Hello and welcome to the gifted life podcast where we have conversations about organ tissue and eye donation on the resteal I'm Joey Boudreau, and we certainly appreciate you listening in to the gifted life podcast in 2016 We are looking so forward to all the different stories that we'll be hearing the family times that we'll be sharing with our donor families Our recipients and those waiting but what a year 2015 was and I'm so excited for what's to come right? Absolutely Yeah, especially with this podcast and this is one of the ways that we educate we promote donation and so we could use your help to get the word out And 22nd episode that's amazing that we've been on this long. Oh, there's 20 seconds and I was like, yeah, it's pretty incredible, right? Yeah, 22nd episode So that just shows you that the partners that we have the people that we work with it's a huge team effort Not only here in the state but across the nation as well to make life happen So we are proud certainly to be a part of it and we want you to be a part of it as well You can do that by spreading the word about this podcast spread the word Laurie You can listen to us pick us up on iTunes or Google Play or any of your favorite podcast apps Yeah, a lot of what we talk about we put on our social media sites That's the one way that we connect with the public so donate life Louisiana is our Facebook page Twitter and Instagram pages as well We're at donate life LA so do what you can help us make a difference where you are We always encourage you to give feedback most of you do that at info at lopa.org now Joe We have a new phone number for you to communicate with us better.
That's right that number Laurie is 504 648-3477 that is 504-648-3477 so we'd love your feedback questions comments You may even be featured on a podcast do it today coming up today There's an effort by a filmmaker. It's a call to action film to help with donation and it's incredible and you can be a part And then we'll have of course our family support segment and which will have a three part series We're gonna be starting a three part series about a topic that Sally knows a lot about yes get ready to learn We'll also honor a hero as we do in every podcast. We'll take your questions and answers and so much more here on the gifted life Joey on excited yep in our community segment we are talking about a movie tied to donation It's called the wish story of hope faith in generosity and this is really having an impact on donation Which is amazing and we have quite the guy to talk to you about this project. Yeah, we do Laurie We've got mr.
Thai man. He was a major in the US Army. He was an infantry officer and then he turned filmmaker from that Just like everybody's I'm gonna seem like a normal progression. I guess how's it going time?
Can you tell me what got you into filmmaking? The creators started the world when I was a young boy in my daddy comic books Conan, barbarian Yeah, and I will read them and then I will read them yes So I've been creating from the time I can remember and as I progressed through even how still try to learn how to write Movie scripts and she was meeting one down an airplane with an HBO exact It's trying to turn that corner for me took me on his wing and started mentoring in Man and what I love is that not only are you making your own movies, but you're making a difference as well So we know that donate life America partnered with the independent film production company creative media entertainment and Some of these call to action films were being created So that's to entertain to educate and to inspire and so we love that you kind of tackled Donation and tablet with such passion so tell us about that Church for a long time in that ministry and Work with some of the local we just started talking we reach more people times are changing knocking on doors It's becoming more difficult to call get most of the information So we started talking about how can we do something and I just happened to one day throw out the idea to one of the local Georgia Representative here Well, why don't we look at maybe a short something like that that we necessary We can just send it to a little link to make it watch and the message will be there to call for action with these and I love it We always talk about different people from different walks of life with different talents coming together to make life happen And this is one of those stories, so let's talk about the wish we know a high school teacher needing a kidney transplant But can you give us a little bit more? Can't wait to watch it but as I understand the uplift channel on direct TV is picking it up is that right? Yes, but we're The kingdom would be based on best boy and they have represented there Absolutely Spires about that.
There's a lot of get this inspiration think of the difference you're gonna be able to make which is incredible So if you go right now if you google the wish donate life America You can see a trailer there, which is a tease and ties not telling us what's happening So we're gonna have to watch that uplift TV channel on direct TV, but I can tell in that trailer that husband lives that life That's good. I need to see more so time. We appreciate what you're doing. We appreciate your call to action films.
