Hello and welcome to the Get to Life podcast where we have conversations about organ tissue and eye donation and transplantation. You can always find us guys at thegiftedlife.org. I'm Maurice Steele. I'm Joey Boudreau.
And Nyla Schwab. Coming up today on The Get to Life. Louisiana's lieutenant governor will be with us to talk about donation and more. And we'll also be talking about storytelling.
It's a powerful way to help heal, connect and inspire. Oh, I love it. All that and more right here, The Get to Life. Hang on to your hats.
Here on The Get to Life podcast, we are so pleased to have with us the lieutenant governor of Louisiana, Billy Nungesser. Good morning, sir. Good morning. We are so grateful that you're joining us here on The Get to Life podcast.
We actually talked a little bit about you on episode 181. And we heard about this connection because you were at the Rose Parade out in California and you met a Louisiana family who was honoring their hero and they just had such great things to say about our lieutenant governor. Tell us what happened that day. Well, I walked over to look at all the floats and to see those pictures and then to meet the people and see the connection.
It just touched me to see one, the impact it makes on those families that, or loved ones that gave their organs. And then those people there that are alive today because of that generous gift and to make the connection with those families, it impacted my whole trip. And I just saw so much love and life surrounding that float. And what a great way to bring attention.
I was just, it really touched me and excited to be with you and to get more involved. And if everybody could see the impact it has and the difference it makes in saving lives, I think we can get more people involved in this. How wonderful. They actually called us from California and they said, you know, he's a politician.
He's out there, but he took all this time to talk to us, to listen to our story. And he cared so much that you actually registered lieutenant governor. Is that right to be a donor? Absolutely.
I did. And I've gotten about 15 other people since then. And look, I like to say I'm a public servant. Me and my wife wrote out Katrina and rescued 34 people.
I had a writing center for special needs children. I was retired. And when I didn't see any politicians come to help, I got angry and ran for Paris president and after the oil spill, I saw them doing things that they shouldn't have been doing and got angry and ran for lieutenant governor. So I like to think that I love helping people.
And this position gives me a real opportunity to do exactly what I'm going to do with your organization and that promote all the good things you do and how great this is. So that's what makes my job specialist to have the platform to do exactly what we're doing today. Oh, I love it. And we've witnessed your your eyes to fame and all the good that you're able to do with it.
And that's what led you to the Rose Parade. You were talking about Louisiana on a huge scale, feed your soul. Like so many people got to see the best parts of Louisiana because you filled that float with some of our best healthcare workers, pageant queens, like the best of the best that we have. Doctors.
Yeah, I tell you, we went out there and we had a float in the Macy's parade in New York and said, let's try and get a float in knowing that we're competing with every state and my main job is tourism. And when the young lady asked me, who's going to ride on the float? Are you going to ride with us? And I thought for a minute, I saw her pinets that dream believe achieve.
And I said, no, I think what we'll do is we'll put a first responder, a police officer, a school teacher of the year, a volunteer of the year, Miss Louisiana, all the good that Louisiana represents will have represented in the parade if we're lucky enough to get a a float in. The only other question she asked was, is every one of Louisiana have that much passion? I said, yes, ma'am, everybody does. Yes, yes, we do.
And what a great idea you had to put so many to include so many wonderful people from the state of Louisiana from all walks of life. I'm wondering, you know, for when you first heard that there were 2000 people that are waiting on a life-saving organ, like how did that make you feel to know that so many people with so many wonderful people who are giving so many people still need to get the life? I was shocked. You know, with all the problems in the world today, it's something that could be addressed if we could just get more people to understand just not in that license, just getting involved, talking to friends and family, that list could be dwindled down.
And when I heard that, I came back to Louisiana on a mission to get involved, to help, to promote. And I talked to people about it every time and look forward to working with y'all to make sure we can one day have this conversation and not have a list of people waiting. I think it just ties in. Obviously, we follow you on social media and when you're in the news and you talk about Louisiana strong, keeping Louisiana beautiful and all these wonderful aspects of Louisiana.
And we just think that ties so perfectly with donation. We take care of each other. You mentioned a storm earlier how you swooped in and helped others. We'll take care of each other.
That includes donation. Yeah, absolutely. Louisiana's helped our neighbors. And so if any state can make that list disappear and really help, I know we can do this.
We just got to get the word out. We've got to let people understand the impact seeing those people at the Roseville Parade, the impact it had on me, surely if people knew that these people were waiting, it would make a difference. I know that you've learned a little bit about donation. I know you got to talk to our wonderful families, our Louisiana families that were at the Rose Parade.
