Hello and welcome to the Gifted Life Podcast where we have conversations about organ tissue and eye donation and transplantation. You can always find us at thegiftedlife.org. I'm Maurice Steele. I'm Joey Boudreau.
And I am back. Lisa Lorett West, licensed clinical social worker. And she's back. Thanks, Miss Lisa.
Give it up on the podcast today. Well, it's National Multiethnic Donor Awareness Month and we'll be talking to one of our own about donation conversations with families. Excited to hear from Siobhan. And on the mental health section, we're going to be talking about when should you seek professional help?
All that and more right here, the Gifted Life Podcast, the Gifted Life. That worked. We're excited to introduce all of you to one of our very own. Do you want to do the honors, Joe?
I would. So, of course, with us, we have one of our own tissue family advocates, Siobhan Trahong, who's been with- Shouldn't follow with applause. Yeah! Actually, I'll say that, Siobhan, down in Lafayette, actually, from St.
Marterville. So we pronounce the Trahong. So do you pronounce the Trahong? No, I'm a Trahonger all the way.
Changing country, yeah. Changing country down south. It's so funny because whenever I call my brother who lives in Georgia, I'll speak in some of the meetings who sticks going on 26 and I say, Ryan, what is your name? She tells me, Ryan, Janai, Tranhan, and I look at my brother and I'm like, what did you do to her?
It's like, you are a Trahonger. So it's always funny to hear her pronounce her last name because poor things, she doesn't know better. I love it. We appreciate you coming on the Gifted Life, as Joey mentioned, tissue family advocate, also part of LOPA's EDI equity, diversity and inclusion group as well.
And prepping for the interview, everybody just loves you. They love what you're doing here at LOPA and we know that you help so many families. And that's kind of what we wanted to talk to you about. This is National Multiethnic Donor Awareness Month and we're hoping to learn from you, ma'am.
So tell us a little bit about your role here at LOPA and what you're most proud of. So as a tissue family advocate, one of my first roles is to check in on families shortly after they lose a loved one, see if they've made it home safely, see if they have some support with them. And then eventually we transition into that conversation on the purpose of my call is to let them know how their loved one has that rare opportunity, that this life-saving opportunity to help someone else for their legacy to continue to live on through others through those gifts of tissue and eye donation. Any questions that they have, we let them know that nothing ever goes to donation interferes with open casket services.
Anything that they had previously planned can still continue to go on. It wouldn't cause their funeral arrangements to go any extended period of time because everything is done through the course of night, now we're getting night. It has to start taking place within 24 hours of their passing. And so usually their loved one is back to the funeral home or we bring them to the funeral home of their family's choice either by the next day or the longest the day after, just depending on what the funeral home that they select once since we work so closely with all of the funeral homes across the state.
And those are the logistics that you fool with, but your primary role is to support that family and to be there for them. Absolutely. And that's always my first thing is I have resources. We do the traumatic loss resources.
We go on and got some education from them and being able to email that information to them. And if it's something that they need more of, then we always know that we can reach out to our family services like Nyla or Miss Libby anytime, they are night. Especially if they're someone that sounds like they need that lifeline right then and there that those resources can't help them that they actually need a live voice, someone to speak to. So that's definitely always what we want to check in on them first and what is it that they need from us?
What can we do to support you and help you right now? And your phone calls with those families are not time limited. If you need to take 15 minutes you do, if it takes two hours you do. Absolutely.
Absolutely. I've had family members that have actually called back into the call center. I actually had a family member, the wife of a donor. She was a donor back in February and she reached back out to me.
I want to say either May or June and it was a question about the funeral home, sending her a bill about transportation and something that was literally a three, four minute answer turned into an hour long conversation. And basically her telling me that she has now become almost like a family care advocate or a tissue donor advocate for a lupa. And she said that she's going out into her community and she's had these conversations with other people. And she's like, let me tell you about my experience and let me tell you how good they were to me and my family during this time.
And yeah, so it doesn't stop right then and there. It continues on. I know we had the family around last year for Halloween that I took a call and they actually became like lupa's adopted family around Christmas time. And it was, I don't even know how to explain that experience of meeting that family.