Keep it up Thank you Alright everybody watch for the wish a story of hope faith and generosity coming in the new year 2016 We have reached our family support segment and we do let you know that one of our roles in the family services department is Assisting families after a loved one dies and becomes a donor part of that has been acquiring knowledge about a variety of topics over the years to Assist our families and in this episode. We're beginning a three-part series on suicide Oftentimes we're called to support families of tragic and sudden brain injuries and generally speaking suicide victims suffer a brain injury of some sort Whether it's an anoxic injury or whether it's a traumatic injury and Sally has been a longtime Volunteer of a suicide crisis center where she has supported some of the survivors or family members of suicide And she's here today to talk about warning signs causes and misconceptions surrounding suicide. Hey Sally. Hi Joey.
Hi Laurie How are you doing? Thanks for coming on. Well, thank you for having me again I'd like to start by just saying that many times individuals find themselves in a very serious life Problems that they don't know how to get out of and for some people the hopelessness the helplessness is so overwhelming Along with intense depression that suicide for them is the only way they can see out But it should also be noted that some people who died by suicide will not show any type of warning signs at all But approximately 75% of the people who died by suicide do exhibit some warnings and I'd like to talk about those just briefly Many times you'll hear a friend or perhaps someone's child say I just wish I hadn't been born I'd be better off dead Well, that sometimes may not mean anything except for I managed you mom and Ted But then again, it might mean a whole lot more and it's something to pay attention to you hear a lot more about this on social media So now it's more than forefront right yeah Um and many times people seek out lethal means and what that means is access to guns knives other similar objects And as you know, you know access to guns is a pretty easy thing to do people get preoccupied with death It's an unusual focus on death dying violence. They'll write poems stories about death There's also as I mentioned the feelings of helplessness hopelessness and being trapped where people decide there's no way out What can I do?
No one really cares many times. It's the causes that create this situation by the way It's not just one cause that creates that situation for a person You find people do express many times self-loathing or self-hatred. They'll talk down on themselves. They're extremely negative They just don't feel like they're worth anything, you know, they feel guilty They feel shameful they think people be better off without them and you've heard people say this I think before you know Everybody just be better off without me and also people that kind of make the decision This is the route that they choose to take well start giving away their prized possessions Make arrangements for family members that you know care out whatever it is They don't want to have anymore and by telling you all this these are things that I did here as a crisis counselor I want a crisis line that people would call in and you would hear all these different things and since our program was geared Specifically toward a high crisis situations We were trained to listen very carefully and was this something that we could hear in that person's voice that we knew that we really needed to do Some further outreach to them of course you get people that all of a sudden have been away from family and friends that they've withdrawn They're socially isolated and then next thing they're saying goodbye and calling their friends or their family and saying I just want to say I might not ever see you again All these sort of things that that as people begin to withdraw and make this decision and then you find for many individuals Once that decision has been made once they have made the chosen Lethal way out they become happier.
They're much more gregarious and people. Oh great. They're feeling better. They're no longer depressed Now the problem though with with depression or with any type of unrelated untreated excuse me mental illness is that Sometimes that's a lot harder to find than if you have a physical disability That's easy to see easy to identify and lots of times because of the stigma still to this day that people hide They don't want you to know that they do have a mental illness issue and you talk about you know the varying levels of depths of being withdrawn And then start reaching out it has to be pretty confusing to a family You have to you know understand people misunderstanding that right, you know as saying well, maybe everything's better now And I think too as family members look at some of the clauses that can be a death of a loved one somebody being divorced separated Any type of break out of a relationship I know that I've heard families speak of that before that someone has chosen to take their life because of someone they really cared about did not care about them Also, there could be a loss such as serious loss such as a job house money serious illness accident chronic physical pain All these sort of things low self-esteem loss of hope all come in and I think one of the big things maybe is the inability to deal with a perceived Failure and many times we look at negatives rather than we do positives and identify that more readily But then I'd like to move on to some of the common misconceptions about suicides that people who talk about it won't really do it And that's not the case people do talk about suicide because you know There always is that moment of thinking, you know, maybe somebody's gonna help me through this because I don't know what to do for me anymore So no matter how casual or jokingly it might be said it's always might want to take it serious, okay Also, any another false conception is anyone who tried to kill him or herself must be crazy and that is not true I hear that one more than any other right because they are not psychotic most are not psychotic They're not insane most though are upset grief-stricken depressed despairing and extreme distress emotional pain or not necessarily a sign of a mental illness either And also if a person is determined to kill him herself, nothing is going to stop them Well, that's not the case either because even the most depressed individual has mixed feelings about death and most suicidal people do not want death But they just want the pain to stop that's really what happens for them And then I think the last thing that I'd like to share is that talking about suicide may give someone the idea I've heard multiple people say that and that's not the case because if you start if you recognize and see some of these signs and individuals as a trusted friend or Relative please reach out and ask what can I do to help you and and just be there for that person and perhaps you can help make a difference in their life And so I guess for those who are listening and maybe they heard something familiar or saw something What should they do is there a number that we can call or some of the helpful numbers to call are 1-800-437-03-03-03 or 225-924-3900 That's a crisis intervention center.
