third generation US Navy combat veteran,
outspoken advocate for the military and host of the Veterans
Impact Show. Is that a radio program podcast? In case
folks want to check it.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Out, be it's on YouTube under Veterans Impact Show and
Facebook under Veterans Impact Show. We're carried on BBTV New
Work at eleven o'clock on Saturday, which puts us on
Amazon Fire and Roku. And if you reached all the
way to California, we've got eleven stations out there are
the curious, So.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
We're now, yeah, we have listeners in California. Jim wbz's
a big old station with fifty thousand whit Claire channel.
We are seeing with HERD with terrestrial radio meaning just
the over the air signal, and about thirty five to
thirty eight states. And of course everybody's on the internet
these days. So let's talk about military recruiting. You've read
(29:34):
an article here that says the Army's losing nearly one
quarter of soldiers during their first two years of enlistment.
So these are young men and women who have volunteered.
The draft has long gone gone for more than fifty years.
These are people who you know passed physicals to get
into the military. Why are they leaving?
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Well, you'd have to ask each one of them, but
I'm going to give you some broad to go with that.
Number One, these kids usually are seventeen to eighteen years
old when they go into military, and there are several contracts.
There is a two year contract, a four year contract,
and a six year contract, and it depends on what
(30:17):
kind of training you're going to get. Now, for instance,
if you go in the Navy, that's going to be
a four year contract. If you go in and you've
got a college degree and you're going to be a
naval aviator, that's a six year contract. So what you're
looking at you got to think, Okay, these were the youngest.
These did not go in under a technical contract, and
(30:39):
so they're getting all of the tough jobs that the
lowest guy on the totem pole gets. So maybe the
military wasn't for them. Maybe it was for them and
it turned their life around, and now they're ready to
go out in the world and they've got a skill
and they could get a job. So there's all kinds
of things. I wouldn't put a negative spin on it
(31:01):
as much as I think the military is a great
place for young men and women to get a start line,
and that's what the two Contra through your contract does,
gives them a starting line.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
No, I agree with that analysis, but I think that
there's some suggestions that we're not getting enough qualified individuals,
young people whatever, of whatever age, signing up for the military.
I wanted my son to to take a look at
(31:37):
west Point Napolis, the service academies, which actually are harder
to get into than Harvard and Yale. He graduated from Harvard,
but we were looking at at at west Point. We've
had friends who have gone through West Point. There's no
better university as far as I'm concerned in America in
the West Point or Annapolis. But they're still having I
(32:02):
think we're having problems not only attracting but also retaining
people in all branches of the military, maybe a little
worse in the Army. To be honest with you, well,
what can be done to turn that around. There's been
some stories which said that army recruiting has bumped up
in the last few months. The Secretary of Defense is
(32:25):
saying that young people are looking to not to make
this political, are a little bit more anxious to serve
with the new commander in chief. Anything in the numbers
which would seem to support that, you probably know quite
closer than I do.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
I think that that age group is not as politically
involved in a stute. So let's don't go down that road.
But let's do go down the road of only twenty
three percent of the American population that would fit into
the category of a young man and woman to go
into the military. Only twenty three percent qualify under physical, mental,
(33:07):
and academic. So if a kid has a record, they're
not going to go in. If a kid has a
record of mental health problems, they're not going to go in. Now,
within that twenty three percent, one of the big things
the Army did, and this was very smart, they developed,
for lack of better term, of remedial education program for
(33:31):
their pre recruits where they were teaching them basic skills,
math and English and some of these things so that
they could score better on the exam and could qualify.
So the Army started that program. The Navy is using
that program, and with those two alone, now the Air
Force has met their goals many times. In Marine Corps,
(33:53):
we just give them another coloring box and they do great.
So what you're looking at is basic. The Navy and
the Army and their numbers are way up because they're
lifting these kids up. They're giving them a chance to
learn and perform, and they're raising their standards up. They're
(34:14):
not lowering the standards to get them. So that's one
reason why right now recruiting is up twelve and a
half percent. Now, there's another thing that for many of you.
And a friend of mine retired Navy admiral who was
vice commander of recruiting for the Navy when I first
interviewed him. Basically, he went to the Navy after he
(34:35):
retired and said, guys, how many of these kids do
you think are watching cable TV? Where do they go?
Where do they go to look at things? They go
to social media, they go to YouTube, they go to Spotify,
they go to all of these things, Instagram. Your ads
are not reaching them. You've got to change your advertising.
(34:58):
And I think that the military has been doing that
from everything I've heard, so they're reaching more of the kids.