It definitely changed my life and will be a change forever, something that always, you know, hold dear to me because they were so grateful to us and just couldn't stop thinking us and I thought to myself like, how are you? You thinking us right now, you know, but at that time they were thinking of someone else on how can I help somebody else? Yeah. Some families, this is a very unexpected tragic event and some families, this has been something that might have been like an ongoing illness to where they have been prepping themselves for this day coming.
So, Siobhan, I'm not sure if you know my background with lupa, but I started as a recovery coordinator and of course one of our big roles as a recovery coordinator was family support. We were what we have now we split out the roles as family advocates, but we were family advocates back then and I remember it was the most honorable and difficult at the same time roles that I have played in lupa since I've been here for 20 years. And it was like, you know, you mentioned sudden tragic, some are very expected in the families that I was able to help support, they were all tragic and sudden. And I remember it was all the things, you know, we try to teach some of the tools to help support families as well as they can possibly be supported in that time frame and that space.
And I was at least able to pick up on non-verbals, you know, on some of the soft skills that, you know, visual and tone and things, I guess, you know, sitting there face to face body language and things. I'm curious, you know, as to the differences with you guys, what, so what do you focus on or what are some of the things that you try to do to help support families in this difficult time of theirs? Yeah, like when you can't see them, right? You know, touch them.
It does make a difference because, you know, a lot of times you can, if you're when you're in person and speaking to families, it's very different than reaching out to someone over the phone, someone that you can't give that hug to or actually lay your eyes to see, you know, what type of grief or to see them grieving, should I say. So basically you're listening and you're trying to see if there's anger. A lot of times it's just kind of silence. There is, there are sometimes that it's a lot of tears and the kind of gasping for air and can't breathe and it's always at your heart.
Like, I know it's always at mine. This year has been one of those years and also last year. We've had quite a few, you know, kids that have passed away and those are always the ones that I think personally, for me and some of my coworkers, that are those that you have to just kind of like get up and walk away from the desk and kind of catch your breath because sometimes some of these, you know, families have no support, you know, they have no one around them. So you ask them, is there someone that I can call to sit with you and it's so painful to hear some of these families saying, I don't have anyone.
Yeah. But then how blessed are they to have someone like you at that moment? Yeah. So, you know, whenever they think about it, you know, when some time has passed that they say I was a blessing to them because even though sometimes I get those nose and declines and you know, it's just more or less because I can't do this now or I can't even think about this now.
I hope whenever they, you know, a few days go by, they say at least she was nice enough to say do you have other kids and cannot send you some information because that's one of the things that always try to ask, especially those families that, you know, are younger, that might be a kid to throw at some, you know, ma'am, sir, do you have other kids or they will someone with a grandparent, you know, was their grandchildren? Are they, you know, Sesame Street type age? Because I have, you know, lots of resources, you know, we have a Sesame Street program because, you know, death is not something that we know how to explain, you know, and how to have those conversations. Yeah.
I know from, you know, the African-American standpoint, it's almost like a taboo. It's just something that is not discussed. Why? I honestly don't really know.
I know coming from when I was much in my younger years, my mom's out of the family, they had a lot of in-home weight services and pretty much almost even the funeral service to where everything was done in-home. I don't know if it was a financial thing. I don't know if it was just like a belief thing on that side of the family, but literally to go into my, like, great-in and great uncles home and to see them like laying there in a coffin. And I can remember asking my mom, like, why are they here and not in a church?
And it was always like, should be quiet. Don't ask no questions. Like, I'll explain it to you later. And also, I guess that kind of goes into that taboo thing because I can remember going into getting my permit for driving and getting that question like, would you like to sign up to be an organ donor?
And my mom was like, when they actually that like, say no. And I remember looking at my mom saying, like, why would you say no? Like, if it could help someone? And she was like, oh, she was like, they were always told, if you put that part on your license and something happens to you, they will not work as hard to save your life because they just want to take something from you.
Oh, our big mess that we have to battle, huh? The big, big mess. And I think it goes in, you know, beyond the African-American ethnicity group. Because I know I've had those conversations with, you know, other races and they're like, I have heard that too.
And it's sad because it makes you wonder where was that miss, you know, how did that ever start? You know, and sadly, to stay there isn't enough, you know, sometimes I think there's a lack of education in that department. And so sadly, enough, those are conversations that don't get had. And so you can't correct it to say like, let me give you the correct information, you know, like not even before you get to that organ or tissue or eye donation standpoint, but just the overall like that's against, you know, a hospital cold or something, you know, like or even an EMT standpoint, like they have to, you know, do every life saving measure that they can, you know.
