Hello and welcome to the gifted like podcast where we have conversations about organ tissue and eye donation. I'm Lori Steele I'm Joey Boudreau, and I'm sadly gentry And we are so glad that you choose to tune in and you'll be glad you did so today lots happening on this episode We'll have the president and CEO of donate life America one of the things that we'll be talking about is a grand partnership with Oh, it's a great. Yes, and in recovery. We're gonna be talking to a recipient who is 30 years out and receiving his life saving you Wow amazing.
Oh, and in the family services support segment We're gonna be talking with Sharon Westbury. She is a child life program manager at our lady at the like hospital And she's gonna share some information about children and grief really good and what's to come in Louisiana You'll want to stay tuned as always will honor a hero and it was just so much here We want people to hear it and so we want you you right there. I'm talking to you We want you to help spread the word. I'm so sharing the podcast Spread the word listen to us on iTunes Google Play podcast or whatever your favorite app maybe yeah or simply press the button on social media So for Facebook a simple share could help us out so much.
We're donate life Louisiana Also on Twitter and Instagram at donate life la a lot of what you hear here on this podcast You'll see in pictures and stories on those social media outlets and then you know and and I really want to encourage you all To give us a call five zero four six four eight three four seven seven and the reason why I'm saying I'm encouraging you is that we want You to call in maybe wish someone well that's perhaps on the transplant waiting list Maybe they've already had a transplant or you just want to call and give it friendly shout out to someone that you care about We want to hear from you say hey, and yes, that is five zero four six four eight three four seven seven She knows about memory. She wasn't even looking at her right, but there's something about me That makes me smile when Sally just shout out. I just love it So get on that hotline recording and we may play your audio in this episode of the podcast We have one of those snippets to share with you, and it's so good so inspirational so get on board today Let's get started guys In our community segment today We are pleased to have the president CEO of donate life America David Fleming joining us for a huge announcement Apple and donate life America partnering for the first time ever what's happening Joey and Sally's iPhone users will be able to sign up To be an organized issue donor right from an app on their phone puts a smile on my face Oh my goodness Thank you David first of all for coming on to the gifted like podcast and I myself am an iPhone user have been for quite a while And I want to know actually to begin what steps do I need to take to be able to sign on the registry? Green is going to magically appear on your phone It's going to have pre-populated all of the information that you have entered that we need to register you as an organ I'm to shoot dinner and the national donate life registry at register me.org The only thing you're gonna have to add is last board your social security number you press register and you're done So we can go through the onboarding process and the health app which is pretty quick You just have to add four digits press send register and you're done It's that easy and if for some reason you don't want to go through the onboarding process You can go in through medical ID to also register your decision to be a donor You're just gonna have to fill in the information like a birthday or you said you would not have entered through the process Hey, but I have a question.
This is really a big partnership. Tell us how it all got started Well sure, you know, I was in my desk one day And I got one of those phone calls that you kind of dream about when you're an executive that works in In a donation or an order frankly work for anybody and that they wanted to have a conversation there was an individual I would call her our internal champion We'll call her Christine and Christine that Apple had done their research They had other organizations and thought about who they wanted to partner with and we feel very fortunate that their decision led Them to want to partner with them. We were beating down Apple doors But this was one of those incredible opportunities where Apple actually came to us and said we want to help Well, that's fair that was a couple years ago. We started down the path and very quickly figured out that Assistance using their technology to get people to register that legally binding gifts to be a donor was you know Pretty quick apple with the American not many people get that phone call Wow, that's amazing So David in the past when we do registry pushes its push through individual states.
So how is this different or is it? It's legally binding just like you were registering interstate registry And one of the nice things about you know for an anatomical gift act that makes organization legal in every state is the combination there for online Redisries, so we worked with council both inside the community and outside of the community to make sure that we were designing a Registry that would be legally binding in each state the things a little bit different This is not tied to a driver's license transaction Which so many of our state registrations are and I really want to make sure people here loud and clear that our favorite partners are a D&D partners. They are credible. They help us register 130 million Americans, and that's great But we also recognize that you know, there's some advantages we can streamline the process We can make sure it's mobile friendly We can offer people an opportunity to register outside of the driver's license or similar transaction So the way it's different is that it's not linked to a driver's license expires in Louisiana or Virginia We don't lose your registration If you will we think about it as an umbrella registry that weighs over top of all of our state registry So I'm sitting here for an Android phone, and I see Lori and show me both have iPhones So will that come about for those of us with Android phone?
