Sheridan Nygaard
Appearances
Health Chatter
Weight Loss Meds
Okay, yeah. So I'm speaking kind of of social media and maybe some other things that I've seen online. Can you speak to any of the not FDA approved weight loss?
Health Chatter
Weight Loss Meds
medications or methods that I've kind of seen promoted, you know, like there's like tummy detox teas and there's like all of the, I know you're a pharmacist and you specialize in things that are approved, but have you seen any implications from the things that aren't?
Health Chatter
100th Episode Special
Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot to reflect on. I think one thing I was thinking about in terms of where we've been, I think it's been, what, like a little over two years now from the beginning. I personally, you know, I think I started, I joined my second year of grad school, and I don't think, in full transparency, I don't think I thought about I would stay beyond graduation.
Health Chatter
100th Episode Special
I thought maybe it would just be like a nice experience to have while I was in school. And I can't seem to let go. Not that I've been trying to let go, but it's just like I it's just been a really meaningful and impactful and exciting part of my life as I've graduated from grad school and and, you know, gotten into a full time job. So, you know, on the one hand, it's it's
Health Chatter
100th Episode Special
it's exciting to have kind of like a finger on the pulse of things that are going on in the public health world with all of our, um, incredible guests that we bring on and that we get to talk to. Um, but also I really love kind of what Sheridan was saying. I love the team. This is a great group of people.
Health Chatter
100th Episode Special
Everyone has really diverse backgrounds and experiences and it's, it's nice to come together and to, and to kind of bring all of that, um,
Health Chatter
100th Episode Special
together um and to apply those different lenses and perspectives to different topics so um yeah it's just it's just a it's a it's a feel-good thing um and in terms of where we're going I think just kind of to echo what Sheridan said and what Matthew had said earlier about you know one of the cool things about public health, for better or for worse, I guess, is that
Health Chatter
100th Episode Special
Episodes that we did in the early days, you know, a year or a year and a half ago, we could talk about again and things would be totally different. So before we started recording, we were talking about we did an early episode about homelessness like over a year ago or maybe a year ago.
Health Chatter
100th Episode Special
And if we had if we bring on a new guest or the same guest and we talk about it now in 2024, I'm sure there'd be a lot, you know, there'd be. different things to say. So in that way, I think the fact that public health is like iterative is really exciting for us to kind of dive into and unpack.
Health Chatter
100th Episode Special
And yeah, I think there's just, you know, there's an endless amount of topics that we can experiment with. And I think the fact that this crew is so open to kind of leaning into that and open minded to talking about and learning about and leaning into different areas of public health and kind of stretching all of our understandings is a super cool opportunity to be a part of.
Health Chatter
100th Episode Special
So I'm really grateful for where we have been and I'm excited to see where we go from here.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
Yeah. That's a pretty big question. I think it depends on, I think being in public health, we, we see a lot of different ways people can die, get sick, get ill, accidents, illnesses, cancer, heart attacks. We look at these statistics all the time. So I have a growing sense of Fear, not necessarily of dying, but being one of the statistics that we work with. But that's a super specific feeling.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
I also think it's a cultural based thing because a lot of cultures do embrace death and see it as a relief. It kind of depends on your religious, cultural, a lot of things. And I actually am still in that journey myself. But I do feel that fear towards some of the statistics that we work with all day. Go ahead, DeAndra.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
Yeah, to continue your point, Stan, I even feel it's easier than ever to immortalize people now with the internet, with these health chatter podcasts are going to live longer than we are. Not to mention also, my dad does YouTube for, he makes these videos for
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
People, kids that maybe grew up without a dad or a figure in their life that would teach them how to change their oil in their car or how to do these basic things like put windshield wiper fluid in their car, how to fix brake pads, like really simple things that maybe they didn't have a figure in their life that would be able to show them how to do that.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
So it's just this Midwestern dad showing people, here's how you do this. And this is his he feels that this is one of his gifts to people and also that it's a way for him to kind of be immortalized. He will always be immortalized as a Midwest dad that likes to help people fix their cars and boats. And I think that that's kind of lovely. So I think it's easier now more than ever.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
I actually feel like this brings me to something from D'Andra's research. Some things I think are the same, but just a little different. Like, for example, commonly throughout history, blood was seen as a popular anti-aging remedy. And today there is a big push for anti-aging like immortality. I believe the guy's name is Brian Johnson.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