We know it's a myth, Shavon, but do you think maybe some of that comes from there's a lack of trust in that? Are we here? There's a lack of trust in the African-American community because of the inequity in healthcare? And yes, Lisa, there is, you know, lots of, you know, miscommunication are not, you know, correct thoughts, I guess to say, and I'll give you an example.
I remember years ago, whenever I was at my grandmother and grandfathers and I remember, you know, playing with sidewalk chalk and him underneath the garage with me telling me, you know, pop out of the field good. And I remember like, stopping and looking at him, because first of all, my grandfather was a man of, you know, very few words as far as ever talking about himself. Everything was about us. He was one of those people that would never even raise his voice at us.
And I remember stopping and looking at him and saying, well, why don't you go to the doctor? And him saying, oh, no, like, we don't go to the doctor. And I stopped and I said, well, did you tell which I call her Aunt Faye? She's my aunt slash godmother who's been a nurse for over 40 years.
And I was like, well, did you tell Aunt Faye? And he was like, oh, no. And he was like, and you can't tell her either. And I was so confused because basically he swore me the secrets and saying, you can't tell anyone what I told you.
And I remember him going a little bit further and saying, like, pop out doesn't have much longer. And I remember thinking after he passed away, like, if I would have said something. And so he was going out one morning to do his normal every morning chores and he was going to milk the cows and, you know, my dad found him, dad underneath the barn. And you know, years later, of course, now we know that, you know, he had a heart attack.
And I remember some years later, my grandmother being a very, very bad diabetic. It was always a struggle with her because she didn't have the trust with the doctors. And it was like, oh, they're just going to make up something or send me for these tests, like to give my insurance money or, you know, just these thoughts in their head of like, I'm going to misdiagnose me or tell me that I have this and it was to get more money out of me or just to keep doing tests to make me go back. And I just, you know, never understood it.
But once I actually got, you know, became employed in the healthcare, I heard it more and more, like, you know, time and time again. And especially from black families. And it was like, no, they just want to, you know, admit me and put me in the hospital for nothing and run all these tests and, you know, give my insurance money or charge my insurance and are the old fable that what you don't know won't hurt you. And if I'm sick, then I either make it or pull through or that's just when, you know, my time will be up.
And sadly, that's, it's always the black families that, you know, I hear it from, you know, from my own personal cousins and family members or also the families that, you know, we talked to go to the phone. Yeah, we focus on education year round and especially national multi-ethnic donor awareness month. We try to talk about just what you're describing there. What is your hope for this month that people learn or that they hear that they know?
I'm hoping that we can get, you know, more adequate and correct information out there and be able to get the answers to those questions that maybe years ago, like, you know, older, older, you know, families, family members that didn't have the education are we're just too scared to ask them or to talk, you know, maybe not with the, you know, the upcoming generations like, hey, like, you have a voice, you have what questions do you have, what concerns do you have, what myths have you heard that I can answer and put your mind at ease? You know, some of the same questions that I do ask, you know, whenever I do have those conversations over the phone and I know this year it's odd because I have had more multi-ethnic donors this year than, you know, which I have not been at LOCA, you know, but a couple of years, but this year I've had, you know, Vietnamese and I've had, you know, Hispanic and then, you know, of course, I've had African Americans, but I can remember my Vietnamese family earlier in the year and I remember speaking to the cousin, the first cousin to the young gentleman that I had and so I remember using the language line and calling and his aunt being, you know, just in tears and couldn't really understand her and he came to the line and he said, you know, he introduced himself and he said, I know why you're calling and so it kind of made me, you know, I guess, pause for the calls and I said, okay, I said, like, have you had a loved one that, you know, you've heard from LOCA before that you know, and he was like, yes, and so he proceeded to tell me that he lost a brother either last year, the year before and prior to his brother's passing, he had never heard of LOCA and so he said, even whenever he would, you know, go to the driver's license place, I thought we all do, whenever they act about the heart on the license, I couldn't remember exactly what he told me, but he said up until that personal, own personal family experience, he had never heard, they had never heard of LOCA and so he remembered how great care that, you know, we had taken care of his family, his brother and you know, all of the resources and you know, the family services, you know, constantly checking on them and, you know, it not hindering any way of them having like the funeral services that they needed and he was like, let me talk to my aunt and let me make her understand this is a good thing and the type of person that my cousin was and he was a giver and this is his way of continuing to give and so that was one of those times that, you know, how just like with advertising, they said like advertisement, like someone's good experience could be your best advertisement, but someone's bad experience could be your worst and so basically not to say he made my job so much easier but he did and it's because they had personal experience which was great so he was like, let me talk to her and I'm gonna call you back and so long story, and everything went well, we, you know, got people work done and you know, it was great. Also had, you know, a Hispanic family, same thing, like he knew it was on his wife's license, he had a, you know, a younger family member that was there that, along with the translator, but someone that was there with him in the home that, you know, could explain it, you know, the question is to him more in detail but he was like, that's who my wife was, she was a giver, she always wanted to help so this is another way that she's still helping, like, you know, her legacy was continuing on. I like that and we're seeing more news stories about it, we're seeing more on social media about donation and how people came to donation are to promote or they know somebody who's waiting.
