Hello and welcome to the gifted live podcast where we have conversations about organ tissue and eye donation I'm Lori Steele a community educator with Louisiana organ procurement agency or Loba and joining me as always mr. Joey Buutro and he is Loba's chief clinical officer. Hey, Joe. Hey, Lori number five, but that's it Two months in and we working on our third year and what we love is that we're hearing feedback from all of you So keep that up, please and I heard from a donor dad his name is Duncan and we highlighted his daughter in one of our previous episodes I'm her name is Tabitha She's a hero she saved lives and he said I love it because I'm learning more information And he says I like to share it on our tab of his wish Facebook page And so we're asking if you have those means spread the word so you can do it through Facebook or other means you can like us On donate life Louisiana page.
Yes, you can like us on Twitter Instagram our handle is at donate life Ellie Mm-hmm. You know we also want you to subscribe to us We like you to subscribe on iTunes ditcher windows phone mirror Be on pod tune in and pocketcast but not only subscribe give us some ratings We want five stars that way we can get bumped up so other people can see us and hear about us Yeah, and we're starting to hear feedback through those means as well which we love but hey even if it's not good feedback I want to hear from you too and you can always hit us at info at lowba.org. We're kind of sounding podcast savvy I like it. I like it.
All right on today's episode of the gifted life podcast in the news We'll talk about hero connected to the rose parade so some national attention when it comes to saving lives in our recovery segment We can talk a little bit about allocation and how organs are placed Yeah in our myth segment today, which we like to tackle those myths direct donation is something that we talk about in our community We're gonna talk about how a driving school is helping making an impact on donations our little partners We love them in our technology segment a new tool to help with donation save those lives and in as we do in every podcast We're gonna honor our hero one of our favorite segments plus we'll tackle your questions and so much more here on the gifted life podcast We are in the news segment and we are excited because we like when our local stories about donation hit nationwide Right, we want to inspire as many people as possible and boy This is one way to do it So you may have heard about the rose parade and you may have heard that we have a float or donate life Load all of our partners from across the country get together and it's this amazing float which highlights life It's just amazing celebrating life and this year they had local ties. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Laurie Well, Lova tries to sponsor a hero one of their heroes every year and actually we've done that for the past like 10 years or so and Just a couple years back. We sponsored Ryan Viatore his family just loved it so much They thought it was the most amazing thing and so his family through Ryan Viatore's legacy decided to sponsor two additional heroes So we had a total of three heroes from Louisiana where participated in the families participated in this rose parade Which is good? So Justin Harrison hero lacy tikino hero Nicholas Jordan Oquan hero and you can read more about them on our heroes page at Lova dot org, but every year we have a place on a donate life float Which is in the rose parade just to kind of catch you up and so what happens is they put these incredible pieces together Made of flowers and all flower-like materials.
So it's like you were saying these pictures really come to life They do from the hair the lips any kind of feature It's on the incredible and that's what a floor graph is so it's all those flower made materials that are put together with this picture And so they're mostly done away from home, but then they're sent here for the families to complete them Yeah, and I was fortunate enough to be part of that I witnessed actually two of them Justin and Lacy Because they happened in Lafayette actually at one of the local hospitals in Lafayette where they had passed and become donors where they gave life to others So it was a very powerful not only for obviously for the families You know but also for everyone else involved including some of the nurses and some of the physicians that were there They took part in the process some years back. You want to see it's just breath. It was a moving experience for everyone That was not a dry eye in the place Yeah, and so basically the picture is mostly complete But the eyebrows are not and so each family member gets to honor that hero by completing the floor graph Right and putting it together right and then at once it's complete they get to send it back Yes to Pasadena where they then later on at the time of the Rosebury go and help put it all together Make it all happen on the floor. God bless those people They do such a great job, but then millions get to see these people who have saved lives And then what's great is the families that are from Louisiana They get to go and watch it in action live we watch it from TV and we're taking pictures from our screen We're sending into each other.
