Hello and welcome to the gifted like podcast where we have conversations about organ tissue and ideonation. I'm Roy Ciel. I'm Joey Boudreau. I'm Sally Gentry.
Happy New Year! Oh, we need to practice that joke! Bye bye! How is everyone?
Good? New road ahead guys all for 2019 hard to believe right? Well on this episode we're starting out with something important everyone should know controlling your own medical decisions. How do you do that right?
Today we're talking about legal paperwork specifically living wills and what you need to know. We hear a lot about that and we're gonna get you ready for the new year. We're talking about how to gain a new perspective. I think Joey needs that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah! New framework, rose-colored glasses, Joe. There you go. In 2019, fools!
Be the head guys. Our hope, our new year's resolution. We want you to spread that word back into this resolution. Do you know how you can only keep them for just a couple of weeks and then somehow they go by the wayside?
Well, I was gonna have people to share the gifted life. I want to get real deep. You'll get that. Oh, all righty man.
I'll take that back. There you go. So this is just one time you can get a gun time. We want people to spread the word about this because we are trying to make life happen together as a team.
You're part of that team. Guys, you know we're easy to find. We want you to find this rate of subscribe. You can find this on Apple Podcast, Google Play, or whatever your favorite podcast that might be.
Yeah, on social media, RealBig and 2018, we anticipate it being real big in 2019 making some significant changes. So on Facebook, the gifted life podcast, Twitter and Instagram at GiftedLifePod. We try to be as easy as possible to find. We just want you to team with us to go out and make life happen.
You guys ready to get to this first podcast of the new year? You sure are? I need some like energy. Joey, listen, I was watching a commercial on TV.
Easy peasy. Easy peasy. That's so weird. And this lady says this and I said that's Joey.
That's Joey. Easy peasy. He said that back in 2018. It just kind of stuck.
Now he's easy peasy joke there. Let's to come here on the GiftedLife podcast guys. Hang on to your hats. Here we go.
Here on the GiftedLife podcast. We are pleased to be talking to one of our long time friends. Mr. Paul Rabelle.
How are you? I am great, Lori. I'm happy to be on the podcast. We're all cheering.
Hello. Thank you. So, I day Paul is an estate planning attorney. By night he is just a good human.
Oh, so good. So a couple of years ago, let me tell you how we met. I was invited to a meeting because this attorney kept getting this question about donation when it came to estate planning. And so being the good attorney that he was, he wanted to reach out to the Oregon Procurement Agency and say, I'm getting these questions.
How can I help? Right? Which we love hearing that. Right?
How can I help? And so since that day we have partnered with Paul to spread awareness, to increase the donor registry. Our big event is called the Rabelle Run for Life where we host folks from across the Baton Rouge area. We gather, we honor our heroes, we celebrate life.
It's just amazing. And what is more amazing is that Paul has no direct tie to donation. He's just, like I said, a good human. So did I sum that up?
Right, Paul? Yeah, it's just been a great little run here for the last eight or nine years and really didn't appreciate Oregon donation and the effect that it had until I started inquiring with LOPA and was able to tour the facilities, meet families that were affected either as an organ donor or as an organ recipient family and see the impact that Oregon donation had on so many, many people and family members and friends of loved ones. And so really, and you say I've had no direct impact, but I feel like now I have as a result of being around LOPA and it's a event and it's donor and recipient families. I feel that there's a real connection there and it's really been a pleasure working with LOPA.
That's a great job. You're for every part of our family. You know that now, right? You can see that.
We're out of these events. You're one of us, Paul. We love it. Has contributed financially to help us be out more in the community spreading the word.
And that's kind of why we called you here, Paul, because we do get lots of questions about medical decisions at the end of life. We have folks saying, well, I'll just put donation in my living will or I'll just put it in my will and we try to stress those conversations between family members. But that's kind of what you were getting when you turned to us. Those same tight questions.
Where does the organ donation conversation go when you're talking about end of life? So tell us a little bit about what you do and then teach us. Yeah. And that's how it all started many years ago is when I'd be sitting across the table from a couple, you know, maybe they were in their 50s or 60s or 70s and they were realizing that, you know, at some point, they needed to address these end of life issues.