I know you've worked in the donation work for a couple of years, I know you've been studying trends as part of our EDI group, kind of hearing and seeing the same myths repeated over and over are we still in that area where we're trying to educate, I know the biggest myth that I hear in the community is, I don't have a heart on my license, they won't try to save my life, is that some of the same thing that we're still seeing in 2022? Yes, sadly it is, it is still one of the biggest myths. I've heard the, oh, they didn't know what they were signing up for, you know, and I get this from younger families in my regards to their older loved ones, they're like, oh, they didn't know what they were doing and you know, so we have that conversation but yes, pretty much like that's the first thing and another one is, I always get the question which is, so I like, do you all pay for that? And it's like, do we pay for what, like for your loved ones, they help someone like, I would need and they're like, yeah, and so it's like, no, like, you know, this isn't something that you get paid for and they're like, oh, no, are they want to know like, will you help us out with, you know, funeral arrangements or, you know, any aspect to where, I guess it'll help them in a financial situation and, you know, like, I like to tell them, I do have, you know, information with, you know, low-cost, like funeral homes and, you know, different ones that, you know, could help you across the state, I could provide you with that information but basically long story short, that's what he comes down to.
And as from the, you know, as a member of the EDI with it, I'm being multi-ethnic donor awareness month, I actually have, I'm going to be speaking to a local here in the Lafayette area, Mr. Kenneth, and they call him Kenneth, Kenneth, keep him talking about you, he has a community talk hour, which I'll actually be on the radio with him on Sunday and just kind of getting some of that information out there and hopefully, you know, putting that myth more to rest. Helping people understand that it's not that something's being taken from their loved one, it's that their loved one is giving the gift. So we're not taking anything away from somebody, it's that that person's giving that gift.
That's also the other thing is, you know, they're always like, oh, I want my loved ones to go, go home. And sadly, I think that's more of a religious standpoint and I don't know how you get into that conversation as far as going away whole. I know we were always taught that whatever ailments, aches, pains that you had here, once you passed away and you're going on to heaven, you're going to be made whole again. So I don't know how you have that conversation with someone on that religious standpoint, because it's just almost like some people that might be colorblind or might not see the same blue, you know, there a few years ago, there was that dress, everyone was like, what color, what pattern did you see?
If you all remember what I'm talking about them, everybody had what color and just like, how do you change that? So I do know, Miss Cheryl, was supposed to be reaching out to, she said that she worked a few years ago or some years ago with a few doctors that were on this board, ethnic board regarding donation and she did want to try to reach out to them and so maybe like, you know, bring them on and for us to have a conversation, but also with some of the spiritual religious leaders that she deals with and to say, how can we answer those questions? Like, how can we reach out to them and say like, nothing in regards to donation will make your loved one any less whole, you know, by doing this? I know some people have used the examples of like, well, have you lost a tooth?
Have you had your appendix out? So yeah, so they, you know, you're going without those things and how does it compare? And again, like you said, I think you kind of entered your own question when you said, you know, you know, you believe that, you know, God's going to make you whole again, you know, your illness is going to be gone and so, you know, just kind of following that, trying to think and just to add, you know, of course, me being the Yarners in my previous life, we never stopped and looked to see if someone had a heart on their license when we were trying to save their lives, you know, I would get that even in the ER. And before I worked with Lope, I would get some questions about that and we're like, we don't care about that.