I think another thing is that one of the negatives
that I have seen is there's so much negative advertising
by certain charitable organizations that portray all veterans is wounded,
(35:21):
broken and amputeenes and that's not true. You know, there's
probably less than ten percent of the military that actually
serves in combat where they are on the line, they're
in the frenches. There are so many technical skills, logistics
(35:42):
skills and things going on. It's probably the greatest training
ground in the world for young men and women.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Oh, I think it is. I think look just the
discipline alone, and a lot of people who at that
age of seventeen or eighteen really have no direction. I
agree with you, Jim, you know, thank you for your service.
I spend some time not probably nearly what you did
in uniform. Uh and uh, it's it's it is a
(36:10):
situation where you you learn to work with other people
from different backgrounds. So there's a lot of benefits to it. Uh.
Oh yeah, it's long gone. So everybody who's going in
now theoretically wants to be in. Uh. And hopefully we
can turn this around, because I don't think we'll ever
have another ground war in the world, but we do
have to have a military that is prepared to respond
(36:32):
to situations as we all have seen in the last
few decades, whether it be a bombing in Beirut, Lebanon,
or a World Trade Center in New York City. Jim By,
let's let's give your your plug, plug your show again, folks,
go ahead. Well, we we're pretty liberal here on on
given plug. So you go ahead. Where else can follow you?
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Go ahead, Okay, go to YouTube ends Impactshow dot com
one word and you can email me Jim at Veteransimpactshow
dot com. You can go to our website, Veterans Impactshow
dot com. It's on YouTube, It's on Facebook, I believe
it's on Instagram now. We are also carried by dB
(37:17):
TV Network and they carry us on Amazon, Fire, Roku, Spotify,
smart Tv. Goodness, gracious, whole bunch. We're everywhere wherever. But
one of the big things is we are highlighting what
veterans do in our nation, in our community. I had
(37:39):
the previous secretary of the VA, Wilkie on three times,
and they're very transparent. I've had under secretaries. I've do
a lot of work with the VA. I do a
lot of work with the Texas Veterans Commission. I do
a lot of work with many of the charities and organizations,
and I have had some of the more those phenomenal
(38:01):
interviews with military leaders from Medal of Honor recipients to
just sergeant majors.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
That sounds great. I'm running out of time here, Jim.
I'm going to have to cut the cord here. But
Veterans Show Impact Jim blithe Jim, thank you so much
for being with us tonight, and again, keep on keeping on.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Okay, thank you from Veterans Impact Show. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
You're welcome. You're welcome. We get back. We're going to
talk with Chris Anderson, the president of a new alliance
called the Massachusetts Opportunity Alliance. Be back with Chris Anderson
and we'll get the phone calls later on. We'll talk
about we head into it a recession. The President might
have pushed us in that direction by not answering a
direct question more directly over the weekend. I will explain.
(38:47):
That's at ten o'clock. Coming back on night Side, right
after the nine
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Thank you very much the goal as we start off
our Monday night here, the full week of Nightside coming
up five nights Monday through Friday from eight until midnight.
My name is Dan Ray. Rob Brooks back from a
brief respite this weekend. He had Friday night off and
Mike Templeton did a great job in his place, but
Rob is back in his regular position. Tonight. We have
(00:29):
our news update coming up this hour, four interesting guests talking.
You're going to talk about sleep, going to talk about
the state of the Bruins, going to talk about hint
of virus, the infection that killed Gene Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa.
And also the US Army is losing now nearly a
(00:49):
quarter of its soldiers during the first two years of
their enlistment. So those are the subjects. Later on tonight,
we're going to talk about improving the mass economy with
a new alliance called the Massive Massachusetts Opportunity Alliance. Talk
with the president of that group, Chris Anderson. And then
later we've got to ask the question that Donald Trump
didn't want to answer over the weekend. We're looking and
(01:11):
heading towards a recession. His non answer probably contributed somewhat
to the tanking of the stock market today. But before
we get to those subjects that incorporate phone calls from
the audience, we will spend an hour talking with four guests.
We're going to start off with doctor Shelby Harris, who
is a sleep psychologist. All of us at one point
(01:32):
have needed a sleep psychologist. The question Chris Wall. Welcome,
doctor Harris. I promise you won't go to sleep during
this interview. I promise you that. How are you doing?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Man?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Now? Thank you so much. It's very good to be here.
Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
You very welcome. So let's talk about sleep now. I'm
in that generation that you're talking about, the older Americans
who find sleep more difficult as you age. I want
you to know that last I went to sleep at
ten PM and I woke up at seven point thirty
this morning. I had a very comfortable nine and a
(02:09):
half hours of sleep. If I'm doing my math correctly,
And there are nights when I sleep like a baby,
and then there are other nights where I don't sleep
as well. What do we need to be concerned about
as we get older, because I guess generally I used
to be able to sleep twelve hours as a teenager.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Oh my god. Oh yeah, yeah, I mean, I think
there's a few things you need to think about. So
the first thing that I stress for people of any
age is that perfection is not the goal. Despite what
everyone online is saying about optimizing your sleep, if you're
content with your sleep five nights a week, then you're
(02:48):
probably doing fine. So that means that there's individual variation
from night to night. There might just be a night
here and there that's not great. But if at least
five nights a week you're content with it, you're good.
