Oh, and welcome to the gifted life podcast where we have conversations about organ tissue and eye donation. I'm Roy Steele. And I'm Joey Boudreau. And we are smiling because we have such great partners just back from Dutchtown High School.
We have an allied health program. Okay, we talk about anybody can make a difference. These students are medically minded, which is awesome. They've adopted LOPA and they want to help save more lives.
The reason behind this is because one of the alums of Dutchtown High received a liver transplant, but they were with her when she was very sick, couldn't go to school, had to stop playing sports. And now she's better because she did receive her transplant. She's able to go to college because of it, something she never thought she would be able to do. And we have kids that, hey, we want to sell hearts, like LOPA hearts, and we want to post them on our wall and want to show people that we support donation.
Well, just through that little effort, they have raised over $5,000 in accounting for donation awareness, not only on campus, but throughout the area. So one person, Savannah, touched all these lives. They jump on board and just people who want to help make life happen. It's amazing that transformation.
It is. And like your Dutchtown volunteers, there's so many others in the state and they are making a huge impact. And look, this is where on our 19th podcast right here and we're reaching, we've reached thousands and thousands of people just through our podcast alone, the education efforts that have been going on through. Of course, I have to give you guys props in the community.
There are so many more people saying yes to donation. In fact, Laurie, this is our best year as far as the number of organ donors. More people have said yes they should have been in a year in our history. Think of the live saying.
I'm amazing. I'm amazing. More live saying. So we're seeing an impact here that's being made with all of our volunteers with the podcast and with our community education.
And you know what that tells me? Education is key. You hear that in different walks of life, but in this way, mostly, right? Education is key.
And you can help us by spreading the word not only about the podcast, but the people who are podcast, but the events that we do, but you can share this podcast. We're easy to find. Let people know about us. Absolutely.
You can find us on iTunes, Pocketcast, Hit your Tune in, Beyond Pod, Miro, and as I said on our last podcast, we are now on Google Play Music. So Google Play Music has added us or has added podcasts to their library. And of course, our IT guys got right on it and applied for it. So we'll be on that Google Play.
So if you've got Android or other Google type of phones or devices, you can find us easily now. So cool. That sounds cool. That sounds cool.
Google Play Music. You can see pictures of and learn more about on Donate Life, Louisiana, Facebook, and Instagram at Donate Life, LA. So join in, no pressure, but a simple share, a simple like, comment on a photo. That can go so far.
So let's do it today. 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 5046483477. What's that, Joe? That is 5046483477.
So we love your feedback questions, comments. You may even be featured on a podcast. Do it today. I'm on this episode of The Gifted Life.
What's happening? We're going to be talking to Jason Loverity about accreditation and why it's important in tissue donation. We'll also talk about the Donate Life float. One of my favorite things of the year, the rose parade is coming up and we get to talk donation.
And of course, as we've been doing, we'll be bringing Sally Gentry on our family services guru to talk a little bit about grief. And we'll be honoring a hero and more here on The Gifted Life. We have reached the recovery segment here on The Gifted Life and today we're kind of focusing on accreditation. So what is it?
What goes into achieving it? What does that mean for me? Yeah, Laurie. So today we have a guest speaker.
His name is Jason Loverity. He is with ATB, the American Association of Tissue Banks. He's the accreditation manager there. They oversee the accreditation for organ and tissue recovery agencies as well as tissue banks that make sure everything is safe for the public.
So here we go. How are you doing, Jason? I'm doing well. How are you?
Oh, really, really good. Thank you for coming on to our Gifted Life podcast. And we try to answer questions for the public, the questions that we get throughout our community and hospital development and education. So I'd like to actually start with what does it mean to be accredited?
Okay, first of all, I'd just like to kind of explain us as an association. I think that will help people understand what accreditation means. So the American Association of Tissue Banks is a professional nonprofit, scientific and educational organization. It's the only national tissue banking organization in the United States.