We need you insurance. Right. All right. Which is terrible.
But you know, that's, that's what, you know, we need to know what your medical history is, what you're in for, you know, and insurance or whatever. That's what they're looking for in the ER when they're looking at a license or taking anything like that. Nobody's ever looking at a license and saying, oh, man, he's got a heart on his license. The other pieces, you can't, you can't become an organ donor, especially if they've done nothing to try to save your life, because the only way you become an organ donor is if they've done everything to try to save their person's life.
And, you know, of course, we'll keep battling that, and trying to keep busting those myths. But certainly with you, especially going on to 95.5 and speaking to possibly my cousin Kenneth, you know, that's where it starts, you know, to be able to conversation. Yeah. And then you're so calm and collected and soothing and just to keep them talking and keep it a possibility.
We had a lady at a health fair and she was actually diverting people away from my table because she said that she heard they took, it was eyelashes eyebrow, like it was something messed up. And I said, well, that didn't happen. I don't even know, you know, where you're talking about it, but she was so passionate about it. But she didn't want to hear it in that moment, right?
And then later became one of our biggest supporters. She said, I just didn't know, and she was scared to talk about it or approach the subject. So it kind of sounds like the same evolution here when you're talking about this, but the fact that you can start the conversation and kind of keep that conversation going, keep possibilities open. I think that's a positive.
Oh, and that's that's even my goal and my mission away from work. Because I know I've actually been at like my primary care doctor, you know, every year from my checkup in labs and she's just a couple of years older than I am. And she's in the young's area. So it was always more of a conversation with Dr.
Strava. And she's like, oh, at that time, I was at women's and children. And she's like, are you still like women? And I'm like, no, like I work for Lopa now.
And so she stopped in her chair and she's like, Lopa, I said, you know, the Louisiana organ, she's like, no, wait, wait. And she's like, seriously, I was like, and I kind of stopped and I looked at her like, yes, she was like, do you know how many times I get questions from my patients on what do I know about organ donation? And she says, I look at them and she says, I tell them sadly, I don't know much. Like, my job is to try to help you, you know, be here as long as possible, not be after effect.
And so, you know, I do remember telling you know, Dr. Strava was like, I can give you the information, like we have community, you know, educators that, you know, have pamphlets, have, you know, the resources that, you know, if there's something that you would want to put here in your office or them to come and have that conversation. So maybe you know better, you know, or how to answer that question better next time you're approached. I said, like, please let me know.
Someone, she was like, really, she says, you know, that was the thing she didn't realize that, you know, there was, I guess like the, you know, the community events and, you know, the education, she was like, thanks for at least telling me that. She says, because now if I'm approached about it, she says, at least I can say like, hey, like, go to like their website, like they can provide you with more information or you can reach out to someone that might be able to answer those questions for you better than I can, because, you know, that's just not my area of expertise. So, and I think knowledge is key as it is with everything. So hopefully, right on Sunday, if there's some questions and some, some ends and some periods to those wrong, those wrong myths and long time myths, so where people actually stop and listen and maybe start having more of that conversation than it's a step in the right direction.
You know, I've said it before, a lot of times, I think with especially African American families, they kind of get that wall up in their really standoffish whenever they see someone of another ethnicity approaching them, especially in those times, like, you know, something has happened in their loved ones or on these ventilators and, you know, they see someone that doesn't look like them approaching and saying, can I have a conversation or can I speak to you? So automatically, that wall is up and in their mind, the first thing they want, they're thinking is like, are you coming to try to give me a deal? So, it's like, automatically, like, one flag is raised, the second wall is up and it's hard for them to not have that automatic, like, no, I don't want to talk to you, no, don't talk to me, you know, type of attitude. So, you know, it's like, hopefully, if we can get some information out there and start letting them know ahead of that, you know, like, hey, this is, and even with ours, you know, like, we are some of the top people that need, especially, you know, kidney transplants.
So, how do we get our numbers down, you know, on those wait lists, also on the heart transplant list, how do we help those numbers? And this is some of the ways that those numbers can start to decrease, you know, someone that looks like you, looks like me, that might have, you know, the same blood type as you or me, you know, if we can get more of them to start saying yes, then that way the numbers will start to go down. Shabam, we certainly appreciate you joining us here on the gift-of-life podcast, using your own experiences to help us, help others. We have talked about some of this in previous episodes of the gift-of-life.
