Kristen Hagopian Show - 09 10 25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Christen Agopian Show. Shout outs
from everybody here in Studio B as we connect with
our two hundred plus stations coast to coast via the
BIZ Talk Radio and BBS Radio Networks. Greetings to you all.
This week's show is brought to you by our caring
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(00:46):
Help the ones you care about put that chapter behind them.
Eight hundred nine three two four zero a two. Welcome guys.
It is another fabulous week here at the show. I
don't know about the weather in your net of the woods.
Here I'm looking outside the studio windows here in Philadelphia,
beautiful blue skies, lots of great summer like weather. We're

(01:07):
still topping out eighty A lot of these days. I
am digging it. It's beautiful, the best of all worlds
because the leaves are just starting to change. So I
love it, absolutely love it. Another six months of seventy
eighty degree weather not too much to ask here in September,
I wouldn't think so. I mentioned this on social media
and things just blew up. We had so much fun
with it. I Victor and I went to an absolutely

(01:31):
lovely wedding a couple of weeks ago, a weekend before last,
and it was for Victor's best friends, one of his
best friend's daughters, and this so just it was just
got so tickled by this because it was this friend's son,
who I think, you know, eight years old or something,
was the ring bearer at our wedding. So that's like

(01:52):
what twenty four years ago. And now they're all grown
up obviously, and the ring bears now thirty, he's got
gray hair.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
It's crazy.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
But this beautiful young lady late twenties getting married. She
and her fiance now husband, were just adorable. They've got
the world on a string. They work so hard. They
had this lovely wedding and it got me thinking about
these amazing, beautiful celebrations.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Again. This was absolutely.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Elegant and lovely, and there was just nothing about it
I would have changed. It was just jaw droppingly beautiful.
The bride was adorable, big grin, and the groom was wonderful.
And it got me thinking about the huge cost that
flat out is involved in just about every single wedding
these days. And it happens for the best of reasons.

(02:38):
You've got brides and grooms getting married later now than
they did in the years past. They are a little
more established in their careers. Maybe they have a little
more money in savings, maybe they have at an older
age a much bigger friend you know, set of friends
going on here where they have a larger guest list,
people live further away, so there's more travel. You guys

(02:59):
get it. You guys know I'm talking about. But it
got me thinking because I had a great chat with
the father and mother of the bride and they're down
to earth, hilarious, hysterical, and again the bride and the
groom fronted a lot of the costs for this, but
of all the family members wanted to chip in. And
it was brought up in conversation that this lovely, amazing,

(03:21):
beautiful event, which started early in the afternoon at the
church ceremony and went down till I want to say
about midnight. Ended up costing these lovely people about fifty K.
And it's their money. This is America. They work hard.
When you work hard for your money, you decide how
you're going to spend your money. And these people have

(03:42):
every single thing going for them and they made the
decision to make this beautiful wedding and all out blitz.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
I love it. It was beautiful.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
And when I started putting the feelers out about this,
we got messaging from all over the place with people's
opinions and thoughts on this. And I as a you know,
grown woman with a you know, two kids teenager and
just under teenager preteen, been married for twenty some years,
gone to too many weddings to count. I have evolved

(04:10):
my thinking when it comes to weddings. I used to
have a mindset as a soon to be married woman
myself and then married and going to weddings and helping
other people plan their weddings. All of us out there
have had certain ideas evolve as we go. When it
comes to helping a couple go from being you know,
engaged to starting their life together with a beautiful, memorable wedding.