Thing as you should be concerned about though, especially as
you get older. Are it's normal to get a little
less sleep. We're talking like a half hour, because sometimes
(03:08):
people want they get older, they nat more during the day.
But if you're getting a lot less sleep than you
used to, if you are finding that the quality of
the sleep is much more disturbed, you're waking up you
don't feel like it's restorative, or you find the timing
of your sleep is really bothersome, meaning that you've suddenly
now are sleeping on and off throughout the day, or
(03:29):
you're going to bed a lot earlier and waking up
at three in the morning. If something like that has happened,
you often want to talk with a sleep specialist.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, and sleep specialists are easily available. I mean they
all can't call you doctor harrisy. I know that you'd
be pretty busy.
Speaker 4 (03:48):
We're busy, that's for sure. So there's different ways to start.
So you can always talk with your primary care doctor
and they can guide you to the right place. So
if they think that you might need a sleep study,
for example, because they're suspecting acnea, which is really common
in men and women as they get older, they might
(04:09):
be able to Sometimes some tribrary care doctors will call
out for at home sleep studies on their own, or
they might refer you to sleep medicine, and there are
sleep clinics and sleep doctors who will do that. When
it comes to more specialized insomnia care or more specialized
issues like narcolepsy and other more specific issues, you might
want to find someone who really has experience in that.
(04:31):
But there are lots of people out there, pulmonary specialists
who will do this initial evaluation for you. But you
can always start with your primary care doctor doctaires.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
I think that's great advice, but I must tell you,
in Massachusetts it is very difficult for me area people
to get a primary care physician. I don't know, yes,
going on nationwide, but here in Massachusetts and in the
greater Boston area we think is the medical capital of
the world with you know, I know, I know, the
(05:01):
clinic and all of that.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Well, here's the thing I'm from. Yeah, I'm from Rhode
Island and all my families actually in the Boston area,
so I hear this all the time. So it is
very very be's I know, it is extremely, extremely difficult.
But you if you don't have a primary care doctor
but you're concerned, then maybe you have to go to
an urgent care and ask them and say there's significant
(05:23):
issues with your sleep quality. But you do need to
have someone. Even sometimes if you don't have your own
primary care doctor, you can call. It really depends on
the kind of insurance you have, but there are sleep
clinics that you could sometimes just go to directly if
you really need to, or like I said, pulmonary doctors.
Other people it might be a wait, but you can
(05:44):
start there.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, all great questions and Uh, it does. I'm ashamed
to say that here in Massachusetts, but we have treated doctors,
particularly primary care doctors I know, shabbily and and a
lot of them. And this was aggravated obviously by the
COVID virus because I had a great doctor who probably
(06:09):
retired a couple of years more earlier than he thought
he would. But a lot of the doctors who are
still hanging on here as PCPs, they're delused with paperwork.
Everything is sure, paperwork, paperwork, and they are driving people
out of the field of medicine. So again I think
it's the bean counters which are which are the enemy
(06:29):
of us all but particular doctors. Look, how could folks
find more information and we able to follow you on
on a website? Yeah, folks come on here. They appreciate
getting some more some more hits on their websites. Or
maybe you've got a book, Maybe you got a book
you I recommend.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
So I do a lot of steps. So my area
of specialty is insomnia. And so if you have int somnia,
I have a book that came out a few years ago.
You can still get it online called The Women's Guide
to Overcome Insomnia. So and it talks a lot for
women about menopause, perimenopause issues, aging and sleep and treatment
(07:08):
to help with that. And then on top of that,
you can also go to if you use any online,
I have a website that's just DR like doctor Shelby
Harris dot com. And I also do a lot on Instagram.