There's a national hope line They do have chat online with crisis counselors their numbers 800-442-4673 and the last number I have is a national suicide prevention lifeline That numbers 800-273-8255 and we also have those numbers on our website for folks also Thanks, Sally and that website is www.lobah.org just click under our resources tab. That's a lot of information to learn We appreciate you sharing and remember this is just the beginning of this very important topic that we'll be discussing here on the podcast So in the next podcast we'll have more with Sally. We'll be talking about adapting But maybe she mentioned something that you would like to know a little bit more about remember You can always send us a question comment at info at lopa.org It is now time in the podcast to honor a hero. We do this in every podcast We think it's important remember lopa.org faces of donation and there you can see all of our heroes and you can read their stories see their faces Today we're focusing on Kelly Johnson when to tell you a little bit about him and this comes from the family He was a 53-year-old hero.
He was a man a few words yet. He touched the hearts of many He was a loving husband and best friend for 35 years. He gave life to two wonderful children He was a big raging Cajun fan tailgated at those you well games So he will be missed there his work ethic will live on in those that he knew he chose to give life when his was taken given Sight to someone who couldn't see and the family says this is pretty powerful Joey No one has ever prepared to let a loved one go But you gave us all strength to go on with the courage wisdom memories and a legacy that we will all cherish until we meet again At this point the podcast lets pause and say thank you to Kelly Johnson or the gift of life Question and answer time Joe. Hey, Lori.
Yes, so we brought in the big gun Sally on this one Yeah, we thought she was the best person for the job on this one The question is will my letter to my donor family have a negative impact Sal Every family member that I speak with that has received a letter from the recipient is absolutely thrilled They're so happy to know that the person is doing well They're happy to know more about their family their background And I have yet to have any family member find it distressful. It may be very emotional most family members find it very Consoling to hear from the recipient of their loved one and they look forward to receiving it Sometimes we have families that will ask us how soon can we write can we write to them first? They will we hear from them and on occasion? We've had a family that will say I'm not hurting thing from the recipients Why is that do they not want to talk to us?
And so we do have to talk sometimes about the healing process both physically and emotionally But it does not create a negative atmosphere for the family to write so we encourage recipients when they're ready to reach out Say thank you by card by note by letter whatever is most convenient for them and there you have it from the expert We also have tips to writing to that donor family on our website lowba.org. Maybe you have something more for Sally You want to learn more info at lowba.org Another episode of the gifted life has come to a close Joe We want to certainly give a special thanks to Thai man's an army major even tree major and then turn filmmaker It's so nice that he's become a call to action filmmaker And then he's chosen a topic that's so near and dear to our hearts and chosen the wish a film about organ donation and transplantation I can't wait to watch it's gonna be on direct TV on uplift channel. It should be coming soon the wish story of hope faith and Generosity alright, so we are into January. Do we still do resolutions?
What are you trying to do every once in a while? I try to work out more you don't do that okay better and Overall better person so always work Try that you can try and that's an alien effort maybe Okay, we'll go with that but hey, I wanted to say to your resolution list if you could add Promoting donation more do one more thing that you hadn't done. I agree tell spread the word. Let's do that Let's do it.
That's one resolution you could stick with yeah And it can be a simple assuring this podcast or sharing something that you see posted on our Facebook page or on Twitter or Instagram Go out and do something today that you don't normally do to help make life happen and thanks for listening here on the gift of life