And so as an estate planning attorney, we always talk about people's wills and what kind of, you know, financial legacy they're going to leave. But then many would volunteer information to me and say something like, well, I also want to make sure I'm an organ donation. Can we put that in my will? And so I got that question asked many, many times.
And so quickly learned that it's getting the legal affairs straight and we'll talk about living wills and wills and those things in a moment. Some of the terminology is really a different act than organ donation. So in a minute, I'm sure we'll have Laurie, you or others can talk about the specific website and how logistically one plans for organ donation. But it's something that never, never should go in something like someone's last will and tested it because quite frankly, sometimes wills aren't even reviewed or looked at until days or weeks after someone passes away.
So while it's nice to see in a wheel that someone wanted organ donation, that's not the place to put it. It's always through the website or the Office of Motor Vehicles. And then I know we'll talk here in a minute and focus on the living will aspect as well, which is that life support machines declaration. You mentioned that, you know, the will is not a great place to put it.
I can tell you firsthand, we don't know that it exists. We don't know if there's, oftentimes we find out about living wills sometimes, kind of in the moment. And certainly we don't know if there's any wills or other documents that would state that they'd want to be a donor. So what we do, which is obviously from a time standpoint, you mentioned time is of the essence.
We can easily access the state registry or the national registry. So that's where, of course, people are supposed to register for organ donation. So I'm glad you kind of set that straight. I was learning from Paul and we'll tell him exactly where to go.
But he has a podcast, a YouTube channel. So I have been learning about all these legal terms and what they mean and why we need them. But you said basically every person has a fundamental right to make or control their own medical decisions, including the right to authorize withdrawal of life sustaining procedures. And so having said that, here's this legal paperwork that also has more legalese in it, but you made it easy enough for me to understand.
Can you walk our listeners through that living will document? So once the documents there, then who decides? I thought that was interesting as well. Yeah.
So all the end of life decisions are organ donation related oftentimes. So people come into our office all the time and they'll have these feelings about what they want. And some are, I don't want to be kept on life support. If there's no chance of recovery, I don't want my finances to be drained.
I may have organs that people may be able to benefit from. If there's no possibility of any quality of life, some people say, I don't want my surviving family members, my spouse, my children to be put in a position where they have to make a decision to withdraw life support machines and make that end of life decision. So many years ago, you know, legislatures across the country all realized that it's the patient that has the right to make their own medical decisions. So they created living will laws and just some lingo because some people say living will, will, living trust, and everybody gets those terms mixed up.
So really what we're focusing on now is what is commonly referred to as a living will or otherwise, you know, in layman's terms, just your statement regarding the withholding or withdrawal of life sustaining procedures. So a patient has the right to make the decision and many people don't want their family to have to make that one final decision. So the patient has the right to make it patient signs a living will, which typically says something like in most state legislatures created their own form. And most lawyers use something very similar, or if not very similar to that form.
But it typically says something like if I'm ever in that because there's the concern like is, you know, someone will sit across the table from me and say, well, if I have a headache or they're gonna, you know, take it out and it doesn't apply like that. It says that if you're ever in a profound comatose state with no reasonable chance of recovery and two physicians, one of whom is your attending position, have certified in writing that you're in that vegetative state with no chance of recovery and the machines are serving only to artificially prolong the dying process. And then at that point, the document that you've signed typically authorizes or really directs the hospitals, the doctors to withdraw the life support machines, but provide you with enough medication to be comfortable. There are a couple of elections that everyone makes when they sign a living will.
Typically those elections will determine, you'll determine whether you would want nutrition and hydration, food and water, I these and feeding tubes withheld in addition to those machines. So that's the living will part. Paul, I have a question for you. Coming from a mental health perspective, you know, I'd like to believe that families do discuss this with their spouses, with their children, with those significant others.
Do you find that that happens? So when they're signing this paperwork that family members are aware, or do you find that sometimes they don't and family members go, I had no idea? Yeah, it's both. I mean, some families, some of our clients very open with their children and they have have many, many discussions about their wishes.