Was there anything new that you learned about donation that you didn't? I know you spent a lot of time with them and talked to them just about donation, why they were there and why they're so passionate about the cause? Well, on both sides, those people that have received those targets are so thankful for that chance of life. And then the people that had a family member that donated, you can see that it makes their loss a little easier.
It gives them something it's hard to describe, but it tears them eyes because to see the joy and knowing that they've made a difference with the loss of one of their love, it's just something you can't describe to people. And that's why I really believe I want to help y'all get involved in bringing those things together around Louisiana so we can let people see firsthand. I'd have never known the impact it has had on not going to the Roseville. And so I want to do everything I can back here in Louisiana to where more people can see the difference it makes in both families' loss.
To be able to see both sides of the coin, so to speak, is something that we try to even promote even within LOBA. So we work so often with the grieving families. And that side, and our staff sometimes has difficulty working through the grieving because we grieve too. We're grieving with the families.
We take those families with us. They're part of us for the journey from here on out. And what you were able to experience there is one of the more amazing pieces to have both sides of the coin, both those that have been gracious enough to give life to others. And at the same time, those who are so appreciative of that second chance that they're paying it forward constantly promoting donation and trying to help others.
And that's something we try to promote as much as we can as amazing as you got to witness that. Yeah, it was a really special impact. I came home and had a long talk with my wife and I've talked to several family members and several people about it actually took some pictures of the float, shared them with friends, and continue to make it a part of my mission. And look forward to hosting some events and participating in whatever I can do to help bring more where attention and using my position as Lieutenant Governor to really bring new attention and new light to the need.
Well, and your true to your word, we have our family, Leah Lopez and Pam Cart and they came home and they said we really feel like he's part of our family, but that we think that he's going to remember us like we're part of him now forever. And we know that there was an event that was hosted up in North Louisiana and Louisiana seafood was given to help with that event, to help promote donation and to help save more lives. And so on behalf of local, we just wanted to say thank you not only for spending time with our family, but for giving as well. Yeah, I'm over to seafood promotion board and instead of running ads, we buy we sent a seafood from local fishermen and help them out.
And then we donate that seafood to nonprofits. So we really it's a good cause. People always come for Louisiana seafood. It's a way we can thank people.
We feed the people along the coast suffer and still from the hurricane, but any kind of fundraiser or event that you all have seafood promotion board can surely help out and donate. And you know, being in the legislative session right now, I would be glad to host a breakfast at my apartment, which is right there, depending on barracks that we can invite all the legislators would be a great I just thought of that that we could educate them and ask them to help us. They surely come for the free breakfast. I did one for the other morning so they could understand the importance of these kids and special needs community.
And many of the legislators had no idea the missions that the our group does in helping these these special needs adults get jobs and everything. So this would be a great opportunity for us to enlighten the legislators. That is so amazing. We certainly appreciate you and your big thinking.
We just love that because the more people hear about donation, the more lives that can be saved. Another first for Louisiana while we have you the LA wallet, a legal digital wallet that's out there that can talk about vaccinations and now organ donation. So we have been promoting that as well. So you can register to be an organ, I and tissue donor on LA wallet, which is another win for Louisiana, right?
That is great. Yeah. So you don't have to wait to go in and renew your license. You can do it right there.
And I'm glad to know that I just learned that. So I'll be making sure I share that information as well. That's a great tool in our toolbox to get more people signed up. Yeah, I love all the connections.
And here on the gifted life podcast, we talk about one person making a difference. So we know that you're busy and you're pulled in a million directions. Everybody wants your attention and your assistance, but for you to give so much time to donation, to not only learn about it, talk to your wife about it, to help us spread the word. That's just a big win for so many people, not only Louisiana, but across the country.
I want to say thank you. Well, listen, I look forward to doing a lot more. Any of the events you host. I also mentioned it to some of my fellow lieutenant governors at the conference last week in Washington.
And just another idea, I should probably send something out to all of them. We communicated monthly on email and making them aware and asking them to get involved in their state so we can reach further than Louisiana. So any ideas you have that I can play a role in, I'm in a thousand percent. And I hope I can make more events that you'll host around the state and even host them for you.
If there's something you think I can do, whether it be that breakfast or to bring more attention or awareness, please call on me. That float, those people made such an impact on me that I think about it all the time. They want to do all I can to help make sure when I talk about 2000 people on a waiting list next time we talk. Yes.
And what you're describing about just telling your friends, telling your family, just telling people that you are connected with, that's what we're asking other people to do. We're hoping that people will follow your example because you do lead by example. And it didn't seem like it was a whole lot of effort. You learned about it, you were touched by it.
And then it's just a conversation. It doesn't seem like it was Forrester or anything that you had to go and learn more. It was just you heard a story, a personal fine, that seems to have connected with you. Yeah, absolutely.