Did you see how great it is? These are so awesome too. Yeah, so it's just an amazing experience And again, it's just a way to put a face to donation because we think when people know a little bit more They know about these folks Justin was just a teenager But the lives that he saved from back in 1997 the heart is still beating today in a wonderful woman named Marilyn is just an incredible Story that we want to share with everybody and like we said we're always trying to reach people who don't normally hear about donation This is a nationwide audience. It's amazing.
All right millions and millions of people watching and and you mentioned you know Justin's heart recipient She was actually there also in attendance and helping you know put the final touches So it was like I said earlier it was the best experience It's good for for all around and then it just inspires us as workers as well to get involved look what can happen when we all work together And if you want to check out videos about the donate life Rose float We can go to our YouTube channel donate life Louisiana and we hope that you are inspired as well All right, we have reached our recovery segment here in episode five and what we want to focus on is finding matches for these gifts of life Finding a suitable home when I'm out in the community Joey. We always hear about how does this happen? I watch TV By the end of the hour program they are done. All right, that's how it happens and so no no no a lot of people reference Grey's Anatomy And so it doesn't quite happen that way, right?
Not quite and that's the unfortunate part about television They get a lot of that especially timeframes wrong, but it actually in fact takes up to 24 to 36 hours on those cases And we have to explain of course we explain that to the families at the beginning of the case because we have to find the best Suitable homes so that these organs can live on for the longest and it's not just me working by myself Are you working by yourself? There is a power team of people making sure that life happens? You're exactly right We have roughly on one particular case just from the Loba team will have 15 to 20 people trying to make life happen Trying to get the best place and the most lives that can be saved for these recipients But not just what we then have to work with other transplants are we connected with other transplants We'll have a total of a hundred to sometimes 200 people working just on one case alone It's amazing how many working parts there are to make this transplant in these lives save happen But man, it's important because we are saving lives and I'm out in the community a lot and people ask a lot of questions How long is the waiting list where most people waiting for those kinds of things and there's a nifty little site that we can all use The United Network for Oregon sharing you know you in OS dot Oregon You can go there as well, but people always want to know where do the organs go and who gets what and so basically in general? You can kind of handle that.
Yeah, well thing is and I think we've talked about in a previous myth buster But just because you have money or status, you know that doesn't put you higher on the list like you said You know United Network for Oregon sharing that's they house the list this match list is what we call or waiting list And they house them based on who's the sickest and so when a particular donor might come up Let's say you know here in Louisiana the recipients come up based on the sickest person and then proximity how close they are because obviously Some of the organs can't go very far and then they're matched by weight height and then blood type So for the most part, you know, I'll get into it a little more specifically in later podcasts about the specific Organ placement, but that's in general how their place, you know the sickest person gets it within the reasonable timeframe Of course size and blood type and you know if you have any specific questions info at low but dot org We just want to make sure that you're understanding what we're talking about But I have a cool dude who's one of our volunteers a kidney pancreas recipient always talks about how he danced at his first daddy daughter Dance thanks to his hero, but he said at the time of his transplant. He was on social security disability He was making $16,000 a year. He did have a heart on his license. He was ejected from his vehicle But his life was saved they brought him to the hospital and his organ function declined But he was able to receive a kidney and a pancreas and he is alive today Thank goodness because the system works Yes, it does It does I mean it doesn't matter like I said your status your wealth anything like that What matters the most is that you are the best suited recipient for that donor and it goes if you're the sickest person You know, you'll be bumped up higher on the list Mm-hmm And so when TV tries to display this and they have to get it done in their our program There has to be a lot of drama that goes on with it But thank goodness we have these professionals who work around the clock to make sure that life happens Oh, yeah It's a 24 seven three sixty five for us in the organ donation world doesn't stop five o'clock in the afternoon Most something to experience it is in most in fact do happen at all times of the night And once and I mentioned the the 24 to 36 hours once we have the organs placed in the most suitable homes That's when we'll go into the recovery room and transplant surgeon comes in we kind of coordinate everything and a transplant surgeon Along with our little bit team will go in and do the recovery And then that's about the only part that the TV gets right is is that we do in fact put them in ice Yes, because they have to stay cool a lot of kids ask about that True, yes, that's the part that is true You know and then we send it out and get to that transplant center as quickly as possible because time is out the essence at that point And it's just an amazing process and look what can happen when we all work together All right, it's about that time where we myth bust use that earlier like that Joey Mids about donation that are out there we want to replace them with the facts So here's what came in my friend is waiting on a kidney I want them to get my kidney if I register and become a donor So if I become a donor can my family decide who gets the organs and this is direct donation Yeah, Laurie earlier on, you know when I was talking about organ allocation or who's the best home where the best home is for this particular donation I talked about you know and the waiting list I kind of mentioned that okay the waiting list is as it is and it goes to the sickest person best match This is the one kind of caveat This is the one change in it that if you have someone that you know that is on the waiting list and you would like to donate to that person You can actually bypass the list by way of the direct donation So what has to happen?