(04:32):
And so many people have it out there in their
head that every single one of these weddings out there
has to cost tens of thousands of dollars, and that
simply is not the case. So jumping right into it,
I put some feelers out and I got back some
of the most interesting, beautiful, proven money and cost slashing

(04:54):
ideas that still put on a flawless, beautiful, fairytale wedding
and didn't break the bank. And we're going to jump
around from idea to idea here when it comes to
the gifts, when it comes to everything else, but just
in no particular order, all of these sent in from
people who have been married for a while, people who
are about to get married, people who've been married for
fifty years plus, in no particular order. They're proven ideas

(05:18):
for slashing the cost on this. And I'll tell you
what they did with the money they would have otherwise spent.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
And it's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
And before we jump into all these various ways to
save money, I want you guys to keep the end
game in mind. Whether you are these soon to be married,
whether you are planning on getting married, whether you were
helping a child or a dear friend getting married, Think
long and hard about the end game. When the wedding
day is done and the celebration is complete, and everybody's

(05:49):
face is hurt because they were smiling so hard all
day for this beautiful, amazing day. Do you want the
bride and groom to go to sleep that night and
the parents of the bride and groom go to sleep
that night with tens of thousands of dollars of debt
about to show up in the mailbox. Or do you
want them to go to sleep with that same smile,
knowing that they really owe nothing after this and still

(06:13):
pulled off a fairy tale wedding. And not only do
they not owe anything, I am hearing from people who
blew me away with their incredibly creative ideas. All right,
this one, I have to do this one first. I
was gonna wait till later to do this one. Now
I'm I'm so excited about this. I gotta do this now.
A fantastic couple who wishes to remain unnamed, who don't
I'm not gonna say their names out loud, they sent

(06:34):
in this incredible story of theirs. They met in middle school.
Believe it or not, they had both gone to the
same elementary school. Their parents had pulled out all the
stops to send them both to this Catholic elementary school
as kids. They both credit it with being a real
life saver when it came to their education down the road.
It really put them on the right path educationally. Everybody's different.

(06:56):
They met each other in middle school, just started dating
high school, went to separate colleges, came back after college,
and now they're getting married, which is wonderful. They are
both just starting out. They're in their late twenties, oh,
mid twenties. Excuse me, he's in his later twenties. She's
in your mid twenties. And they found out just before
the wedding that they are going to be a family

(07:18):
of three in the not too distant future. So imagine
so many things to celebrate. However, they are on a
very tough budget. Okay, so you have this brand new,
wonderful couple. They have the wedding going on, all of
this great news coming in at the same time, and
what did they do?

Speaker 2 (07:33):
I love this so much.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
They put the feelers out to their guests saying, look,
we are blessed beyond measure. The numbers were so blessed
right there. We love having all of you here for
our wedding. We'd like to keep it simple. And instead
of giving us a gift of something we register for
at some local department store or whatever else, instead of
giving us cash for our wedding, because again we both

(07:54):
have good jobs, they put together a go fund me
fund type thing wherever everybody pitched in a couple of
bucks for there soon to be child's Catholic school education
down the road. It doesn't have to be Catholic school.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
It could be.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
Private school of any type, maybe a charter school, whatever,
whatever type of schooling that you feel you might need
some sort of financing for. They put the feelers out
for that thought. Maybe they might get lucky. They might
get a few thousand in there for whatever they had.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
I love this.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
They had about one hundred let's see here, They had
one hundred and fifty guests at their wedding. Family friends,
a lot of them that they knew through their elementary
school those decades ago, and every one of them was
encouraged to put rather than buy them a gift, to
put it into this fund. So one hundred people put
in one hundred and fifty dollars each into this fund,

(08:46):
and by the time the wedding was over, this beautiful
child on the way. They celebrated this wonderful wedding and
this beautiful child on the way could enjoy knowing that
there was now fifteen thousand dollars ready to go for
their education. And they showed pictures of them going to
the school.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
The school. I love.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
This allowed the parents to prepay for their child's upcoming
schooling at this school. Child's not even born yet, and
they were able to pay for kindergarten all the way
through the sixth grade. That's seven years of schooling at
today's rates. And they wrote a check for it right
after they got back from the honeymoon, and their kids
private schooling is now paid for. After their wedding. They