Membership totals more than 125 for accredited tissue banks and 1,800 individual members located in the US, Canada, and even other countries. Tissue banks in our country recover tissue from more than 30,000 donors and distribute in excess of 2 million aligrams, more than 1 million tissue transplants performed annually in the US. More than 90% of the human tissue distributed comes from A to B accredited tissue banks. The association was founded in 1976 by group of doctors and scientists who started our nation's first tissue bank back in 1949, now with us the United States Navy Tissue Bank.
So since it's beginning, A to B has been dedicated to improving and saving lives, promoting the safety quality and availability of donated human tissue to fulfill that mission. The association publishes standards and accredits tissue banks, certifies tissue bank personnel, and we also interact with regulatory agencies and conduct educational meetings. So our standards for tissue banks contain extensive requirements for donors screening and testing to enhance safety until avoid disease transmission. With the exception of ocular tissue, A to B accredited institutions provide most of the commonly used structural tissues for clinical use in the United States.
So that's kind of my pitch about what A to B is and what we do and where we came from. So you can see a couple of big goals that we have, a couple of big things that we do, we publish standards, we accredit organizations and we certify tissue bank personnel. So to accredit an organization, they have to follow our standards, which are a little more stringent than the FDA. So our tissue banks are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and our standards are a little bit higher and we go and inspect these organizations to our standards as well as the FDA and the local and state laws that may be in place to ensure that they're operating in a manner consistent with our standards, handling tissue in an ethical manner and providing safe aligrams for clinical use.
We recently had you guys come in and audit us and I know you guys were inspecting some of these same, you know, very same things. So what goes into the actual inspection? What are you looking for when you're inspecting the organ recovery agencies and the tissue banks? Okay.
So basically we have extensive donor screening standards that we look for in an organization like you guys. We have organizational standards and, you know, donor records as well as recovery and shipping standards. So what goes into your audit, there's an extensive self-survey type of piece to it. So basically you guys will get all your paperwork together, go to a huge checklist, make sure that you have policies and procedures for all the standards that we have.
Then we'll send in a contract inspector and for an organization like you guys will be about two days and they would evaluate all of your records, all of your policies and procedures to make sure that you're operating within our standards. And so from your mind's eye, once you spend time with an organization like ours and we are able to surpass your expectations, what does that mean for not only the organization but for donor families in our area? Well, two things I think kind of jump out. One is that you guys handle this whole process and honor the gift of life and handle the whole donation process in a very ethical manner.
And two is that you're doing everything that you should be doing to provide a safe aligraft that will eventually hopefully end up being transplanted to help somebody else. So as an organization as a whole, there's a lot of different things that it can mean. But basically, in my mind, you're holding yourself to another higher level of safety and ethics. So what you're saying, Jason, is we must have passed since I understand that most of our, you know, we have really ethical, high ethics and ethical standards and very...
And hard-working, too. You guys have our great organization. You're an accredited organization. I'm not sure when you guys first became accredited, but I've only been with the Association for two years now.
And I got here when you were going through this process last time. And now, so you guys have been expected and basically what will happen is our inspectors will produce a report and then you guys will be expected to respond to these findings in the report. And basically what we're looking for then, we have a very thorough review process and we're looking to make sure that you have a quality system in place that can correct errors, anything that goes wrong and put tools and policies in the place to prevent those errors from reoccurring the future. It's all about patient safety in the end.
But the way we do that is we review your quality system to make sure that your organization is in a good place to do that. And we are very proud to get that seal of approval. We have hard working employees, but speaking with our tissue manager, Blake Smith, after the process, very comfortable with how LOPA handles things. So we appreciate that.
Now, if people wanted more information about what you guys do, how you do it, how would they get in contact with you guys? Sure. Well, you can go to our website, which is atb.org. All of our staff information is available on our website.
There's a description about what accreditation is and who can apply for accreditation or how to find all the accredited organizations that we have. There's a way to search those institutions. But we also have a general member that you can call in the general email on there as well. And people may have specific questions or maybe want us to go into a different direction if we could have you back on.