Well, we are we're trying our best to find some good connections in the Google and Android One of the nice things about Apple is they truly are in for the right reason So while they certainly wanted to pioneer so we're certainly gonna be trying to do this on other phone You can go to register me right now. We get the Android operating system and you can do it right now Right good information. Thanks, but David you talked about 130 million people in the registry Do you guys have any goals or art? What do you project as hopefully a bump that we'll see?
Yeah, you know that's a tough one. I'm a little bit 18 in this country register Which is fantastic and as I said the and these been a huge part of that the challenge we have is that people for whatever reason There's a percentage of the population that is just not taking advantage of the opportunity to register to be in the transaction I don't know why I usually think we don't do things as human beings because of fear and that fear is sort of Rears at head in a number of different ways that was lots of this and this conceptions out there about donation and transplantation So register me in the National Registry is intended to provide Markingals people on the ground people working at a grassroots level more touch points with the American public So if you're waiting in line as a football game, we can tell you to register to be down here You don't have to wait to get to the end So it's really creating these in our society I'll do these atypical touch points for organized issue donations beyond the DMV transaction Which we have become so accustomed to taking advantage of and I never answered your questions I'll get back to your question which is what's our goal 2% of adults we look at our high-performing states. They're kind of topping out of that 75 80% range So while we haven't talked about it nationally, I think certainly my personal goal is I'd love to get the 75% That's in the country being registered which we have 60 million people pretty big number Wow now I'm gonna pick your brain a little bit because apparently you've given this some thought But future campaigns promotions around this app and what's to come? Yeah, I think the level is you know maybe registering your state registry or registering over the end of the national level or Pointingpeople to register me that work We're seeing more and more people take advantage of this national call to action But what we will immediately be doing when this is a plus million iPhone users in the fall here Listen out then it's gonna be good to register me that or or register be iPhone So we're gonna be packing everything we do with this option that hey if you get an iPhone you can do it right now Just because it's gonna be a little bit more streamlined a little bit quicker already onboarded through the health Be you know trying to appeal to iPhone users.
I don't know what that's gonna look like but we're gonna be targeting those folks that are I phone night as I call them As we can do it that culture You know to get them to register but the biggest thing is it's gonna be adding this level and it's called action And figuring out how we could take advantage of the fact that it's right during your phone If we're targeting an iPhone user, it's click your register and boom we open that screen for you to get the process started And so you said this is coming with the next upgrade and we're thinking early fall The only phrase that Apple is comfortable with using is falling to find fall but fall. Oh, okay So be on the lookout Well, that's all so yeah, we're right we're right in there All right We certainly appreciate you taking the time to join us today to explain what's to come and how we can make a difference from our phone Which is amazing David Fleming president and CEO of Donate Life America In our recovery segment today quite a story history making which is amazing. That's right We've got mr. Ezell Holland with us who has received a kidney transplant get this 30 years ago.
I'm excited to be honest This is amazing. It's amazing. It's awesome Especially you know back then you think transplants made the last for about 10 years or 12 years But mr. Holland here has a kidney transplant that's been going on strong for 30 years.
How you doing mr. Ezell? How's that kidney of yours? That is fantastic.
Wow now just to do some quick math for those of you who are listening we said 30 years ago But so he's October 20th 1986 is when mr. Ezell received his gift of life a second chance Can you walk us through why you needed a transplant mr. Ezell? We're like that and the hot blood pressure shot him out So back then of course dialysis was a common thing but transplant really wasn't did a doctor talk to you about you know Needing a transplant or maybe getting a transplant how that come about You're like a lot when I was all come around in the nursing talk about it I was a good candidate for a transplant so that guy don't do this So what were you thinking when they said transplant because they weren't a whole lot of transplants going on back then I didn't do much neither myself.
They said I was a good candidate for a transplant and so now we're oh man When they transplanted it and they're not gonna get the clamp hole and it's a broad problem Through said they're getting started working right there That is amazing So tell us about life before the transplant were you not able to do certain things were you on dialysis and then tell us about life Like when you said it started clicking and working can you tell us about that? Well, I go to dialysis I come home I'm seeing the biggest in the bed all the rest of that day and all the next day I've been a fire shield out of the phone to take the broke off my blood pressure will bomb out just like that when I was on dialysis You know that I'm supposed to do nothing, you know, walk with my pressure just stay low Until I got the transplant and then you get this transplant and now you're not tied to this dialysis machine And you don't have all this low blood pressure, so tell me how that made you feel then Mr. Diesel I have a question this is Sally were you given any information about who your donor was at the time? They would not give me anything.