(09:28):
had a wonderful, small, tasteful wedding. Everybody had a blast.
It got the job done, everybody loved it. And now
their beautiful child on the way has got private school
taken care of for this very modest budget for this wonderful,
you know, basic blue collar family that just got married.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Imagine that for a gift.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
That's the kind of thing that I just dig when
it comes to out of the box, non ordinary. Who
wants ordinary gifts at a wedding? You want a wedding
gift that's going to pack a punch. What could be
a better punch name for me? Literally, guys, anybody listening,
name a better gift for two people just married who

(10:10):
just found out they're going to be parents within a year.
To find out that their child already has private school
taken care of from kindergarten through the six at the
same alma mater, so to speak, that their parents went to.
It's just brilliant. That's the kind of thing that I love.
And guys, I've got pages upon pages of these ready

(10:30):
to go to and I want to hear from you too.
Find me online brilliantfrugalliving dot com. Give me all of
your best wedding stories, whether you were the one getting
married or whether you were the one gifting something brilliant
and something out of the box that they just loved
and it helped them tremendously. That's the kind of thing
I want to get going on here and the times
flying I'm getting the nod we're going, We're going more after.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
This not too.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
And we are back with the Christian Egopian Show, and
I've been looking so forward to our next guest. You
guys know what a nature nerd I am. I love
my stargazing. We love our trips with the family when
we go out to Lancaster here in our area. No
doubt our listeners coast to coast have a favorite place
they'd love to go as well, where you can just
be compressed and chill and maybe see a squall or

(11:34):
deer or other stuff that we just don't see enough
of these days. So when I got the opportunity to
connect with our next guest, I left to add it
because I think everybody's aware of this, but we don't
have the bandwidth to pay us attention to it. Wildlife
habitats are shrinking, just at the same time that more
and more Americans like us are discovering the joy and

(11:55):
the fun and the environmental benefits not only health wise,
finance every other kind of way of just watching wild
birds and everything in their own backyards. You know, we're
out in Chester County where you know, the birds could
take over any time, but they seem to still give
us our living space. So we just love watching them,
maybe you have the same thing going on there. So
I was delighted to have the opportunity to connect with

(12:17):
wildlife advocate Adrian Chissis. She's the director of consumer and
bird Engagement at Global Harvest Froods and she joins us
some a very busy day on our newsmaker line Welcome.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Hello, Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (12:29):
Yeah. And I don't know when this happened to me,
because you know, I was young ones and now I'm
in my fifties whatever. And it used to be a
time where when I see wonderful adults in my life
and my family tree who started their conversations with the
birds they saw that morning, I'd be like, Okay, let's
you know, that's old people talking. It's not I adore it.
It just it pulls me in so much. And I

(12:49):
don't know when it happened. I lost my cool card
ages ago when I had kids, but it's just gone
completely now, it's been shredded. But in all seriousness, having more,
you know, awareness of nature around you, I find it
to be calming and soothing and the ripple effects never stop.
And bird walking is just a part of that for
the rest of my life. But here's the good news.

(13:10):
I've put my kids on it as well. My husband
won't admit it, but it's all about the bird's nests
that we see on our porch every day everything else.
So it's out there. We are all out there birdwatchers,
bird lovers, whether we admit it out loud or not,
and so hearing that their habitats are a bits, you know,
on the edge right now, all of our ears are
going to perk up on this. You've got a unique

(13:32):
vantage point on this new reality. Tell us a little
bit about your experiences with birding, you know, especially bird feeding,
and why it's dating in popularity.

Speaker 4 (13:41):
So feeding wild birds is one of the most exciting
things that you can do for yourself. You feel connected
with nature in ways that you didn't even know were possible,
and putting out a bird feeder with a nice quality
bird seed like cool birds is some of the best
ways to have that instant connection again that you might
have been missing in your day to day life. And