Other clients, other parents, they just don't communicate and don't have these conversations with their children or their loved ones. So it's all over the place. I say, okay. What I like learning from Paul's YouTube is that these are some very scary terms for me for others, life-sustaining procedures, terminal condition, attending physician, what do those mean?
So there's definitions so that you can know exactly what it is that you're talking about. The other thing that got my attention, Paul, was that if you do not have a living will, who makes these decisions for you? So then I started like, we need to get our affairs in order here, right? So can you walk us through that?
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, lots of times people tell me that their mother, their father passed away and maybe there was three or four children and there's no living will.
And so the hospitals are just kind of scrambling to try to get to all of the children and get the consent from all of them. And it seems like always there's maybe one or two who just can't make that decision. They don't want to let go. And so many children have told me, boy, when my since my father had a living will, it made our job so much easier.
We knew what we wanted or we knew what he wanted and it made the process easier. So, you know, how that fits in with organ donation. I mean, I don't know, but I think many people tell me one of the reasons they want to have a living will. Yes, they want to make things easier on their survivors.
No, they don't want to be a drain financially from being artificially prolonged for many days, months or years. But another reason they tell me is that they do want to help others. You know, they're like, if I have no chance of any quality of life and if my organs can be used to help others, that's one other reason why I think a living will would be appropriate. So, it's not something that everybody says, but many of them are thinking about it and some actually express it to me that that's part of their wishes.
So, it's just that combination of getting everything in order, that planning ahead really can benefit not only your own family, but an organ donation, it can affect so many other lives as well. So, Paul, I've been recently involved in wills and I know that we had to have it notarized and everything. What's the process as far as a living will from a notary standpoint? I'm pretty sure that they structured the laws this way to make it easier for people to sign living wills than it is to go through the pandemic.
So, it's just that they're not going to have to go through the formal process of wills and powers of attorney where most legal documents when you're getting your legal affairs in order, they have to be, you know, they're typically prepared by a lawyer. They're notarized by the lawyer or a notary. They're witnessed by two other people. So, there's that notary requirement, but with a living will, there is no notary requirement.
They just have to be witnessed by two people who are not family members. So, they make it easier for people who perhaps at the last minute or people who, at the last minute or not, people who just want to get that done. So, there's a sample form that our state has created and I think most states have sample forms. So, they've made it easy by eliminating the notary requirement which is required of all the other states.
Is that easy to find? Is that just a simple search or do you have to go to the archives? Oh, I, you know, these days, almost anything you want to find, you know, you can go through Google and I bet there's, I could have looked in advance, but I would say in general, it's pretty easy to find. Yeah.
And so, if someone comes to you and they're talking about, you know, they're a state planning and they talk about donation, is it just a conversation you have with them about, I have been working with LOPA, you can register at the OMB, it's important to have those conversations. Is that kind of the trend that you have started over the last couple of years? Yeah, certainly, you know, it wasn't as much in the early years and doing this for roughly 25 years or so now. So, ever since I've seen the, you know, the impact that Oregon donation has had on the positive impact on so many families, it's an unavoidable conversation.
I'm going to have it with everybody, at least give them that option. And that's what I learned from Lori and from LOPA early on. It's, we just want to increase Oregon donation awareness. And so, I just, you know, want to continue that process of making people aware that they have that option.
And if they want to exercise it, great, we'll help them do it. If they don't want to exercise it, that's okay too. So, that is all now part of our kind of comprehensive discussion that we have with people who want to make sure that, you know, their affairs are in order. Well, Paul, I've been to the Rabbi Le Ron and I've seen you interacting with our donor families.
They all seem to be very, very pleased that you were involved in this and helping spread the news about donation. So, we just want to thank you for that too. Just a good guy. I like what.
Thank you for all that you do and, you know, looking forward to assisting in any way I can to continue to spread the message. Awesome. Let's tell people where they can find your podcast, YouTube. Like, where do you want them to go to hear more about what Paul has?
I guess it would start through the website. They can access all of that stuff. The website is Ravelay, R-A-B-A-L-A-I-S. It's Ravelay, S-A-A-S-A-Planning.com.