Obviously your family has to sign and say that it's okay for us to bypass the list and direct donate to you Or to this particular your friend or whoever the recipient and then we will of course do the same work up and everything But we will make that offer to your transplant physician the one who ever is in taking care of you And then they will take all the information in as like height and weight, you know the blood type Has it all has to match? Yeah, it all has to match and then of course how well your kiddies functioning to see if it would still be a good home And if those three things take place then direct donation can take place now that again It's important to know that can't just be anybody with say kidney problems are even in stage renal disease Has to be someone who is actively waiting on the list at a transplant center, right? So but if those if those things take place then yes Your kidney or you know even liver or you know whatever You decide to donate can go to your friend who's waiting on the waiting list makes sense Info at lopa.org if you want more on this topic and also we come to you and we dispel some of these myths We'll tell you about donation if you go to lopa.org slash speaker lopa.org slash speaker We're across the state here in Louisiana and we can come to you and we can have these conversations We want to spur healthy conversations wherever you are and then we want you to take that back to your home So that we can make an educated decision when it comes to donation We are now to our community segment and we just love love wheels scream it from the rooftops about our wonderful partners from all Walks of life. Yep, Lord and this partner that we have really takes the wheel when it comes to donut Okay, joining us now is Chris Sibley of the Rhodes Scholars Institute of Driving located in Walker How are you?
I'm doing well about yourself We are good and we are really good because you're one of our partners when it comes to saving lives and you do such a great job With it now We know that you own Rhodes Scholars Which is a driving education school and so you're reaching these future leaders before they get their license are asked Do you want to be an organ donor? And what we love is that you make sure they understand the facts about donation to yeah, definitely It's tough trying to teach them to be in traffic laws and in the rules of the road But when it comes to organ donation, it's just a much more simpler process and it's also fun at the same time So get enjoyed it We enjoy it and that's why we try to be a part of it Well, and you kind of think outside the box You try to think of new and creative and fun ways in order to educate which we like it and you really go the extra mile pun intended When it comes to helping us out for example Your cars that you take the kids out to teach them the rules of the roadway You have a rap on there and they have some pretty fancy logos on there with donate life Yeah, definitely one thing is about really hitting the head with the hand-breath bars awareness And we just try to always provide that visual whether it be on our vehicles And our actual office with the life-size daughter license that the students get a picture with at the end of the class So it's just all about promoting that awareness and that's just something that we try to do and try to be creative with it as well And one of the fun things that I get to be a part of is that Road Scholars actually helped us adopt a mascot a giant heart that we had some help in naming from our our folks in the area Donate so our mascot is named donate dea ux in a te and he comes with us everywhere into the schools hospitals to help raise awareness And that was the brainchild of you mr. Chris. Yeah, we thought it was a great idea to bring up a mascot We saw some of the other donate life and the different states.