So info at LOPA.org, we're going to ask you to send your questions, comments, anything about this interview there. And then we'll communicate with Jason. But we appreciate you taking the time to kind of explain what it is that you do and why we do it. Absolutely.
It's a pleasure to be on. I didn't know that people really knew that things like this existed. So it's not very often people ask about an accreditation program. That's nice.
It's the previous resident of New Orleans. Oh, oh. Things in the world. So we knew we liked you for some reason.
I don't know. But thank you so much. It's all about learning here on the Gifted Life. The more lives that can be saved.
So thank you, Jason. Thank you. All right. Here's the ATB accreditation manager.
And we always learn here on the Gifted Life. We are now talking about the Donate Life Rose Float, which is coming up in the Rose Parade. One of my favorite times of the year. Love the float.
Love the themes and just let the whole message behind it. This is when we're on a nationwide audience in front of them. Yeah. The theme Laurie this year is going to be Treasure Life's Journey.
So of course, yeah, the parade's in Pasadena. It's the morning of New Year's. And these floats have these beautiful floor graphs inside with heroes, you know, our past heroes from Louisiana and other states. And of course, Lopa has sponsored one family and one hero and sent their family to Pasadena to help finish the preparation for the parade and finish the decorations.
And then just experience life. It's incredible. And the stories that they bring back are amazing. It's like nothing else they say.
Before the float gets here and rolls down the streets, there's a floor graph of that loved one. So we send an image and these experts really use flowers or flower materials to recreate that image. I mean, it is so good. It's perfect.
I mean, it looks just like the image on the picture. It's amazing that I've seen a few now and I've seen, you know, I've been a part of the final decorations to some of the floor graphs from this past year. So in California, they finished like 98% of it, right? Yes, 98% of it.
And then they sent it to the families to finish, you know, like eyebrows and different things, just small, small, small, final touches. Just to have a touch, to have a helping hand. It is an incredible experience for these families. And us, you know, that way they are to be able to witness this.
Something to be a part of. And so this year, we wanted to let you know that the honoree for Lobo will be Matthew Walsh. And we didn't want to share a little bit about Matthew's story with you. He will always be remembered by his family and friends for that beautiful smile that they say he had.
He was outgoing, personable, and loyal with a passion for both playing and watching sports. At 21, Matthew was involved in a car accident that caused damage to his brain upon hearing that he would not survive. His mom, a surgical recovery room nurse, immediately requested that his organs be donated. Matthew's heart, kidney, liver, tissue, bone, and corneous were all donated to help save the lives of those in need.
The receiving Matthew's heart recipient, Raymond Stellie, lived four more years. He was able to walk two daughters down the aisle and see the birth of two grandchildren. That's powerful. So Matthew Walsh, you will see his face on the rose parade float treasure life's journey.
Again, that's happening January 1st. What an honor for that family as well. And it's just going to be something for you to witness and experience. I'll be watching.
Yeah. So we'll have updates on our social media outlets to kind of get you ready. Here's what the float looks like. Here's more stories of those people who will be involved, but really catch a glimpse of.
If you see nothing else during the rose parade, check out this float. Something to see. Here on the gifted life podcast, we have Miss Sally Gentry of Lopez, Family Services Department, always a pleasure to visit with Sally. And we always learn so much more.
Today we're talking about grief that's we're focusing on and we're learning that it's not one size fits all when it comes to grieving. That's right. And Sally, 20 years ago or so I was in nursing and we did, I don't know, 20-something hours of psychology and we learned a lot about coogler also. You had to go through these five stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
And you couldn't get to acceptance without being depressed first. So that was how we learned things years ago. So can you tell me a little bit about, you know, I know you and I have talked a lot about grief and the grieving process, the latest information that's out there on grief. I just want to briefly address Coogler Ross and the fact that, and it was fact that she was talking about adjusting to one's own impending death.