He's a tech entrepreneur and he takes the blood of his younger son and infuses it with his own. And so it seems like even some of these things that we used to do to be immortal, make their rounds again, they come back. And I think that even that, And Amazon's got their teeth into some anti-aging like cell rejuvenation thing. Google has their teeth in it, too.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
It seems like it's a pretty hot topic right now. And it seems like it's kind of always been. And some of the some of the tactics or techniques that people think that they can achieve immortality have not changed, which I find quite amusing.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
Yeah, I actually, I think I want to tie everything. Everybody had such great points and I kind of want to tie in a few themes from this episode. What Clarence said earlier on our tombstones, we have The day we were born, a dash, and the day we die. And I think I want to ask readers, what do you want to do with your dash? What do you want to do? Your time is now.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
And as much as we don't want to think about death, that dash is happening now. And you get to decide what that looks like. You get to decide who is in your life. If someone is making your life a living hell, get them out of it. There is no need. Why waste any of your precious time on people that do not make your dash feel like a good time? So just think about that.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
Even if you're even if you're my age, you know, you feel like you have all this time left, but you only have so much time in the body that you're in with the mind that you have. So you might as well use it to the fullest of your extent of what you think is best.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
Yeah, I can go ahead for sure. So I think I was the one that kind of sparked this conversation in the first place in one of the other episodes. We have several episodes on death, dying, hospice care. A lot of these things bring up these thoughts and feelings of mortality and immortality. And I, like Stan, had been around death pretty young and you're confronted with
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
The reality of death when you don't even necessarily have a full understanding of what it means to be alive. That was my experience. And as I grew up and I continue to be surrounded by death and dying, as I grew up and I got a little bit. older, I realized despite seeing death, I did have an illusion of immortality, probably up until I was like 21.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
I think that might have something to do with brain development that might have to do with, you know, education, learning. I'm not really sure. But now that I'm 25 now, and I work with participants, research participants that are 70, 80, 90, 100. And seeing death,
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
Seeing and speaking with these people on a day-to-day basis that are at a much different place in their timeline of life than I am, they remind me of my mortality. Despite me being so young, I think about that.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
And I think that it has such a positive impact on my life, believe it or not, because I've turned myself into a little bit of a yes man, where I don't say no to things unless there's a really, really good reason for me not to do things. because I know that I might not have this opportunity again in my lifetime. And life is to be lived while you're alive.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
And so I think that without the reminder that I get from my research participants, from the elders in my life, I don't think I would have the same outlook. And I truly think it makes me a better person. And I don't think I always had this outlook. I definitely had the illusion of immortality when I was You know, you're 16. You're like, what could happen? Like, I'll speed.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
I'll do these crazy things. Nothing could possibly happen. When you get older, you realize anything could happen at any moment. Anything could happen. So that's kind of been my my transition, at least. And I know that that's kind of a unique position to be in at my age, but I do think it's a positive thing in my lifetime.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
Yeah, I love that you guys are going the youth route with this because there was research DeAndra put together, and this is something I've also just noticed in my day-to-day life on social media and being in a Sephora. I don't know when the last time you two stepped into a Sephora, but I've been in a lot of them.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
Yeah, I've been in a few of them recently and the demographics have actually changed of Sephora. Customers are getting younger and younger. There's eight, nine, 10 year olds in there getting anti aging serums for their face. I am not even kidding you. It is a real phenomenon. I looks like Deandra has research on it. Yeah. The anti-aging industry worth is at a 610 billion by 2025.
Health Chatter
Illusion of Immortality
That is a lot of money in just anti-aging. And it looks like since Deandra did the research, I'm going to let her actually comment on this because I think she'd probably know more than I do.
Health Chatter
Motivation
That's a really good question. So it kind of depends on what aspect of health we're talking about. For physical activity, that's something very important to me. I'm also very motivated to cook my own meals every night with my fiance. We spend every night cooking a meal together. It's really good quality time.
Health Chatter
Motivation
But then we're also ensuring that all of the ingredients that we use are fresh and healthy. We know exactly what we're eating every day. One big reason that I'm really motivated for both physical activity and this healthy eating lifestyle is I had a grandma who was not motivated to do these things. She was motivated by a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper and like candy and sweets.