They had their own mascot So I thought it was about time that Louisiana had their own Unfortunately, Michael Tiger was busy with my other obligations, but I think donate was was a great choice Yes, and we love you for that's the gift that keeps on giving during the month of April you came to me and said Hey, it's organ donor awareness. Moth if these kids sign up I'm gonna give you a portion of each registration you did that on your own and you're ready to cut us a check definitely Thanks to 42 students and our fans We were able to raise up a thousand and fifty dollars for the month and during the month of April for the registrations So this is our second year actually doing that and we just we wanted to be as much help as possible I know it's kind of hard giving me the gouty So, you know, we're here to help we say that everybody has a talent and when we all work together look what can happen Well, you know look what can happen. So so we love it. You include us in your advertisements You attend the roble a run for life which saved the date everyone October 3rd at the pinnington biomedical research center in Baton Rouge Is the fifth annual roble a run for life on last year?
You were giving out free t-shirts advise people are running to your table You're just awesome. So we appreciate you, but tell us why you do so much I know you've worked with some of our donor families and recipient families. Tell us why you're so invested well It was a good thing to get involved in because we saw how important it is One thing about us were locally owned and family operated and so we're really big in the family and we see how big that Organ donation is to the families whether it be on the giving side or the receiving side and you know a student that we had a couple months back Was one of the heart recipients and just to you know have a conversation with his mother and him just to see the impact it had It was just truly amazing them. So do we have a great as far as you know being involved?
No, I mean we would no questions asked we want to be a part of anything that Lopa has to do When it comes to the stable we can and we cannot thank you enough and what I love about you is that you always surprised me What's coming up on the horizon and I know that you have your thinking cap on especially when it comes to this race in October? So I'm pretty curious to know what's gonna be coming our way and I'm excited at the same time Well, we we're definitely planning some stuff on the works. Hopefully some things go through and it allows us to acquire some equipment Not only do we want to use it in the really simple parish area But we want to be able to bring it for the run in October and hopefully things go according to plan But we should have to see it will be outside the box and I think everyone will enjoy it. Oh, I'm so excited I love it.
So Chris. We just can't thank you and Rhodes Scholars Institute of driving enough We know that you're located in Livingston Parish in the town of Walker if people want more information on you I know you're out on social media and things, but how do we how do we get with you? Well, the best way to get in touch with us is our direct contact number which is two two five two eight one five two oh two Or you can visit our website at Rhodes Scholars driving calm and you can register sign up learn more about it And see what going on and the upcoming events I love the Facebook page updates with the pictures of the kids in front of life size License, so it's just awesome to be a part of we can't thank you enough just positive from every angle this partnership So Chris and Rhodes Scholars. Thank y'all.
Thanks for having us. That's an honor. Well that Chris is he's really good about organization He's always coming out with something good something new. I can't wait to see what's gonna happen for the race time Yes, October 3rd mark your calendar be there or be square do people still say that Joe?