And she was not talking about the death of someone else, but that didn't seem to dull the enthusiasm for people to say, well, let's just move it on over now to this part of what's going on. And so the theory really became over-applied. And it was just kind of taught during the time, well, that's just the way things have to be. But as we know, that loss and grief don't occur in a vacuum, that individuals go through the grieving process in all different sorts of ways, depending on their cultural background, their family backgrounds, just the historical backgrounds, have their families deal with it.
And most of the time, you know, there's also their beliefs and values and assumptions about the world. So there's lots of things that come into play in the grieving process. But I think what's important for us to know is that the critical part of this is that everyone grieves in their own specific and unique way. And many times it's very similar to what others go through.
And many times it's not, because we can see some families or some friends, whomever it may be, that seem to just kind of go right on through after the death. And they seem to be fine, and people kind of wonder about that. But that's how they were able to cope. And then when we talk about the coping part of grief, that too, and when I say modern-day theorists, within the last 25 years, they've taken a look at coping and grief and how we're using the language.
And part of the problem is that when you say coping, it really puts a time limit on it. And then you should be, you know, once you've gone through this, you've coped with it, you should be through, you hear people talking about closure, or now I should be finished with my grief. But as you all know, grieving, that's just not how it works for most people. And the thing is this, that grief doesn't end, but it does change.
And your modern thinkers are looking at using adaptation. You adapt to the grief. And what that means is it becomes less painful, less intense. It's a much more respectful approach, because it enhances motivation.
It provides support. It facilitates change. It does not put the labels that you're talking about onto an individual. And I think that, you know, when you work with grieving families, it's important for families to know that they may have a multiple range of thoughts and feelings and behaviors.
That's associated with the death of their loved one, and that their grief is unique in one size doesn't fit all. Right. I mean, so often as a clinician, you know, you get kind of sucked into the belief, well, this person maybe should be angry right now, and why are they laughing? Or maybe they should be feeling a certain way.
And that's the important thing. We discuss, you know, among our local family to make sure that we understand that no one, no two people will grieve the same. It's not like just because, you know, they're not angry and maybe you would, you know, it's not that their grief is wrong or any less, you know, they're grieving the same amount of grief. It's just that's the way they're coping or that's the way they're dealing with their loss.
Yeah, that's right. And I think memories of what's been lost, that the person, whatever the value is that has been placed on that individual by their family, that those feelings will always be there, because they're associated with that individual. But again, it becomes less intense, less painful, and basically there's no rules to grief, you know, there's no set stages, there's no task that people need to follow through, except for their own personal journey and the task just those that we set for ourselves. You know, growing up, I heard about those stages as well, so I'm grateful to hear of the change that's coming.
I like adaptation. I think it sounds positive. I lost my mom 20 years ago, and you know, always hear, you got to stay busy. You got to sign up for more classes.
You got to do that. And that didn't work for me. No, no, because that wasn't the way that you could, you had to have the time to take in what had happened for you, and staying busy doesn't keep your mind off the situation at hand. Right.
Keep me up at night because during the day I'm so busy. Right. So we appreciate you, Sally, enlightening us. You know, it's all about a learning process here on the Gifted Life, and we're going to continue this conversation with Sally.
She has committed to joining us here on the podcast to tell us what Lopa's Family Services Division is doing and how we're moving forward. But if you heard something that we talked about today, you want to learn more, you maybe have questions or you want us to go in a different direction for the next podcast, info at Lopa.org, and then we'll take those questions and we'll take them to Sally, and then we'll address them here on the podcast. But coming up on the Gifted Life next time, we'll continue this conversation on grief. It is now time to honor a hero celebrating the life of someone who selflessly gave.
And today, Joey, that person is Alex Scooter Corcoran. And what I love are the pictures attached. So if you go to Lopa.org, faces have a donation, you can see kind of what we're talking about. I love the smiles, I love the hugs.
I can see, I can kind of feel what these folks who write in these letters were thinking we're saying we're seeing, right? So I'm going to read this story because it just kind of touches my heart. This is written by Mom, and I just think it's beautiful. So Alex Scooter Corcoran is who we're honoring.