So at sleep Doc Shelby where every Wednesday I do
a Q and A where people can ask general questions
and you can always.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Ask me there.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
But you can do that, and then, like I said,
if you're looking for sleep help treatment there, you can
always ask me there, and I can direct you towards
certain directories that might be in your area where you
might be able to find someone as well.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Well. You're very helpful. The website. Your website is DR
for doctor all lower case yes Shelby, s H E
L B Y Harris, H A R R I S
dot com and I got it's a link to books
and materials. And I really appreciate you coming on tonight
because there are a lot of people who were dealing
(08:00):
with sleep issues and thank you for what you do,
and thank you, thank.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
You, thank you. It's so common and there were really
good treatments so don't ignore it.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Sounds great, doctor Sheld, take care. Okay, Well, we get
back when we talk with one of our own WBC
sports reporter, Brian Intonelli about the Bruins fire sale. I
guess would be one way to describe it. Last week,
and then they turned around and they shut out the
Tampa Bay Lightning, one of the better teams in the
(08:31):
league for zip on I guess with Saturday. So it's
lots going on in sports, and we'll check up with
Brian Intonelly. By the way, if you have not already
downloaded the new and improved iHeart app, we would encourage
you to do so. And of course, when you do
get the iHeart app for your cell phone, you can
(08:52):
very quickly preset WBZ Radio as your number one preset,
so you will have us available at the touch of
a finger three hundred and sixty five days a year,
twenty four to seven. You can listen to Nightside every night,
and you can listen to WBZ twenty four to seven,
three sixty five. My name's Dan Ray, am the host
of Nightside. Back talking a little hockey with Brian Antonelli
(09:14):
right after the break.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Now back to Dan Ray Live from the Window World
Light Side Studios on WBZ News Radio for.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
The Bruins had a fire sale, yard sale, whatever you
want to call it. Last week. They changed about a
third of the roster in a period of a little
over twenty four hours with us as WBZ News Radio
sports reporter Brian Antonelli, Brian, I don't know about you,
but I knew they were going to move some people.
I didn't think they were could have moved that many people,
But your what's your reaction players all this?
Speaker 5 (09:48):
Yeah, and they moved some players that were still under
contract next year, like Brandon Carlow and Charlie Coyle. Everyone
did think that march In was on the move or
like Frederick was on the move. Both of them are
unrestricted free agents after the year. But for them to
move so many of their veterans, it does feel more
(10:09):
like a fire sale.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, of course, ironically, they came out was it Saturday?
They played in Tampa Bay, uh, and they threw a shutout,
had a pretty good Lightning team. It looked to me
as if they might have gotten a lucky goal here
or there. That second goal was kind of deflected in
the Tampa Bay goal. I don't know he was sleeping,
(10:31):
sleeping at that point. But they played a dark, good
game and now they come back here, they got to
face the Panthers without Marshan.
Speaker 5 (10:39):
Without Marshan, Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Wouldn't it be ironic? I mean, this team is only
a couple of points out of one of the wildcard spots.
Wouldn't it be ironic if they went in a run
and they made the playoffs?
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yeah? They have.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
I mean, so they they've played more games than the
other teams in front of them, and they are a
couple points back. That does make it tough and the
trailing like like I think five or six teams for
that on a wild card spot. But this also gets
back into they waited way too long to make these moves,
because it does seem like the team is more relaxed
now knowing that the trade deadline is behind them. They
(11:13):
went weeks being asked about the trade deadline almost daily,
the coach being asked about it, and they all seemed
very uneased about it. Maybe now that it's gone, they
can focus on hockey again, or maybe they'll win a
couple of games and then Water finds its level again.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yeah. Obviously it's a small sample size with one game,
of course, game in Tampa, there's no question about that.
Now the question has to be focused. You talk about
coach Joe Sacke or interim coach Joe Sacke interim coach, Yeah,
I wonder what the future holds for him if this
team doesn't make the playoffs. He inherited the team in November,
obviously from Jim Montgomery, and that nothing much happened in
(11:51):
the next three or four months. They kind of just
went along. You know what amazes me is there they
are down like between goals four and goals against. They're
in the negative by a wand like forty goals they've had.
That is unbelievable that a Bruins team could be down
forty goals.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
They've had a lot of games where they've allowed six,
seven to eight goals. It seems like when they're being
blown out, it's not that they just give up, but
they'll they'll pull the goalie down by three or third
periods just completely get away from them. There was a
stretch where they got beat on a road trip like
eighteen to two. So it does seem like when when
(12:32):
the snowball starts to fall down the hill, it does
begin to Avalanche, and this team might not have had
the talent on the roster, the leadership in the locker room,
the coaching to weather those types of storms.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Well, they also people, you know, forget you know, Patrice
Bergeron has only been gone, you know, a couple year
and a half now, David Kraichi, they were players who
left at the top of their game. I'm in my opinion,
so you use subtract those guys. What are you making
it up with again, I'm looking at the trades here.
The Carlo trade has some potential. Minton was a high
(13:09):
draft choice to get a first round draft choice in
two thousand and six. They're not gonna get much from Marshand,
I don't think. And then the question is going to
be what does march Haan do once on June fifteenth
comes and the season is over. Either he's going to
celebrate a Stalley Cup with the Panthers or he'll begin
talking with the Bruins about reupping with the Bruins. I
(13:30):
think he'll probably.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
I don't think he's gonna be re upping with the Bruins.