And then if you're on YouTube, our YouTube channel, Ravelay is State Planning Podcast can be accessed through the website. So, I would say it starts with the website. We also have a book and I devoted a chapter to living wills and Oregon donation is referenced in my book. And it's called a State Planning in Louisiana.
It's available on Amazon.com as either a hard book or any book. So, those are good places to start. Alright, Paul, Ravelay, one person making a difference. We appreciate you.
Thank you so much. Alright, thank you all too. Always learning here on the Get to Life podcast, especially in this new year. I guess what we're not doing in this new year.
Jones L. What? I'm assuming no resolution. No resolution.
No resolution. No reaction. It's all about fresh new perspectives right now. Absolutely.
Joey, there you go. He's your favorite now. Well, what can I say? You know, we just kind of bonded at that moment.
Okay, I'll admit it. Sometimes I just want to give up. Now, I'm thinking a lot of people feel bad at times. Okay?
I want your wagon. Yeah, I know. Because you know what? Sometimes no matter what you're able to do, your field of expertise, sometimes it just seems like you're running the problems that are just really insurmountable and you want to go, oh geez, that's enough.
So, maybe the thing is this. You realize I got to change something up here because this just isn't work. So, I found seven tips to help you kind of gain a new perspective. Okay.
So, those I'm going to share with you right now. Okay. Okay. I'm ready.
Okay. So, you know, number one is don't be afraid to ask for help. I don't know about you all, but there's many times that I think I can do this myself because if I don't, it's going to look like I don't know how to do my job or people think I don't know what I'm doing. But you know what?
When you ask somebody, what do you think about this? I just seem to be stuck. I can't move forward. And then somebody will say something and go, oh my gosh, I hadn't thought about that before.
So, it never hurts to ask for someone to get back. I kind of get mad, I'm like, just easier if I do it myself. Yeah, then I get overwhelmed. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And sometimes, you know, you just need to walk away from whatever it is. And, you know, I have found too that a lot of times my thing is the animals in my life and Joey, that's a shout out for you. And also I love doing yard work. And I found out that now needless to say this time of year, maybe that's why I'm trying to step myself because this time of the year you can't really get out and do your work and all that.
But I have found that sometimes I'm doing that. You know, you put it on the back burner, the subconscious is still working on it, but it's not pushing yourself and you go, I got it. I know what I need to do to make this better. Now, you also sometimes just need to start over.
Because you know, when I'm thinking, this is the best idea that I've ever had, and then you go, oops. Yeah, I never happened to me. You're talking about it. It's the old time.
And sometimes you think, you know, I have wasted a lot of time and energy on just knowing this will work. Well, no, it doesn't. You just need to scrap it. And that doesn't mean that you're not any less of an individual, which sometimes people kind of get that in their head through that self talk.
But it's really just sometimes just throw it out, start over, and you might find it really works better for you. And then you can overhaul your routine. You know, you might change things up the way, you know, doing critical thinking or let your life. And then you can't do critical thinking or let your imagination just run.
You know, because a lot of times you get into a routine. This is the way it is. This is the way it's supposed to be or it should be. And then you realize, maybe I just need to kick that regular routine and go with something else.
Challenge yourself. That's it. That's it. And then, you know, broaden your horizons, kind of look at the problem from all sorts of angles.
And even going back to that asks someone else, what else do you see here that I'm missing out on? That can help you do that. And then break out of your two-dimensional way of looking at your life at the problem. Can't do it.
It's an issue of stuff. Because I'm sure that you find out that if you just look at it in one or two ways, it just doesn't work that well. But, you know, sometimes you just need to get a 4D perspective, if you will. It gives you a lot better insight into what needs to be done.
And then finally, maybe ask somebody else to step up and say, could you take the lead on this for a little bit? You know, I do ask my immediate supervisor, Kirsten. Hello, Kirsten. Hey, Kirsten's out in the room now.
She is. Sometimes, you know what I thought was going to work and show that, you know, did you think about this or that? It kind of all wraps the whole thing back up into getting that feedback from outside sources that can kind of see and know where you're going. But realize that you've missed this one step somewhere along the way and it can help you.