We'd like to keep that conversation going. If you check out episode 140, episode 189, you'll get a real education on what it is that we're trying to do here at LOPA and across the country. Shabamam, you're on the front lines of that, and we certainly appreciate you joining us today. Thank you so much, and thanks for everything that y'all continue to do.
Here on the gift-of-life podcast, we take a moment for mental health. Yeah, this is a topic that I've thought about quite often. I'm very curious to hear what you have to see. When is it time to seek professional help?
Well, I wonder the same thing, so I did some research, and on the National Institute of Health website, there is actually some really good information. So, you know, people sometimes feel down and out, and they get a little depressed side, and so you wonder, like, is this just like a phase, or is this something I really need to address and maybe seek some professional help? So, what NIH says is, if you have mild symptoms that last for less than two weeks, maybe a little trouble sleeping, you're feeling down, but you're still able to get up and take care of yourself, parent your children if you have them, and you're still able to get up and go to school, do your school work, do your job, but you just are feeling down. The suggestion is, there's some self-care activities that you can do to help, and I know on, you know, previous episodes, we always talk about the same thing.
You know, people got to get up and move. You got to eat healthy, but it suggests engaging in social contact with people when you're feeling down, either virtually or in person, and try to get some adequate sleep. Now, if you're having trouble sleeping or you're sleeping too much, the goal there is to set a schedule for your sleep so that you're getting the same amount of sleep each night or trying to. Talk to a trusted friend or family member, and practice some meditation, relaxation, and mindfulness.
If these symptoms do not improve, or you seem to get worse despite these self-care things, then it's time to maybe seek a professional health care provider. So if your symptoms last two weeks or more with difficulty sleeping, you have appetite changes that, where you lose in weight or gain in weight, unintentional weight changes. You're struggling to get out of bed because of your mood. You start having trouble concentrating, like you lose track of your thoughts.
Or if you start losing interest in things that you normally enjoy. Maybe you normally enjoy watching a football game, or you normally enjoy cooking, or whatever you normally enjoy. If you start losing interest in that, and then if you begin to have trouble performing your daily activities, like, you know, you're not getting to work on time, you're getting laxed and you're working, you're falling back. And then especially if you're starting to have thoughts of death and self-harm, that is when you need to seek professional health.
And so people often wonder, well, where do I go? Well, I say you could start at the National Institute of Mental Health because they have a resource where you can go on there and Google and search to see providers in your area. The other thing you may need to look into is what your insurance covers and who your insurance, who's in your network, who's not. But if you are struggling, you can get on NIH, National Institute of Health, and they have a mental health part of that.
And you can research and find, you know, some professional health. And I've even seen more lately than not, people leave on social media, like, I just need help with this. Has anybody talked to somebody around here, especially for children, starting the school year? I've seen a lot more of that and lots of recommendations that run the gamut.
And so people, you know, I don't know if that's a great resource, but it's people in your own community. Yeah, I think it is because, you know, if you know somebody personally and they've used somebody, you know, that's a really good start. Now, I will say this, when choosing health care providers, your first provider, you have to click with your providers. And so you might, you know, you might not always click with the first person you seek help with.
And that's okay, because personalities need to kind of go together. But sometimes maybe you're lucky. And yes, certain mental health professionals specialize maybe like in eating disorders. And someone may specialize in families and some may specialize in trauma.
And so you can kind of, most of the time when they advertise their services, they'll put their specialties. And some just kind of do a little bit of everything. So there are ways to kind of go, but social media is good again. Because again, if you know somebody who's who's had particular success with a provider, then that's a great resource to go to, to seek them out.
Yeah, I've seen just a lot of moms asking for children. So we have this issue, we're looking for professional, how do you go on that road? And so it's parents helping parents. And so it's going to need to see the back and forth and let me hold your hand through this because we just went through that.
Exactly. And then it's reaching out, you're communicating with folks and yes, it seems to work out. You know, I just caution people when you Google something. That's why I say go to like, um, N.I.H.
I trusted the trusted sources because there's a lot of wonderful information out there, a lot of great help. But there's also some stuff that make me a little nervous. And so if you go to these reputable websites, they'll link you, they'll link you to other and your area, right, right, resources with the right information. And then I do want to mention just real quick, recently, it just came out within the last within the last month, I think a little less than that, there is a new suicide helpline.