Can you think of any player in any sport that
left it or was traded and then came back to
the team in the off season the next year. Because
I've been rattling my brains since Friday about this and
I can't think of one. Because the one that everyone
always thought might happen was when the Red Sox traded
(13:54):
John Lester, that then they would go out and get
John Lester in the off season, but that obviously didn't happen.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
I think baseball is different from hockey, to be honest
with you, and I think that the money in baseball
is a little bit better than the money in hunt.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
I know, but I also I also think that hockey
players are are a bit more prideful when they're offered
a contract that they think not insulting. But Don Sweeney
talked about having having the gap in their negotiations, and
if the gaps were that big, I don't think Marshan
comes back here looking for they've I've seen reports of
(14:36):
he got offered something similar to the AAV that he's
making right now, but he wanted something more than that,
and maybe he looked at some free agents that the
Bruins have signed in the past off seasons, like say
Elias Linholm, who's making close to eight million dollars, and
he said, I want something like he's making.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yeah, but again, well we'll see. Let you and I
plan a another session, Honor about July fifteenth, when those
resignings occur. I remember early in the year I talk
with Kevin Paul DuPont and we were talking about when
Pasternak was kind of lingering around fifteen goals and you know,
(15:17):
you know people do sort of seek their level, and
I said, look, you know he'll have his thirty. Of course,
he's going to have probably thirty five, maybe even forty
before the season is over. I don't know. I think
the ad that marsh And wrote or published in the
Boston Globe today, I think was pretty heartfelt. Yeah, and
(15:37):
you know, no, Boston is a lot closer than to
his home Turiff. He's a Nova Scotia guy, right, If
I'm not mistaken, then he would be if he was
going to go play for the Utah whatever the name
of that hockey club is going to be. I don't
know it's going to make. Is that what they're going
(15:58):
to call themselves?
Speaker 5 (15:59):
The Utah that I had, that's one of the options.
I think they have three options, and that's one of them.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah, I was hoping the Utah Mormons. Maybe I don't know,
you know that that it just it was weird. This
season one was just the Utah Hockey Club and obviously
they have formerly the Phoenix Coyotes. Uh, maybe they could
have called him the Utah Skiers. We'll see the mammoth
would be good, that would be good. We got the
(16:25):
krack and we got the Sharks, so we can keep
it in kind of the animal kingdom out there out
there in the West. Brian Antonelli as always, so you're
predicting Brad is not coming back to the Bruins.
Speaker 5 (16:39):
And correct. I think he's. I think he's gonna sign elsewhere.
And even if he does sign for something similar to
what he was playing with here, which is roughly six
and a like six and change six point three average
annual value, I think he's gonna look somewhere else if
it's something similar to that.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yeah, well of course, remember we got the millionaires tax
in Massachusetts, so that's gonna take an extra bite. So
if it's close, you might be right. You never know.
Brian is always great to hear. You've always great to
talk with you see at the gym, see my dad
all right, come it up right after the break here
at the eight thirty newscast. At the bottom of the hour,
we're going to talk about the virus that took the
(17:16):
life of Gene Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa. It's Hanta virus
and it sounds like pretty nasty stuff. This whole death
of both of these fine people, Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa,
tragic in so many ways. And how people get so
(17:41):
isolated that nobody was checking on them for days. Just
it's a crazy story. But the theory is that the
wife was dead for a week. We'll get to all
of that with our guest, doctor Shirah Deron, chief Infection
Control Officer for Toff's Medicine and hospital epidemiologist at Tuft's
(18:01):
Medical Center.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
With Dan Ray, I'mbzy Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Thank you very much, Nicole. We have all been following
for the last couple of weeks the tragic story the
death of the great actor Oscar winning actor Gene Hackman
and his wife Betsy Arakawa at their home in New Mexico.
With us is doctor Shira Derome. She's the chief infects
(18:30):
your Control officer for Tufts Medicine and a hospital epidemiologist
at Tuft's Medical Center, and the word is doc. First
of all, doctor Jerome, welcome back to Night's side. Thanks
so much for joining us, for joining us. How are
you tonight?
Speaker 6 (18:44):
Great, wonderful to be back with you.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Great, Thank you very much. So. The autopsy suggested that
I guess Betsy Arkawa, hoping you'm pronouncing your name correctly,
died of something called hintavirus, which I'd never heard of,
and that Gene Hackman, who was suffering from some form
of dementia, was found dead in the home as well,
(19:10):
and some are suggesting that their deaths were about a
week apart. Tragic, tragic, tragic at so many levels. Let's
does that sequence seem reasonable to you? And again, I
know that you haven't been involved in the investigation or
the autopsy, but is that a reasonable sequence you think?