I think the word of mouth and asking friends is always the easiest best way. They trust their family and friends. So those people that are willing to talk about it and spread it will greatly help us in our efforts. Can't thank you enough for not only taking the time with our families while they were away from Louisiana and California taking care of them, making them feel like they were at home and then coming back home and then doing something positive to save more lives and to make life happen.
Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser will continue to follow your feats and will continue to follow you on social media. And thank you for your time. Thank you. You all have a wonderful day.
Here on the gifted life, we take a moment for mental health. Yeah, Laurie, something I've come all too familiar with with having an 18 month old storytelling. I'm curious to see what Nana's got to say. Oh, yeah.
All right, Joey, I love stories and I love telling them to children. But this is really for all ages. And you know, something that Lopa does so beautiful is supporting our families and having them share their stories. I love that part.
Yeah, I too. Well, Laurie, you're good at that. So I love working with folks and I love how their story changes. Like this happened to me, but then all these other things also happened along my journey and it pushes that story forward.
It's just a beautiful woven blanket, you know, like I said that. And it really is. It's a way to connect not only ourselves, but communities and nations. It's connecting the dots in our own life.
So storytelling is very powerful. It's it's a human. It's just a human part of connection. So National Geographic says that they believe that storytelling was developed right after language was developed.
So that just shows us it's been around for a long time. You know, one thing that Harvard businesses stepped in and said that it's so powerful that now it's moving businesses along because it inspires, it teaches, it encourages, it builds all these things, right? So I'll tell you a quick story that one time we're going to go into storytelling as a, you know, upcoming therapist learning, you know, a provisional therapist. I'm learning that that I have to learn my own story and everybody says, go work on your story, go work on your story.
So I thought, OK, I'll go work on my story. And I thought, I know my story. And it's funny because I went to this therapist and I sat down and I said, well, I kind of know my story, but we're supposed to work on it. And she said, well, start telling me your story.
And I did. And I mean, before you know it, I was talking about some losses in my life. And I started having tears and this was years ago. And I said, what is that about?
And she said, Nyla, like you're carrying your story forward and you haven't figured out how to bring your mother forward. And that's where that healing part comes in. Because not only does it connect me to other people when I share my story, it teaches us to empathize. And so when I started telling her about my mother, I said, gosh, I hadn't talked about this in so long.
And she said, this is how it's powerful. Because, you know, I guess traditionally grief is about just stop, just, you know, deal with it, work within that year and move on. And so now we're learning in grief that it's not, it's, it's dealing with it. It's being patient with yourself.
And then it's moving forward. How do you bring that person along with you? And you know, we point, yeah, we all go through relationships in our life, that there are people that can enter our life that we don't want to bring forward in our lives, right? And that's kind of where we are.
Because I know that there's difficult challenges that we go into with losing people that we love. And so we have to figure out what in that relationship and how we're going to do that, moving that person forward with us. And we go back and we talk about it and we share about it. And that's really how the healing helps us to start understanding how I move my mother forward, how my children learn about my mother, how their children will learn about their mother, how she impacted me.
And so we have come across so many powerful stories with LOPA, going to our hero page. But you only get a snippet, you know, a paragraph, two paragraphs, and I love on this podcast how we get to continue that storytelling. So I'm hoping that people will go and learn not only their own story, but how to share that and to actually ask other people, like, Laurie, you and I have a connection. We've both lost our mother.
And so a really great way to get to know somebody when you say that there's a loss, because people kind of get weird when you talk about it. They don't know how to do it. They don't want to make you sad. I'm one of those people sometimes, yeah.
Yeah, but it's real and it's there. So a great way, a great tip would be, hey, Laurie, introduce me to your mother. Yeah, I like that. So, you know, give me a quick introduction.
She was the best. I'm trying to be the mom that she was to me. And I would love her to see my kiddos, but I think she gave them to me. I think she picked them out and sent them to me.
I really do, because they are healing my heart. Yeah. And see, and that goes back to you, Joey. You've got a new baby and that storytelling so it all connects us.
And that's what storytelling is all about. And there is something that's called narrative therapy. And narrative just means connecting the dots, basically, which is storytelling. And it's really wonderful because it is respectful.
It's non-blaining. And most of all, it says that the client is the expert of their story. That's right. Yeah, that's right.
I tell our volunteers and Joe, you may see this too, but we've got a donor family up there. And they're like, I don't know if I can do this. I can say this. And I said, there's nothing right or wrong, right?
Like, you know your story. And we're just trying to learn more about this person that you're telling us about. But when they get into it, when they start telling that story, it's like they embody this person. They light up.