They only come here. Oh, you know, you know, you got an adult kidney. Oh, okay Well, I'm the change. Yeah, that's wonderful.
What would you have said or have you ever thought about these 30 years like what you would say to that family of that hero? Just thank God we got this you're very well, but let you be an author and daughter. That's amazing Move just me you see whatever. Yeah, I tell you what mr.
You are certainly an inspiration to everyone obviously you've taken very good care of of that precious gift that you got I really want to thank you for coming on and thank you again for being an inspiration to us. Yeah, you take energy. That's right I like to hang out with you, mr. You know, I love it 30 years out from his kidney transplant that transplant was performed back in 1986 And I was with the time about the yesterday doctor then but she's a bonus show specialist and she said she's amazing to see how these kids They're working so long working so well and it is what happened 30 years.
Oh, pretty good match I'm mostly got some more work left to do. How much do you sell looks like it? Well, thanks for sharing your story. That's just inspiring and hearing him talk.
I'm smiling here the whole time right 30 years out from transplant That is amazing more to come here on the gift of life and our family service this segment today on this episode of the gifted life We are talking about children and grief working with children who have lost or losing a parent or a sibling really tough work Here's Sally to kick it off. It is my pleasure to introduce Sharon Westbury. She's a manager of Child Life Department at Lady of the like Hospital Hi, Sharon. Hi.
How are you? Good. How are you doing today? Doing wonderful.
Thank you for having me Well, thanks for being here tell us a little bit about your program and What you and your staff do to help children handle grief and what you do that that helps them through this process Okay, well, I'm a child like specialist by training and I have an amazing team of child life specialists We have about nine child like specialist in our department and we work with children who come through our Lady of the like Children's Hospital from the emergency room to surgery Inpatient units which would include our intensive care our oncology unit our general pediatric unit But we are basically here to focus on the hospital stay of a child Which at times does incorporate or include working with our families at end of life So when a child comes in say a traumatic experience or traumatic event has occurred We oftentimes can encounter that in the emergency room So a child like specialist responds to our trauma alerts with our families and if the child is Not awake and alert then we're there to offer the support to the family and just to kind of help them along that journey of the experience of that trauma Just explaining to them what the doctors are doing with the medical team is doing to help them and also making sure if siblings Are part of that family that the family knows how to help and talk to them about what has happened to their siblings And we also work like with the chronic population So kids that have been sick for a long time and really on a journey towards end of life So our child like specialist worked very closely with that family just about planning Legacy building and again just making sure everyone in that family including the siblings understands what's happening Sure, would you please tell us the age range of the children that your staff generally works with? Well, we definitely would include you know if they were infants in the family and just signs and stuff that we can help parents to recognize Just how children are coping with with the experience of loss or death But typically it's that older toddler up to sometimes older, you know 18 year old So it just depends on the need of the family We are just really here to make sure that they truly understand what's happening and someone is explaining to them in words that they can understand Whether it be a traumatic event, you know I often just encourage the mom dad or whoever the caretaker is to go in and sit down and talk to them and understand that It is going to be a very difficult conversation to have but at the same time It's very important to have that conversation with children about the loss of a loved one And how do you and your staff help guide families to be able to use the words because I have found over time Depending on that age range that many times children are just kind of back away from it And like I don't want to hear this how do you walk kind of get over that hurdle? Well, oftentimes I like to just kind of use a scenario if I could say but um, let's just say if the child that was hit Back hard and we know that he's not gonna make it Um, it's to go in and talk to the mom and dad one on one and just explain You know the importance of including the spreader and sister and the information and what's happening they Children are smart, you know, they can see that people are crying they can hear conversations that adults are having and I think we just try to make sure that You know the caretaker understands that They need to hear it. They need to hear it from you.