Speaker 6 (19:32):
Well, you know, I can't really comment on what happened
with him, but you know, this is a pretty surprising
diagnosis obviously for her huntavirus very rare, so only eight
hundred and sixty four cases ever reported in the history
(19:53):
of the United States since surveillance began in nineteen ninety three.
That makes it really rare, but it is most common
in New Mexico. So they've had one hundred and twenty
two cases, and that's the largest number that we have
out of all of the states.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Which and again the reports, and we're both kind of
in the dark hair, and I'm asking unscripted questions, as
I always do. She apparently was found in according to
the reports I read, in the kitchen with some medications,
some pills spilled on the floor. Is hantavirus if it's untreated,
(20:30):
is it always going to be fatal? Or could it
be that she was suffering with something and she didn't
realize what it was.
Speaker 6 (20:37):
Well, most people don't go untreated, so it's really hard
to say, you know what the natural course would be
if you got no supportive care at all? Right, So
you know, supportive care meaning you know, being in a hospital,
getting oxygen, getting intravenous fluids. Those are the kinds of
things that we can do for somebody who has, you know,
(20:58):
a viral illness, which typically what happens with hantavirus is
that if it goes to the lungs, if it causes pneumonia,
and we certainly we know that other viruses, COVID flu.
You know, once they involve the lower parts of the lungs,
they can be quite dangerous and hauntavirus once it gets
into the lungs has a pretty high mortality rate, and
(21:19):
so you know, the way to avoid that is obviously
getting to a doctor, getting to a hospital and getting
some of that supportive care oxygen, maybe a mechanical ventilator
if you need it, until your body, you know, controls
the infection. But unfortunately she didn't get that care.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Let's talk about it's a real disease. You said eight
hundred and fifty four cases in the last thirty or
so years. That works out to less than thirty cases
a year. My understanding is that it's spread through rep
through droppings of rodents. Is that how it's spread.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
Right droppings You're in saliva, so you know, typically we're
talking about somebody coming upon often an enclosed space that's
got a you know, a nest or someplace with a
lot of urine or droppings that haven't been cleaned in
a long time, so it's in the air and you
breathe it in. And the other sort of common thing
(22:18):
would be camping related, so where you're sleeping right on
the ground in an area that has a lot of
you know, rodent feces or urine, and that you're breathing
it in kind of all night. And those are the
kinds of stories that we hear that lead to hauntavirus infection,
but not person to person spread.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
And is it when you say rodents that covers a
variety of species. It's not just.
Speaker 6 (22:46):
Rats, right, it's actually mostly mice.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Wow, Okay for those of us who occasionally have have
had a trap of mouse you get to worry about.
Speaker 6 (23:00):
Well, the good thing. The good news is that Matha,
Massachusetts Department of Public House says that there have been
no cases of hauntavirus acquired in Massachusetts. So if you
look on the CDC's website they show one case. Ever,
I'm gathering that that means diagnosed in Massachusetts, not acquired
in Massachusetts. So it is not something that we need
(23:23):
to worry about if we see mice in our house.
Again that even if I was in New Mexico or Arizona,
where they've had more cases, it's not the single mouse
that might be running around and leaving a dropping here
and there. It's really you know, you come upon you
know you're doing construction and you come upon a spot
where a lot of mice have been hanging out for
(23:44):
a long period of time, where it's really loaded with
their extra excremen and you're in and that you're really
breathing in air that's full of it.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Wow. Now, the gene Hackman and his wife lived in
a beautiful looking home. I mean they were in a
gated community. You know, you talked about people who might
be in other, you know, less affluent circumstances. This is
(24:16):
kind of a warning to everyone. I guess I just
and this is probably not a fair question for you,
but it really does, in my mind, point out how
when folks get a little older and they lose a
lot of their friends and their contacts and their circle
of friends closes, they would apparently one of them was
(24:41):
dead for since February eleventh. The other Gene Hackman they
estimated past in February eighteenth. This does so emphasize the
responsibility to check on neighbors and friends and even a
phone call or two periodically to make sure they're doing okay.
That's the lesson I want to take from this this story.
Speaker 6 (25:02):
It's so true, and you know, you wonder if she
didn't want to go to the hospital because she was
taking care of him, and you know, it is so
so terribly tragic, and then you know, to find out
that it's an infection that you know, perhaps if she
had gotten some of that supportive care from a hospital setting,
perhaps she would have survived. Who knows.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
But you also think that when you're talking with people
who are talking about people who are sophisticated, that there
should have been in place some additional support for the
two of them. I mean, it looked as if no
one had checked on them for some period of time,
and it was only someone who came by and looked
(25:45):
in the windows. I think what they called the caretaker.
At least that was what that caretaker was referred to.
But to me, it's inexplicable. I mean, you read a
story about some person who has no relatives, no friends,
and they die alone, and you say, isn't that horrible?