(14:02):
it's not just your grandparents hobby anymore. So they may
have been onto something because, as you said, it is
proven to reduce your stress levels, to improve your mood
and make you feel connected and when you're connected, you
kind of have a purpose and it makes you want
to take care of the nature right in your own backyard.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
Yeah, it's true. And I'm taking notes as you're talking
here because you've poked my ears. If but one particular thing,
and that's when we're talking about, you know, animals in
our lives. My husband and I are a perfect mass
for each other, but we are spectacularly boring, right So
we have a pet turtle, and even this turtle is
bored with us. I mean that's saying something I really feel.
It is. Nature never lives. So when you have the
opportunity to have a pet air quotes pet like birds

(14:43):
adding nature, everyone's a winner. They can still live incredibly
exciting lives, you know, outside of our household, and we
still have the pleasure of seeing them and being able
to feed them and being able to just you know,
keep an eye on them, that kind of thing. It's
a win win for everybody. Talk to me again, because
again you've got in forward hand that few of us,
So talk to us a bit about the benefits of
bird feeding for both people and the birds. I mean,

(15:04):
the wildlife environment is changing up there. We can help
them a little bit too.

Speaker 4 (15:08):
Oh absolutely, I mean right now, late summer, early fall,
it is such a critical time for wild birds, so
they're either gearing up for their migration or they're hunkering
down for winter. But either way, the birds really need
food right now more than ever, and so putting out
a bird feeder is one of the easiest, most simple

(15:28):
ways that you can do something that's great for wildlife
and for your birds, but it's also really good for
yourself too. It connects your family and really can make
lasting memories that can last a lifetime.

Speaker 3 (15:40):
It's so true. Now here's a question for you, because
again I'm out in my home is out in Worchester County, Pennsylvania,
studios here here in Philadelphia, and I've got a I
don't know, a total newbie bird question for you, because
here's what happened at my folk's house while watching their
bird feeder, and I'm seeing what looks like a huge

(16:02):
insect coming up to us. So we're all flipping out,
and then one of us realizes, Hey, that's not an insect,
that's a hummingbird. It's a teeny tiny little hummingbirds. So
once we realized it was a hummingbird, it became this
totally charming, adorable thing. We're like, oh, that's fantastic. Once
we realized it wasn't an insect like Steven Spielberg style
coming to kill a ball, we realized it was adorable
and we wanted more of them. And that seems to

(16:23):
be the bird type that people really love, like these
just ethereal sort of you know, angelic little hommingbirds and
stuff like that. How do we target the various foods
to bring by like the gorgeous red cardinals or the
blue jays or the hummingbirds. What do we do to
kind of fine tune our bird feeding?

Speaker 4 (16:40):
That is such a great question, and honestly, our brand
Cool Birds makes it pretty fool proof. We make specialty
blends that attract the coolest birds to your feeter. We're
talking vibrant cardinals, acrobatic chickaye's, really powerful woodpeckers, the cool
birds that everybody really wants to see in your backyards.
And when you put out a nice quality bird seed,

(17:02):
the birds are going to find it and then they're
going to keep coming back for more.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
That's so cool. Okay, Now here's another thing too, Because
you're talking so optimistically but you don't know my history
with pets and you know, birds and anything like that.
It's not one of those where I heard like a
whispering voice, Chris, if you build it, day will come.
Didn't happen, doesn't happen at the Hegropeians house. So I
need to make sure there's something out there that's really
going to work. So is there a trick like what

(17:27):
do you do? Yes, if you set up your bird
feeder but aren't seeing any birds, did the birds talk
to each other and say, that's the Hegopians, you know,
let's go next door. Now they got nothing. Why do
we make sure do we get this taken care of
so that they enjoy it and we enjoy it too.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
That is a great question.

Speaker 4 (17:42):
So ultimately it can take a little bit of time.
A lot of people will try to put out a
bird feeder and they'll wait a couple of days and
they're like, oh, I don't see any birds. What's going on?
But that's actually totally normal. All it takes is a
little bit of patience. Sometimes it can take days or
even weeks for birds to show up. But once they
feeder and realize it's a reliable source of food and

(18:03):
it's good food too. I mean, why would they want
to leave your yard? It turns into a backyard oasis.
Also providing simple things like a sip of water or
planting native plants that can make the birds hydrated and
feel comfortable if they need to make a quick escape,
and so really setting up your backyard as a whole
setup is one of the best ways to make sure

(18:23):
the birds feel safe so that they keep coming back.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
Excellent, this is great. Up, I knew the time was fly.
Where do we send our listeners coast to coast for
more information on this?