They need to hear it from a loved one You know, we're here to support them But to actually go in the room and explain that you know This child's body was hurt and it was injured and what actually happened, you know that he was hit by car and you know He came to the hospital because he we tried to make him better And we know at this time that we're not gonna be able to make him better And we also just kind of talk about how our brain works how our body works and you know things that we need to work within our body To stay alive and so when those things don't work such as your ability to breathe or your heart to beat that We know that we can't say a lot and that we would die and we Encourage the parent to use that word because sometimes kids still don't get it when we dance around the situation and say that They're not gonna be with us So they're gonna go away or they just it's too hard to just say that word die And so we sit with the parents and say like we need to use that word and oftentimes I can say that I find myself coming back and kind of supporting the parent at the end of the conversation saying do you understand what we're saying? Do you understand that your brother is going to die? And so it just takes that bit of information for the children typically to get it as you say But yeah, some kids don't necessarily want to talk about it or they don't understand the finality of it You know, we explained that he's not gonna be able to be with us each day or he's not gonna eat his favorite food anymore And we're not gonna be able to talk to him like we're talking right now So we we help the family or we help the child based on their age to understand a little bit better of what we're trying to tell them It's often a challenge even for us, you know, especially working in with organ donation to explain to adults You know when they see someone who has suffered a major trauma or a head injury to explain that that is death So I can imagine the challenges that you guys must have you know to you know first having the mom or the dad saying the word You know death to the sibling and second, you know to have that you know Child understand I can imagine that's certainly a big challenge for you Yes, and you know as I explain when I introduce the services that we're here to offer to a family And we get to the point of having the conversation with other children, you know I always say like obviously it's best if it comes from you But I know that this is a difficult conversation for you to have with your children And that's one that you never expect to have I'm here I want to explain to you if your kids were right here This is what I would say to them sometimes it just kind of gives them a little bit of Preparation I guess of what I need to go in and say to my other children and also say I would love to sit with you Why you talk to them if you feel like you need that support at any time I can jump into the conversation to continue explaining or if you want me to be the one that shares this information with your children I would be happy to do that because most of all I'm just I'm there to support them, you know And explaining to them that at the moment It's almost like you have a secret that you're holding on to because you haven't given them that information But once we talk about it and it's out in the open you're gonna feel much better about the situation and you know Knowing that your children have been included and have been informed and it sounds like that you are able and I'm sure your staff also Are able to present this in a positive way because you know the negativity that is attached to death Generally overrides any sort of positive atmosphere, but it sounds like you all are able to do that in that sort of manner Absolutely, you know like unfortunately we can't change what the outcome is gonna be Sometimes we can have the conversation of it's gonna go down one path or the other and you know But it's always so important to keep children well-informed even at the beginning of the hospitalization And if it's where if it's a brother or sister in the hospital or a parent or a grandparent I think it's just important to make sure that we're providing Simple honest information to kids because if they're not hearing it from us and they're overhearing adult conversations They're not truly getting the correct message all the time And so sometimes when I sit down with kids and say tell me about your loved one why are they in the hospital? The information is not always correct So I just try to point that out to the to the caregiver and then also just making sure that along the journey that we're keeping them informed But you know especially at the end it's just making sure that I am I'm supporting I'm providing that information And I'm just I'm helping that parent as best as I can you know and simple honest information is always really the best that I can tell Apparent is the best way to go you know Hear that really that that sort of it to hear you say that just makes my heart feel good because I know a lot of times We we in the field have a tendency to get mighty wordy and so for you to put it that way is just really a wonderful service sharing We feel blessed to be able to provide this to our families because it's truly it's just it's a calling It's my ministry You know to be able to work with these individuals and just to be a part of this Tinder moment in their life like I mean I just I'm thankful that I'm able to be there for them and you are blessing I just want to say you are speaking truth because 20 years ago.
I lost a parent and this did not happen Yeah, but this is really needed. Yeah, absolutely well, and I'll also say outside of the children's hospital We often get consulted to work with the children or grandchildren of our adult patients in our facility that are dying And also like newly diagnosed parents who say to you me often, you know, like It's not a hard cancer, you know, how do I go home and tell my kids this and so we just sit down and have a conversation about How to present this how to explain it to them how to feel be hopeful, but also how to be real, you know, um so at the time of death like the consult that we received for families when an adult is dying we again just it's To go over there and just to support these families that are going through a tragedy, you know And how do you help these children understand that they're gonna leave their parent and you know even for them? I've done beautiful sort of memory making opportunities with some Children, you know where we did mom's handprint in the middle and then all the kids handprints around and they're like if you didn't come We would never have this, you know, and so it's just it's those little pieces I think sometimes that I'm just thankful that staff recognized that they needed it and they needed to call us and so we were able to go and Answer that call for them. That's wonderful And you know one of the things that just hearing you say this as Lori had mentioned many years ago There just was not this sort of services available and to be able to offer this to families and to the children I think it's just wonderful that there's people like you out there that's helping them through this and yeah And you had mentioned also about the in the future you were going to have a resource center that people from all over the state might be able to Find group so we're in the process right now building a free-seaning children's hospital our lady like children's hospital And it will be a hospital just for kids and so we're super excited about that But it'll also care for children from Oliver, Louisiana and at times outside of Louisiana But our goal is to have a resource center within that hospital where children Families can come and call or come to the location and actually We're our goal is to have a database of information whether it be a newly diagnosed child and how to find out just services that are offered to You know further care or learn about that diagnosis But then also just finding out resources if it's grief counseling if it's camps that are for children who are grieving the loss of a loved one You know It's just an opportunity and a central location for families to access to find out what services can happen to and what is available to our family And you know that's what will really be helpful I have to say on kind of another note here for LOPA You know we are always at a loss to find these sort of resources for families and to be able to you know tap into what you all are getting ready to Present here will be wonderful access for us and our donor families too, so you know you guys are just doing a wonderful wonderful job I think it's great and I think it's amazing to see the change over just from my personal experience over 20 years I'm encouraged by this I'm gonna follow this story I'm if you heard something that you want to learn more about or maybe you want to follow this process of what's to come here in the State of Louisiana All you have to do is send us a line at info at LOPA.org At this point in the podcast we do want to honor a hero as we do in every podcast Yeah, Laurie this hero that we'll be honoring is Christopher Michael Solomon This was written by a member of his family.