They totally turn into something different because they shine. They sparkle. And they want to tell you about this story or that story. And I learned something new each time, even though I've heard the story, maybe multiple times if we're doing multiple classes in a day.
And that's my favorite part. Because they remember new things. And I think it helps the class to connect with them, especially since they allow them to ask questions. They want people to talk about their love.
And it's a beautiful thing. It is. And so yesterday I was fortunate enough to take part in two different flag-raising to celebrate donate life month at two different hospitals. And each of them had a different family member tell their story.
And you know, it's a beautiful event. But that's the centerpiece. And it's the one hearing these families talk about their loved ones and talk about what donation meant to them and talk about their loved ones, bringing their loved ones back to everyone else so that we can kind of know them, at least in some way, shape or form. And it's beautiful.
And then so oddly enough. So I was putting a presentation together for a bi-state lab. Basically, the professionals that work in the lab industry from Louisiana and Mississippi. And I'm presenting LOPA.
And I'm presenting donation to them. And I did my presentation. Finally finished it. And I said, there's one thing I'm missing.
And it was after hearing the stories yesterday. I said, I need a story. I need them to really feel what donation means, not just hear about it. That connection.
Yeah. Yeah. Because you know, Joey, you love data. Yeah, I do.
And how brain shuts down with data. It just clamps down. See this side of the table. Thank goodness you're the chief clinical editor.
I can step into their life with them. And it helps us when you hear a story. It gives us a timeline. So that helps us to remember that story.
And so in narrative therapy, there's a technique called re-membring. And it just means bringing that person with grief back into your life. And although they're not here with us physically, it's how can you bring them back in relationally. And that's what's so important about storytelling because it gives us this beautiful opportunity to bring people from the past into our life right now.
And we can draw from that strength, the strength from your mother, the strength from people in the past. And I would suggest that anybody who is interested in storytelling, pick up a children's book and read it with someone. Maybe you can look to your past, your history, and find out more. Ask your family about people in your life.
And figure out how you can bring them forward with you. And I hope that we have more recipients and more donor families who want to share their story because it's very healing, but it also connects us. And Louisiana is all about connection. And anybody can do it no matter what age.
I know that your child's probably already starting like the smaller stories like this would happen today. All those good things. All right. Great topic.
I want us to cover a topic here on the Get To Life. All you have to do is email us. You can do that at info at thegettolife.org. And our question and answer segment today.
After my organs and tissues are recovered, can I be cremated so that my wife can have my ashes? Joe? Yeah, actually we get this question quite often. Between can cremation take place?
Can it open casket? It can take place. Will it only be a closed casket? And the answer is it can be any of the above.
So the recovery process, the donation process doesn't interfere with any part of the burial process, whether it's any of the three that I spoke of that open casket cremation or closed casket. All right. Good question. That is a great question.
So if you have a question, please give us a call at 504-648-3477. We love your questions. In every episode of the Get To Life, we honor a hero. Today's hero is Ramsay Kate Baumgardner.
And we learn about Ramsay Kate from her family. She was a force to be reckoned with, her light shine too brightly for this earth. On January 13, 2022, she celebrated her long-awaited 18th birthday. And just 10 days later, on January 23, 2022, she was in a head on collision that ultimately took her life.
Ramsay had made her decision early in life to be an organ donor. At the hour of our family, letting go of her earthly body, there was no hesitation for the call to be made to LOPA. Our Ramsay Kate's final act of kindness was being an eye donor. We find hope and comfort in knowing that someone, somewhere, has those beautiful blue eyes.
And Ramsay was able to make a difference not only in life, but in her afterlife as well. And now we pause and say thank you to Ramsay for the gift of life. And that's going to do it for episode 186 of The Gifted Life. Thanks for listening, guys.
Remember, you can always register as an organ, eye, and tissue donor anytime. For me.org. Huge thanks to Billie Nungeser, our Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana. What a great ambassador for the state of Louisiana and donation.
So have it have him here on The Gifted Life. Yeah, thanks, Lieutenant Governor. The best place to find us, guys, is at our website. That's The Gifted Life.
Listen there and find links to listen on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you listen to Apple Podcast, please leave us at 5Star Rating. It really helps others find our podcast. And on social guides, you can like our page on Facebook.
It's called The Gifted Life Podcast. You can also follow us on both Twitter and Instagram at Gifted Life Pod. Thanks for listening. Remember to go out and do something you wouldn't normally do to help us make life happen for one big team.
Until next time. This is a production of the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency, or LOPA. The Gifted Life is hosted by Lori Steele and Joey Boudreau. Our executive producer is Kirsten Heins.
Producer is Shalom Caraway. Intern is Rebecca Rannam. And we are recorded, engineered, and mixed in our Covington, Louisiana Studio by Troy Perez.