So if you're in a crisis, all you have to dial is 988. There is a 1-800 number and that's on the NIH website as well. But all you have to dial is 988. It got a lot of traction, a lot of people talking, just the switch.
And it got a lot of people sharing, like I'm just sharing this. Right, I saw a ton of it on Facebook and social media. And so that's a good thing. And another thing I discovered, another very good reputable website is the substance abuse and mental health services administration.
That's a mouthful. So we in the mental health profession, we say SAMSA, but most people don't know what SAMSA is, but it's a substance abuse and mental health services administration. And on that website, again, tons of very good helpful information about talking with children about death. I mean, just it's broken down and you can kind of research everything.
Again, they have resources about seeking help, professional help there. But I discovered when I was perusing through that, there is actually an office of behavioral health equity. I just want to throw that in there, that our government is making sure are working really hard to make sure that we have health equity in services that are under-resourced. And so again, that'll be all these links will be on our show notes, the Link to National Institute of Health, and then the SAMSA link so that if you're interested, you can go and get some more information there.
And then it'll take you on a journey. There you go. All good information. Thank you, Miss Lisa.
Maybe you have a topic you'd like us to cover here on the Get to Life. All you have to do is email us info at the get-to-life.org. And our question and answer segment. Laurie, this question is for you.
Came in from one of our listeners. Where can I find information about donation to share with my family? I love this. We've actually been getting lots of questions just like this as the kids go back to school because they have to do research projects or things like that.
Folks tied to donations, I'll always love it. So I'm going to put lopa.org slash donation out there first, since that is where we are housed. Lopa.org lots of information just about donation and general how to sign up to be a donor. And then we offer services here in Louisiana where you can invite us out to your place of business, to your church, to your Girl Scout meeting to anything basically to have those one-on-one conversations.
So we have our community educators, we have our clinical staff. We all team together to just help you have a better understanding about what donation is all about. And it's really no pressure. We just kind of answer your questions and we have that conversation.
We hope you take that information home. And we hope that we get folks saying yes to donation. You can also turn to Donate Life America. That's at donatelife.net.
Another good one that Lisa loves is organdonor.gov. So there's lots of sites out there that are trusted sites that you can turn to. And then each state has an organ procurement organization like Lopa that can help walk you through the process as well. So there's a wealth of information out there.
Our goal I think just across the country I'm safe in saying this is that we just want to help you learn about donation. And we hope that you see it in a positive light. And we hope that you take action and say yes to donation and you get your family talking about it. So that's the goal.
Lots of sites but Lopa.org is our one-stop shop. And you can listen to the gifted life podcast to get a whole lot of information about donations. Lisa earned extra points. Can you forget about the gift of life?
So that was a great question. And so if you have any questions, please give us a call at 504-648-3477. And we'd be happy to answer them. In every episode of the gifted life, we honor a hero.
Today's hero is Lyndon Gray. And we learn about Lyndon from his family. Lyndon was an amazing angel here on this earth. He was such a loving and giving little boy.
He always held others and put others first and his legacy continued even in his untimely death. We only had him for 12 years but they were truly 12 years of blessings. It was such an honor and a privilege to love this precious little boy. And so now we will pause and say thank you to Lyndon for the gift of life.
And that's going to do it for episode 194 of the gifted life. Thanks for listening, guys. Yeah and thanks goes out to our own Shavon Trahome for coming on and talking a little bit about what she does and especially for everything she does with those families and throughout her community and spreading all the education. As you mentioned, the power of one, she is it.
Yeah, I enjoyed that conversation. Thank you for listening, guys. Remember you can register anytime as an organ eye and tissue donor at registerme.org. The best place to find us and please spread the word is our website, the gifted life.
That'll work. And you can listen to us here and find links to listen on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to podcasts. On social media, you can like our page on Facebook where the gifted life podcast on Twitter and Instagram at giftedlifepod. Our ask is that you go out and do something you wouldn't normally do to help us make life happen.
Until next time. This is a production of the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency or LOPA. The gifted life is hosted by Lori Steele, Joey Buudro and Nala Schwab. Our executive producer is Kirsten Heinz.
Producer is Shalom Caraway. Intern is Rebecca Renam and we are recorded, engineered and mixed in our Covington, Louisiana studio by Troy Perez.