So, my teams are good. Absolutely. So, there's just a little bit of feedback for you all about getting a new perspective for this year. I like it.
At the beginning of the year, I'm all pumped up because what can happen this year? Yes! Yes! So, we'll finally leave.
Maybe I won't get burned out as quickly. No. Bye February. Good for you.
Good. You good? You moving in the right? You taking notes?
I'm hoping I hope you have. I've got a fresh perspective just based on that. Sally's talk right there. I'm making your hands like, yes, I like, yep, yep.
I'm refreshing. Ready to go. We like that. Alright, more to go.
Here, on the get-to-light. And as we do in every episode, we like to honor a hero. In today's episode, we will be honoring Alan Pusagar. And this comes from his family.
My brother, at 28 years old, unfortunately lost a battle he had fought. The battle we often, eyed for fear of the stigma it brings. Depression, anxiety. My baby brother Alan was a hard worker who loved a fish and hunt.
Fishing was his happy place and he was very good at it. He was a skilled electrician and served many people at the 2016 flood, helping them to get back into their homes. He cared about his family first and no matter what, would be there at the first call. He lives on now in a spectacular way through the act of donation.
Four people were given new life. I prayed when we learned the gut-wrenching news that Alan wouldn't pull through that his organs find a home to someone in great need. And that they would love life and live a life that serves God and puts him first. My brother was a good man and I would love him forever and hope to one day meet the people who have been given a chance at life.
Thanks to my hero, my brother. And now we pause and say thank you to Alan for the gift of life. Today's question and answer segment. This is going to be directed to you.
Yes, Joey. So the question came in. If I don't have to renew my license for a while, how do I register to become a donor? Number one, I am so happy to hear that you're talking about this.
This is exciting to me because our goal is to increase the registry so that we can save more lives. So the fact that we're having these positive conversations makes me so excited in the new year. Yes, I love it, right? All right.
So there's a national registry that we talk about here on the gift of life podcast. So the national registry is registerme.org. So you go registerme.org and you can sign up there, right? Also, we talked about technology, right, especially in 2019.
So you have an Apple phone, there's an help app. So you can say, whoop. I'm an organ donor. Walgreens even joined in to help us.
You can put the term organ donor there. Yeah, I love what my friends say. Did you see this feature here? Yeah, it's cool, right?
I like it. And I'm glad that you saw it too. So that's amazing. Also, you can Google your states online registry.
So here in Louisiana, we push donate life LA.org donate life LA.org. We try to provide as much information as possible about when you sign up what that means, right? So we give you the facts. We tell you where you can go to sign up and then it's really just a quick, simple process.
So that's the gist of it. But you know, if you want more, reach out to us. I'm just glad we're having the conversation. That's how we save more lives.
And if you happen to have a question for us, we want to hear from you. Reach out to us. Your store can inspire others to give the gift of life. You can find us on social media, email us or even call and leave a voicemail.
That email is info at thegiftedlife.org. And most importantly, we do have that phone number 5046483477. One day she'll sing it. I will.
I love it. Your new episode of the gifted life is in the books, guys. Hard to believe. It's hard to believe.
It's hard to believe. It seemed like only yesterday when we started our first episode. And we are embarking on number 100 next. Oh my gosh.
It is hard to believe that we're here, but persistence? That's the word. Persistence pays off. There you go.
Not resolutions, but persistence. And we want to definitely thank Paul Rabbili in this episode for giving us such great information about living wills and all the things that go into making end of life decisions. And then someone not tied to donation coming in and doing so much to help us make life happen. We talk about one person making a difference on the podcast.
I mean, he is in that category. Thanks, Paul. Well, and thanks to him. It gives us a new perspective on life and what we should or need to do.
And remember to include donation in your plans. Include donation. I like that. And that's what we're going to leave you on.
We want you to go out and do something you would normally do to help us make life happen because you can and we appreciate you. Thanks for listening. This is a production of the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency or LOPA. The Get to Life is hosted by Lori Steele, Joey Buudro, and Sally Gentry.
Our executive producer is Kirsten Hines, producer Ishelon Caraway. And we are recorded, engineered, and mixed in our Covington, Louisiana studio by Troy Perez.