Speaker 2 (18:32):
That's a great question.

Speaker 4 (18:33):
So if you want more information, you can visit our website,
which is morecoolbirds dot com. If you want to join
our feathered fandom on social media, you can join us
at more cool Birds on any social media platform. And
if you want to pick up a bag for yourself,
you can check out our storefront on Amazon dot com.

Speaker 3 (18:50):
Brilliant. We will put a link to our social media
as well. Thank you so much for joining us. You
got an open mic anytime. Thank you so much for.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
All the breed info and a be well you're so
thank you so much.

Speaker 5 (19:01):
Have your verding.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
Thank them we'll be right back right after that, and

(19:28):
we are back with the Kristen to Gophian Show. And
this is subject matter near and dear to my heart,
not because of my own kids, but because of a
good number of friends kids, co workers' kids and the like.
We're talking about peanut allergies. And now I'm dating myself here,
but when I was back in elementary school and high school,

(19:50):
you just didn't hear much about peanut allergies.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
But leap ahead to this year, and.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
I honest to God, I think you'd be hard pressed
to find anyone who doesn't know someone with a tough allergy,
mostly peanuts. It's one of the most common food allergies
and for the entire run of humanity, basically up until
this point, the only option to reduce the risk of
a potentially life threatening allergic reaction was strict avoidance until now.

(20:17):
So you're ready for this, guys. Earlier this year, in
and amongst all of the other headlines, and there were
plenty of them, the USFDA quietly approved the first ever
treatment for peanut allergy. And joining us here via our
newsmaker line to tell us more is Doctor Chat Show
from the University of Chicago Medical Center to tell us more.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
Welcome doctor, thank you, well, thank you. This is big,
big news.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
Now for those of us out there who aren't in
the medical community, we a lot of times, many of us,
many of us know people with peanut allergies, but give
us some basic numbers, because I always find the numbers
blow me away. How many people whether in this country
or worldwide from peanut allergy, and then give our listeners
a sense of why it is so very dangerous.

Speaker 6 (21:06):
Yeah, you're exactly right. It would be hard pressed to
find someone in the United States now who didn't know
at least of someone else who had a peenat allergy.
And the reason is there are now one point six
million children in the United States with a pened allergy.
As you mentioned, that number has grown over the past
three decades until we've reached this point where we are today.

(21:27):
But for all these kids affected, it's just one wrong
bite of the wrong food that can cause a severe,
potentially life threatening reaction. So these families and the children
who provide care for the families who provide care for
these children, they live in constant anxiety that their child
will take a bite of the wrong food and they

(21:48):
will be left with a significant reaction that they have
to treat on their own other hands.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
Oh, it's absolutely true.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
I mean, I've got I'm the proud owner of a
fifteen year old and they have buddies where from the
earliest days, they have friends they've known since kindergarten, and
we've had the birthday parties and there was always a
couple beautiful kids who simply they were so disciplined, more
disciplined than I will ever be in my life. I'm
looking at these kindergarteners that are steering clear of this,
steering clear of that, and all of his parents, of course,

(22:16):
you know, put on every party we could that was
one hundred percent gluten free and peanut free and milk free.
Oftentimes they're out there, these allergies are out there. But
one of the things that I find so impressive is
this is going to be an absolute huge game changer
because for those of us who don't know, talk about
how peanut allergies and they're tough, talk about how peanut

(22:37):
allergies have been treated historically, like up until this year.

Speaker 6 (22:41):
Yeah, before this year, there has never been a treatment
for peanut allergy. When we diagnosed kids. We told them
they just have to be careful and be safe and
start reading labels and make sure the food that they're
eating is the right food.