Christopher was an avid hunter and fisherman who loved to be outdoors or on the water His life reviled around his close friends and family He lived every day like he was his last and never turned down an opportunity to have a little fun or get into a little trouble He was stubborn and hard-headed as any young man is he lives on today through the gift of our nation Knowing this helps his family with his loss is truly missed and will never be forgotten We love you and miss you more and more every day. You are very own special angel looking down on our family every day Keep a safe Chris. I was looking at his picture while you were reading his story You can see Christopher's picture at LOPA.org and you can also learn the stories of other heroes in the state of Louisiana So LOPA.org. Thank you, Christopher for the gift of life In our question and answer segment today, can I donate my body to science and still be an organ eye and tissue dinner?
And the answer to that Laurie is yes Now the important thing to remember is when you want to donate your body to science You have to do it ahead of time with a particular school or whatever Research company that you choose but you can't just do it upon death at that time So you would have to check with them many of them It is very much okay to be able to donate organs and eyes issues a little different with the ability to donate Organs tissue and I in conjunction with body to science But organ and I oftentimes in many cases that it is something that you can do in conjunction with the other But it's important to check with whichever company or or university that you would like to donate your body to science to and if you're curious We certainly have information about donating your body to science on our LOPA website That's LOPA.org LOPA.org Okay, and if you have questions you want to send our way info at LOPA.org and hey do you want to tell you if you listen to iTunes and you Like what you hear leave us a rating It helps other people find our podcast and learn more and hopefully save more lives Another episode of the gifted life in the books. Yeah, Laurie I want to give thanks to David Fleming the president and CEO of donate life America We're sharing a little bit about the partnership that DLA has with Apple I can't wait to see the results from that campaign right yes And then of course we want to thank mr. Ezel Holland for coming on such a character. I enjoyed that conversation 30 years with that kidney and thanks to Sharon Westbury for sharing with us what they do for children in grief and What more information is coming out of L Yes, we love when people give up their time to help us learn more to be better and to inspire so that's amazing And listen we have this hotline.
Selly do you have? I do matter of fact I do it's five zero four six four eight three four seven seven. What's she looking her by memory? I love it.
We always talk about this hotline that we have you want you to use it and give shout outs on it Talk to those in the donation world or outside somebody who's making a difference would be great We did have a message in our box which we love and we want to share that audio with you And then we'll talk about it after but take a listen Donation go This is Wendy Lipsi calling and I wanted to thank Troy so much for the wonderful video filming and getting editing the wonderful piece putting it together for me For the dance competition in Cleveland. This is Wendy Lipsi calling and thank you so much for helping us be a part of that It was a wonderful event and I'm so glad I'm alive and well and grateful for my donor But I was able to participate in such a wonderful event and celebrate life and dance for my life And thanks to people like y'all in Lopa Do you make it possible for us to help spread or get the nation awareness? So thank you Troy for helping for doing this entire video and editing it and making it as wonderful as it is y'all Have a great night tonight. Well, that was Wendy Lipsi that disco Doug dancer herself Yes, she was a liver and kidney recipient from March of last year and of course doing wonderful things with that life-saving those life-saving gifts and Special thanks.
She gave out the Troy's is not only none other than our producer Troy Who makes who makes everything here sound much better if you'd hear it in its original form It is amazing. Amen. What he does with it. Thank you Troy.
I love it. What was fun? What I like that. All right, so I want to hear from you We'll use your audio here, but go out and do something today that you don't normally do to help make life happen.
Have a good one