There was nobody on the street that went over it
occasionally just knock on the door. This is an example
(26:07):
that it can happen even to you know, movie stars,
and if it can happen to movie stars, it can
happen to any one of us.
Speaker 6 (26:16):
Terribly sad, very very sad.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
You know, and I just I would hope that out
of this, maybe everyone listening to the broadcast tonight, if
you have an older relative or a neighbor, it doesn't hurt.
Every once in a while, just call them up and
see how they're doing, maybe, or stop by, and even
if it's just to say hello for five minutes, it's
(26:40):
something that should be done. And if if you're living far,
if you're living here within the sun of a voice,
and your parents are getting older and they're living halfway
or all the way across the country, I think you've
got to make sure that they are in a community
where there are people who see them every day and
can observe them. And this is just, I mean, what
(27:02):
a sad sad ending doctor Drone, Shira Dorone, thank you
so much. I know again we probably veered off away
from your expertise here and they didn't mean to do
that to you, but this story is just it's a
haunting story to think that this could have been the
end for this this couple, who you know, probably had
(27:24):
had more friends than most of us have. If if
you're friends and or fians, right, let me put it
like that, Thanks so much, doctor Derome for joining us.
A pleasure all right soon, Hopefully next time it'll be
a more uplifting topic. Yes, when we get back, we're
going to talk about the fact that the army, uh,
(27:44):
not only has had some recruitment problems the military. US
military has had some recruitment problems over recent years, but
they're also losing about a quarter of the soldiers who
actually do exist. That's in the Army. We're going to
talk with a third generation in US Navy combat veteran
outspoken advocate for the military and host of the Veterans
Impact Show, Jim Blythe. Will be back with Jim and
(28:08):
after that we're going to get to topics of the
night and phone calls will ensue after nine o'clock. Back
on night Side. My name's Dan Ray. This is Nightside.
You're listening to WBZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
We're delighted to be joined by Jim Blythe. Jim. I
hope I pronounce your name correctly.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Hi, just like it's like California, hottest place in California.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
Okay. Jim is a third generation US Navy combat veteran,
outspoken advocate for the military and host of the Veterans
Impact Show. Is that a radio program podcast? In case
folks want to check it.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Out, be it's on YouTube under Veterans Impact Show and
Facebook under Veterans Impact Show. We're carried on BBTV New
Work at eleven o'clock on Saturday, which puts us on
Amazon Fire and Roku. And if you reached all the
way to California, we've got eleven stations out there are
the curious, So.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
We're now, yeah, we have listeners in California. Jim wbz's
a big old station with fifty thousand whit Claire channel.
We are seeing with HERD with terrestrial radio meaning just
the over the air signal, and about thirty five to
thirty eight states. And of course everybody's on the internet
these days. So let's talk about military recruiting. You've read
(29:34):
an article here that says the Army's losing nearly one
quarter of soldiers during their first two years of enlistment.
So these are young men and women who have volunteered.
The draft has long gone gone for more than fifty years.
These are people who you know passed physicals to get
into the military. Why are they leaving?
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Well, you'd have to ask each one of them, but
I'm going to give you some broad to go with that.
Number One, these kids usually are seventeen to eighteen years
old when they go into military, and there are several contracts.
There is a two year contract, a four year contract,
and a six year contract, and it depends on what
(30:17):
kind of training you're going to get. Now, for instance,
if you go in the Navy, that's going to be
a four year contract. If you go in and you've
got a college degree and you're going to be a
naval aviator, that's a six year contract. So what you're
looking at you got to think, Okay, these were the youngest.
These did not go in under a technical contract, and
(30:39):
so they're getting all of the tough jobs that the
lowest guy on the totem pole gets. So maybe the
military wasn't for them. Maybe it was for them and
it turned their life around, and now they're ready to
go out in the world and they've got a skill
and they could get a job. So there's all kinds
of things. I wouldn't put a negative spin on it
(31:01):
as much as I think the military is a great
place for young men and women to get a start line,
and that's what the two Contra through your contract does,
gives them a starting line.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
No, I agree with that analysis, but I think that
there's some suggestions that we're not getting enough qualified individuals,
young people whatever, of whatever age, signing up for the military.
I wanted my son to to take a look at
(31:37):
west Point Napolis, the service academies, which actually are harder
to get into than Harvard and Yale. He graduated from Harvard,
but we were looking at at at west Point. We've
had friends who have gone through West Point. There's no
better university as far as I'm concerned in America in
the West Point or Annapolis. But they're still having I
(32:02):
think we're having problems not only attracting but also retaining
people in all branches of the military, maybe a little
worse in the Army. To be honest with you, well,
what can be done to turn that around. There's been
some stories which said that army recruiting has bumped up
in the last few months. The Secretary of Defense is
(32:25):
saying that young people are looking to not to make
this political, are a little bit more anxious to serve
with the new commander in chief. Anything in the numbers
which would seem to support that, you probably know quite
closer than I do.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
I think that that age group is not as politically
involved in a stute. So let's don't go down that road.