So we're talking about Alex. Mom sent this in. He wanted one last bike ride before he called it a night. How do you begin to describe this child?
To me, and this is Mom writing, he was my gift from God. Most unique individual I've ever known. He loved life. He loved to live.
The world, according to Alex, was a place to have fun. We like this kid, right? He didn't like to concern himself with everyday drudgery, such as school and chores. His imagination knew no boundaries.
He was a free spirit to go where the wind blew him, and he sampled all the pleasures life had to offer along the way. He was not bound by rules of society. He had a tremendous spirit and was a child who definitely knew what he wanted. He made friends wherever he went because Alex never met a stranger.
He was very observant of his friends' interests and loved giving little gifts that he found or made for no other reason than to make them happy. He was truly a child of God. On the eve of the accident after putting his cookies and cream ice cream away, I feel sure that his only thought was to take one more quick bike ride before he came in for the night. He often acted on impulse with no thought of fear or consequences, just like Mama.
And remember this is where Mama. That's my baby, she says. I couldn't be more proud of him. He died doing what he loved most, being free and having fun.
There are no words to express the depth of heartache I have now that he is gone. I mean, just powerful. Alex Sooder Corcoran, letter written by Mom, very powerful, very raw. You can see the description.
And you can see this little guy's face, Slope.org faces of donation. At this point in the podcast, we do want to pause and we want to say thank you to Alex Sooder Corcoran for the gift of life. To add your questions here on the gift of life podcast, this one came in Joey. It says, I was thinking about taking myself off the list because of osteoporosis.
Can I potentially still donate tissue? Bones specifically. That's a great question, Lori. The simplest answer is, Lori, don't review yourself out.
Yes, osteoporosis creates a bone that's less dense. So they can't use it for certain bone grafts or tissue transplants, but there are so many other transplants that it still can be used for. So absolutely, even if you have osteoporosis or other bone diseases, don't review yourself out. Let us and the physicians make that determination.
And most importantly of all, Lori, make sure your family knows what your wishes are as far as donation is concerned. Great question. Thanks for sending it in. And if you have a question that you want us to tackle here on the gift of life, send it to us at info at loba.org.
Another episode of the gift of life has come to a close. Oh, what fun we have learning, spreading awareness. It's just a good time. So thank you for sharing it.
And we want to thank our guests too who take the time to be here. And we want to thank Jason Loverity of AATB, the accreditation manager, just to enlighten us, teaching us a little bit about what it entails accreditation and how they keep tissue transplants safe. And then of course, as always, thanks to Sally Gentry, that girl. I think we need a little drum roll or something for her.
Absolutely. That was a great piece on grief, one of the beginning pieces on grief. We always learn. We always want to push forward.
Because I've always, like I said, learned a little bit about the Kubler-Ross five stages. She's enlightening me. Yeah, it's all about learning, starting those healthy conversations. And Sally, you know, Jack of all trades.
We were just out the other night speaking of those who get involved in helping us spread the word. We had a mixture of folks out. We were at a Mexican restaurant. We had a good time learning about donation.
And I think everyone really enjoyed it. I could look around and say, I mean, you're right, all ages from small children up to older individuals and everyone in between. And it was just a fun way to bring awareness to donation and to LOPA and what we do. So it was great.
And LSU students did a phenomenal job, didn't they? That's just part of their campaign. But so many people learning about donation who normally wouldn't. And what they did was music being so it was so fun.
But look, we have different events across the state. It's easy for you to get involved. You can get as fun as possible. And it's easy to do and get connected.
Yeah, look us up. Look us up on LOPA.org on our main page, on our home page. Right. We go volunteer button.
Click on that volunteer button and help us out. Spread the word. Yeah, and your information will go to the community educator near you. No pressure.
We'll let you know what's happening. If you can make it, come on down. All right, we appreciate you listening. Do something to let someone know about donation today that you wouldn't normally do.
We thank you for helping us save lives. Thanks for listening here. I'll make gifted life.