Speaker 3 (22:54):
And you're right.

Speaker 6 (22:55):
We had to empower these kids, very very young, to
speak up and the adults who are providing them food
if that particular food's safe. And our only other option
was to give families of benefferent autoinjectors and have them
be prepared just in case an ellergric reaction comes about.

Speaker 1 (23:12):
Yep, and they got it done. But this is going
to be absolutely dance in the street news. Now tell
us more. There's a new treatment option. It's called Palforsia,
and from what we're hearing, it's going to be available
for children and teens with peanut allergy.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
Is that correct, that's.

Speaker 6 (23:28):
Right, yes, Palforsia. I've had the pleasure of working with
the company that makes Palforsia for many years. I had
the privilege of being one of the clinical investigators who
helped bring palforsia to where it is today. I've also
served as an advisor. They're not paying me to speak
with you today, but this treatment really has been a
game changer for many families and for my practice. This

(23:52):
treatment is actually peanut protein. It's purified and it's encapsulated,
and we give it to kids and tiny doses to
start with, and then we very very slowly increase the
amount that they're eating every day. And while we're doing that,
we're tricking the immune system to learn how to tolerate it.
So we get to kids to a point where they're

(24:13):
eating about one peanuts worth of protein every day. And
when we're there there, we know they're bite safe, so
if they were to accidentally take a bite of the
wrong food, they'd be very unlikely to have a severe
life threatening reaction afterwards.

Speaker 1 (24:28):
That's incredible, and you're downplaying it like like such a
professional doctor, whereas I'm ready to just click my heels here.
But allow me to brag on your behalf just a bit.
This is an absolute game changer for so many, not
just families, but generations of families out there. The freedom
that this new amazing treatment, which was born of god
knows how many thousands of hours of research and experimentation,

(24:50):
this is absolutely amazing. The freedom that it's going to
afford kids this safety, and God forbid, a little peace
of mind on behalf of the parents who for you know,
up until now, been dealing with this and helping their
kids live as normal a life as they can, but
still living in you know, constant sort of on the
tips of your toes with this kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
This is absolutely huge.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
So talk to me best candidate for this Who is
your favorite candidate walking through the door? You know what,
there's the perfect candidate for this treatment right now.

Speaker 6 (25:17):
So it's currently EFTY approved for children ages four through seventeen.
It does, though, take some intensive monitoring on behalf of
the family. It's not quite as easy as other therapies
we've traditionally given in medicine. But right now is maybe
the perfect time for many families. We've had families come

(25:37):
in and start because they have flexibility in their schedules
right now that they haven't had before. Children are e
learning and extracurriculars have been canceled, so they really feel
comfortable kind of seizing the opportunity to get started and
be able to monitor their kids at home as they
go through this therapy. So I think it is a
great idea to talk to your allergists and see if

(25:58):
this is right for you. I agree with you. I
certainly don't mean to downplay it. I think it's an
incredible step forward for us. We've seen families lives just
absolutely changed through this therapy. It's really been a joy.

Speaker 2 (26:10):
That's fantastic. Oh No, And I say it as a compliment.

Speaker 1 (26:13):
If this was me, if this is my loud mouth
that had anything to do with this kind of an
amazing treatment, I'd be out there like the little circus
monkey with symbols and a trumpet and all those other
kind of things. So it's very appreciated now. When you
talk about how the best with the capital B best
candidates for this kind of tip up into the seventeen
year old range, talk about people, and honest to god,

(26:34):
that seems to me to be the group that has
the most powerful reaction to peanuts. I feel like as
you get older that kind of tapers off a bit.
Talk to me a bit about how this particular treatment
may or may not be a good fit for those,
say eighteen and older. Do you find and you know what,
and teach me something here. I'm backing up a little.
How many Americans out there with peanut allergies? What percentage

(26:57):
are over the age of eighteen? Is that something where
it's like fit half and half. Where does that lie.