I don't know but anyway, love it org and that's where you get a calendar of events So the Rob Lee run for like you'll see that up there and then all the other wonderful events happening in communities across the state This is episode 5 so we're podcast savvy are so you and I think right But we also like to try to be tech savvy as well And we want to talk about a tool helping with donation a DCD tool fills in well Or you see in the past and I've kind of talked about touched upon DCD or donation after circulatory death in a previous podcast I'd like for you to certainly go back and listen to episode two Okay, but what it is for families that are wishing to withdraw life support their loved one can still potentially become an organ donor and save lives through DCD You know the hurdle or the challenge is is that they they would have to cardiac arrest in or their heart would have to stop beating Within about an hour of the withdrawal of life support for them to become a donor because the longer you go after the life supports remove The more damage that occurs with the less blood supply So we had a DCD tool so to be created in the past and we borrowed that from from Wisconsin It was kind of widely used across the nation But it gave us you know the results that it gave us or decent We had you know, we were able to predict that the patient will be of potential We were accurate probably somewhere is enough in a 70% range. We felt this isn't good enough So we took on the challenge about a little over a year ago of creating going through all of our DCD donors and the ones that we Valuated for DCD and basically put a tool together that's electronic that uses a really really extensive calculation that uses a Lot of other factors that weren't really a present in the other tool and kind of combined it up And we modified it a few times over the last year or so and we've come up to a point where now we can predict Accurately who our DCD potential organ donors are to over 80% and this is a higher percentage This is better than anyone else so far to date has been able to do So so we're trying to get it out there and we're actually gonna try to use it as a best practice and get more of the other Organ Recovery agencies on board because we want everyone to share in the successes that we've had over the past year with our tool Right in order to save more lives that is our goal and this just goes to show you There's a lot going on at the time of death So we want you to start talking about donation now have that conversation use the facts that we are providing that you may know Info at lopa.org if you have questions will provide for you So we can have those healthy conversations and talk donation but technology never know what kind of role It's going to play but it just continues to help us make life happen Laura this is a time where we're gonna honor our hero as we do in every podcast this podcast our hero is Kenneth Douglas Morris Kenneth was a grandfather which reminds me this month is National Older Americans So please don't rule yourself out, you know fortunately he didn't and his family didn't right and we want to tell you more about Kenneth Douglas Morris But folks didn't call him Kenneth Douglas Morris. They called him KD everyone called him that and they tell us that he would have given the shirt off of his back to anyone So donation was just natural. We loved his family loved his grandchildren loved his great grandchildren And one of the fondest memories of his family is that every time he would see a new grandbaby Joey He would roll up a hundred dollar bill and he would put it in their hands in that funny I love it So that's a memory that these children have and they say that was just who he was and he actually Retired to raise his great-grandchild Aaron and that was his little best friend and she says that was her best friend Lost him to an abdominal aneurysm, but he never wanted anyone to be in a vine and like we said gave the shirt off of his back So when it came to donation this family says it was an easy decision for them This man is a hero He saved lives and another memory that they cherish is that every time he see one of these babies He would say God loved them and they want the recipients to know God loved them God loved them just a touching story for KD Morris who is a hero it is Laurie at this point We'd like to pause and say thank you to KD for his gift of life And we have reached our question and answer segment here on the gifted life podcast And if you have a question that you would like us to tackle info at lopa.org info at lopa.org our question today Joey coming in I'm a diabetic on medication and my doctor told me that I can't be a donor and we actually hear this a lot out in the community So what say you yeah?
Well here that every once in a while and it's true in fact in some way you wouldn't be able to become a pancreas donor Because your pancreas is obviously not functioning in the way that it showed if you were diabetic But that does not rule you out for any of the other life-saving organs like for instance You can still become a heart donor you can still become a liver donor you can still save lives through lung donation You can even still save lives through kidney donation really yeah kitties and even though sometimes Diabetes especially if it's poorly controlled may do some damage to the kidneys But we do a series of tests and it depends on how well controlled it is of course But we do a series of tests to check kidney function and there oftentimes where the kidneys are still functioning at a high level Especially high enough to be able to go on and function at least for 10 15 years and someone else all right So we always say don't rule yourself out right let the doctors at the time of death determine right what do you use to say Life absolutely yeah all right info at lopa.org let us hear from you We have reached the end of another podcast. Thanks for hanging with us We do want to remind you that during the summer We are very active when it comes to those summer classes allow the kids are involved in allied health programs or 4-H programs You need a speaker hey check us out lopa.org slash speaker tell us what you're needing where you are and someone will be in touch We want to get you the information that you need we want to talk to you We also Lori want to thank Christa Sibley for coming on and helping us through Rhodes scholars driving school spread awareness and do all the things that he's been doing He's such a huge partner for us everybody Can make a difference he proves it right we also want to thank our production team kiersten troy shalon shalon Sean paul brenda everybody who puts in a little bit to make sure that we sound okay good you sound okay Okay, there you go. We appreciate you sticking with us. Tell your friends about us here on the gifted life then we'll talk to you next time