But let's do go down the road of only twenty
three percent of the American population that would fit into
the category of a young man and woman to go
into the military. Only twenty three percent qualify under physical, mental,
(33:07):
and academic. So if a kid has a record, they're
not going to go in. If a kid has a
record of mental health problems, they're not going to go in. Now,
within that twenty three percent, one of the big things
the Army did, and this was very smart, they developed,
for lack of better term, of remedial education program for
(33:31):
their pre recruits where they were teaching them basic skills,
math and English and some of these things so that
they could score better on the exam and could qualify.
So the Army started that program. The Navy is using
that program, and with those two alone, now the Air
Force has met their goals many times. In Marine Corps,
(33:53):
we just give them another coloring box and they do great.
So what you're looking at is basic. The Navy and
the Army and their numbers are way up because they're
lifting these kids up. They're giving them a chance to
learn and perform, and they're raising their standards up. They're
(34:14):
not lowering the standards to get them. So that's one
reason why right now recruiting is up twelve and a
half percent. Now, there's another thing that for many of you.
And a friend of mine retired Navy admiral who was
vice commander of recruiting for the Navy when I first
interviewed him. Basically, he went to the Navy after he
(34:35):
retired and said, guys, how many of these kids do
you think are watching cable TV? Where do they go?
Where do they go to look at things? They go
to social media, they go to YouTube, they go to Spotify,
they go to all of these things, Instagram. Your ads
are not reaching them. You've got to change your advertising.
(34:58):
And I think that the military has been doing that
from everything I've heard, so they're reaching more of the kids.
I think another thing is that one of the negatives
that I have seen is there's so much negative advertising
by certain charitable organizations that portray all veterans is wounded,
(35:21):
broken and amputeenes and that's not true. You know, there's
probably less than ten percent of the military that actually
serves in combat where they are on the line, they're
in the frenches. There are so many technical skills, logistics
(35:42):
skills and things going on. It's probably the greatest training
ground in the world for young men and women.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
Oh, I think it is. I think look just the
discipline alone, and a lot of people who at that
age of seventeen or eighteen really have no direction. I
agree with you, Jim, you know, thank you for your service.
I spend some time not probably nearly what you did
in uniform. Uh and uh, it's it's it is a
(36:10):
situation where you you learn to work with other people
from different backgrounds. So there's a lot of benefits to it. Uh.
Oh yeah, it's long gone. So everybody who's going in
now theoretically wants to be in. Uh. And hopefully we
can turn this around, because I don't think we'll ever
have another ground war in the world, but we do
have to have a military that is prepared to respond
(36:32):
to situations as we all have seen in the last
few decades, whether it be a bombing in Beirut, Lebanon,
or a World Trade Center in New York City. Jim By,
let's let's give your your plug, plug your show again, folks,
go ahead. Well, we we're pretty liberal here on on
given plug. So you go ahead. Where else can follow you?
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Go ahead, Okay, go to YouTube ends Impactshow dot com
one word and you can email me Jim at Veteransimpactshow
dot com. You can go to our website, Veterans Impactshow
dot com. It's on YouTube, It's on Facebook, I believe
it's on Instagram now. We are also carried by dB
(37:17):
TV Network and they carry us on Amazon, Fire, Roku, Spotify,
smart Tv. Goodness, gracious, whole bunch. We're everywhere wherever. But
one of the big things is we are highlighting what
veterans do in our nation, in our community. I had
(37:39):
the previous secretary of the VA, Wilkie on three times,
and they're very transparent. I've had under secretaries. I've do
a lot of work with the VA. I do a
lot of work with the Texas Veterans Commission. I do
a lot of work with many of the charities and organizations,
and I have had some of the more those phenomenal
(38:01):
interviews with military leaders from Medal of Honor recipients to
just sergeant majors.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
That sounds great. I'm running out of time here, Jim.
I'm going to have to cut the cord here. But
Veterans Show Impact Jim blithe Jim, thank you so much
for being with us tonight, and again, keep on keeping on.
Speaker 3 (38:21):
Okay, thank you from Veterans Impact Show. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
You're welcome. You're welcome. We get back. We're going to
talk with Chris Anderson, the president of a new alliance
called the Massachusetts Opportunity Alliance. Be back with Chris Anderson
and we'll get the phone calls later on. We'll talk
about we head into it a recession. The President might
have pushed us in that direction by not answering a
direct question more directly over the weekend. I will explain.
(38:47):
That's at ten o'clock. Coming back on night Side, right
after the nine
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