Speaker 6 (27:04):
That's a great question. I can't tell you that statistic
off the top of my head. It is found more
in kids just because it's been increasing in prevalence over
the past three decades, but it's a food allergy that
tends to stick around, so it is it's creeping into
adults as well. Many people now not only know a
child with panidalogy, but it's it's there in adults too.

(27:25):
And this isn't quite ready for adults yet. It hasn't
been studied to the extent that we need to study
it to prove that it's both safe and effective. But
we're working on it. We're certainly not stopping where we
are with just four to seventeen. We want to expand
this really to all age groups if we can. We
want to make this an option, So there is certainly

(27:45):
more to come. I would not say lose hope if
you're over at the age seventeen, but even you know
for adolescents, as you mentioned, adolescents are certainly at high
risk for severe reaction. They're more likely to leave home
without their epineffor and autoinjector, they're more likely to take
risky chances with the foods that they're eating once they're

(28:08):
out with their friends for the first time, or they're
away for school where their parents aren't managing what they're
eating anymore. So this may be an absolute fantastic therapy
for that group.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
That's incredible when you think about the lives that are
going to be saved by this amazing treatment, and you
think about these huge game changing breakthroughs. You think about
the polio vaccine, you think about other vaccines, you think
about treatments like insulin, all these other various things. I
honestly feel like this is going to be something that
touches the lives of so many that its ripple effects
can't really be effectively measured. At this point, this is incredible,

(28:44):
and I knew the time was going to fly. One
more thing, Where can people with peanut allergy or having
it in their family? Where can they go to learn
more about this treatment option?

Speaker 6 (28:53):
So my recommendation is to contact their allergists to ask questions.
But if their allergist is not yet familiar with palforia,
they can go to a website that's been created called
palforsi rems dot com at Palforsia r E n S
dot com and on this website they can search for
a provider in their area that's already been certified to

(29:15):
prescribe this treatment option.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
Outstanding doctor, I knew the time is gonna fly. Thank you,
Thanks to all of your team so much for all
of your hard work on this. You've got an open
mic anytime. You're here to join us again with more
of this fantastic type of news. Thanks so much for
taking the time.

Speaker 6 (29:31):
Thanks so much.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
And it's my pleasure.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
And we'll be right back folks, right after this the

(30:24):
and we are back with the Christian the Goophian Show.
And we all know that travel it's different things to
different people, but travel is honestly vital for adventure and
a key part of America's economy, contributing about two point
nine trillion last year, supporting jobs in every community, and
it boosts various sectors such as healthcare and education while

(30:47):
bringing international dollars into local areas. You know, it's a
win win and joining us our Newsmaker line, I'm so
excited about this. Jeff Freeman, president and CEO of the
US Travel Association, is here to break down those numbers
and tell us a bit more morning.

Speaker 5 (31:00):
It's great to be with you, but I don't think
I can say it any better than you've already said
it yourself, you.

Speaker 3 (31:04):
Know, but so many people are still unaware of all
the great stuff with regards to travel. Tell us a
bit more about your thoughts on this and the latest trends.

Speaker 5 (31:12):
Well, as you mentioned, nearly a three trillion dollar aspect
of our economy, But it's more than just economic aspect.
Travel is what connects families. Travel is what helps build businesses,
whether it's salespeople coming to get deals done, whether it's
people going to share ideas with colleagues. Travel is also
what strengthens communities. We've seen people coming into these communities,

(31:35):
spending their dollars, going home and encouraging their family and
friends to do the same thing. Now, that said, as
much as travel does, the industry is uneven right now.
Domestic travel is pretty flat year over year, but international travel,
as you referenced, is still well below what it was
before the pandemic. We had seventy eight million visitors in

(31:57):
twenty nineteen. Last year we only had seventy two two million,
and this year we're going to have fewer visitors. So
we have a lot of work to do, particularly to
get these international travelers into the United States.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
Yeah, you're so right, and I'm taking noteses we're talking
here because you're bringing up so many good points, and
I referenced this earlier. You know, this current upcoming World Cup,
the upcoming Ryder Cup, the upcoming Olympics. Yeah, we're going
to have other upcoming Cups and Olympics, but this is
you know, this one coming up. It's going to be
one of a kind. You don't want to miss it.
And when we're talking about the opportunities that those events bring,

(32:30):
you know, you hear from people who've never gone before.
They go, they come back and they say, my god,
I wish I did this earlier. It's just an amazing opportunity.
Tell us a bit about your you know, you've got
a wonderful ten thousand foot view on all this stuff.
What are you finding to be the feedback is people
get back into travel.

Speaker 5 (32:46):
Well, one of the good things that came out of
the pandemic, and it's hard to list good things, but
one of the good things that came out of it
was our desire for more live experiences, for creating memories.
There's a demand for doing that. We all saw that
with Taylor Swift and Beyonce. We're about to see it
with the World Cup. We're going to see it with
the Olympics, with America's two hundred and fiftieth Birthday, with

(33:07):
other events that are coming up over the next decade.
The United States is extremely well positioned. We could attract
forty million travelers spending more than four thousand dollars per person.
But I say could because we've got work to do.
Because right now, travelers around the world aren't as certain
that the US wants their business. We need to let

(33:27):
them know we want their business. We need to address
inefficiencies with customs so travelers aren't waiting three hours in
line at American airports. We need to fix our visa
process so we don't have long, long delays to get
a visa, and then fees created by Congress that punish
people for coming to the United States. Each of these
are areas we need to address to take advantage of

(33:49):
the international opportunity. And the best part about that international
traveler I mentioned they're spending four thousand dollars per person,
but as you sort of reference there, they don't just
spend that money they then go home and to other
friends and family they should do the same thing, So
there's that repeat effect. We can't have enough of these visitors.
But right now we are not as well positioned as
we need to be to capitalize on the great events

(34:10):
we've got coming up.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
Yeah, it's very true. Now if there's one thing you've
touched on something before that kind of made me think
about it. When we're talking about how travel hasn't been
the same since before COVID, we're not quite at those
numbers yet. Over the last five years or so, we
have had some great breakthroughs in that time frame to
make it even easier to travel, which is great. Yeah,
there's some hiccups, there's a few extra lines once in
a while, but all in all, it's become more affordable.

(34:34):
It's there's a lot of things going for it that
people maybe aren't aware of. What do you recommend people
do if they're kind of on the spence, so they're like, oh,
do I want to do? I not want to and
they think, you know what, let's do it this year.
Where do you recommend they head to to get some information.

Speaker 5 (34:46):
Well, we're seeing great steps when it comes to improving
the travel process, whether it's the work that's going in
to improving the air traffic control system led by Secretary
Duffy at the Department of Transportation, whether it's the work
going in to remove inefficiencies at TSA. We saw the
lifting of the requirement to take off your shoes at TSA. Hey,
it's a little thing, but it is a step in

(35:08):
the right direction. So we think there's a great opportunity
obviously to improve this system to get more people traveling.
That's obviously what the industry is doing every day, working
with the government to figure out how can we make
the process easier for travelers. To learn more about that,
you can go to Showcaseamericantravel dot org and really learn
what the industry is doing, what the value of travel is,

(35:29):
and how now is the right time to really get
out there, create these experiences and take advantage of everything
travel has to offer.

Speaker 3 (35:36):
It's so true, and no matter what your age, no
matter what your travel history, there's always so much that
you can go out and kind of broaden you come back.
You're raising about it, spread the word. You know, we
all are crazy busy, but there's always time to travel.
And everybody who has ever done it always wish to say,
had done it earlier, and they're planning their next trip
as we speak. I knew the time was fly. Thank
you so much for all of your time and all
of your expertise on this. We appreciate it. Please join

(35:57):
this again anytime I have agreed.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
Day until next week.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
Save those pennies, pay with cash and you all scay
frugal out there, cheap and small

Speaker 2 (36:16):
But not too Steeve butt All