Health Chatter
Motivation
And then she had a very sedentary lifestyle and she had heart disease at the end of her life, actually started pretty early on. And then when she got COVID, she had no chance of fighting COVID off. So she passed away of COVID, mostly due to the underlying heart disease condition.
Health Chatter
Motivation
And I just saw the way that her lifespan, the way that her life turned out in the end, I was highly motivated to make sure that I wasn't stuck in a chair, only watching TV. I know that maybe me having healthier habits now might not make me necessarily live longer, but I'll have more time. help in my later years, I will be able to fully enjoy those later years.
Health Chatter
Motivation
It might not save me time, but it might make that time more enjoyable. So I'm just motivated to be able to live my life to the fullest extent. If I want to go hiking up a mountain, I want to know that my body can take me there. If I want to go walk in Italy for six hours, I want to know that I am in a physical place to be able to do that. So I'm more motivated by life experiences.
Health Chatter
Motivation
I know that other people might be more motivated by like money or like they might be motivated by family or all of these things I think can motivate you in little ways. But I think each of us have one thing that really puts us in that position of I'm actually going to do this every day or I'm going to do this every other day.
Health Chatter
Motivation
Yeah, I think that's exactly what we need to frame it as, is what do you want? Yeah, what do you hope for?
Health Chatter
Motivation
I don't know if I can speak for every young person, but I think that there was a shift for a lot of us from that motivated by work to work and make money and then reinvest in your family and all of that. I think that me, I am less motivated to work. I do not have a dream job. I do not dream of work. I dream of life. I am motivated by life experiences.
Health Chatter
Motivation
And that can be, I mean, traveling, like we talked about, which I do think there is a difference between traveling and vacationing. I think vacationing is sitting on a beach somewhere. And I think people are more excited to...
Health Chatter
Motivation
People that are worried about the stress don't necessarily want to travel because that can be overwhelming to visit several countries or whatever versus just going to Florida and sitting on a beach is maybe a little bit easier.
Health Chatter
Motivation
But I'm more motivated to travel and have those life experiences outside of my own because that's what I really feels like makes up the meat and potatoes of life is learning about other people, trying new foods, being immersed in other cultures. And then also when I come home, it makes me feel more in touch with the culture and the things that we have to offer here in the US.
Health Chatter
Motivation
Each individual state, I think, has some really beautiful, crazy things to offer if you really give it some time. I am motivated to work in a field that I feel passionate about. So public health really lights my soul on fire. I don't think I would be as good at any of the work that I do if I didn't care about what I do.
Health Chatter
Motivation
And so I'm really motivated to not waste any minute of my life doing something I don't want to be doing if I don't have to, unless I really see some value out of it. And I think that might play into motivation in general is,
Health Chatter
Motivation
What are the barriers that people perceive to being motivated like is, is the time commitment, a barrier and maybe this isn't why you're as motivated or does it seem too hard like you said earlier, Stan, or does it, and I think that might have to do. with people's values and perceptions in general. So it is a really deeply personal thing. But I do think that there is a generational difference.
Health Chatter
Motivation
I don't think we're as motivated for the white picket fence. I think we're more motivated by those life experiences, spending time with family, spending time with friends, like hiking, doing those things that you won't get to do when you're 70 plus. I think that I'm really motivated to do that now. Even if it means I can't save up as much to buy a house, I'd rather do that now.
Health Chatter
Motivation
I think it'll be interesting to maybe see other people's perspectives on what motivates them, maybe what keeps them from being motivated. Like I think we talked about the scale earlier and you see that five pounds. I think that might be a short term motivation versus what is going to long term motivate you to keep those five pounds off. Because you might do that.
Health Chatter
Motivation
You might work out for a week and say that's enough of that. So I think it's interesting to think about like so many different levels of motivation in so many different contexts, what it can mean for different people. And especially in healthcare with the interventions that we cook up and we think about,
Health Chatter
Motivation
I think that we maybe need to think about are people even motivated to partake in these interventions? Are people even motivated to follow through with the protocol? That kind of thing. And I think that it's just something to keep in the back of our minds because public health is really about people.
Health Chatter
Motivation
It's really about motivating people to care about the things that we all care about in public health. So I think it's a really important topic, but it's just, it's really hard to put a your finger on the pulse of exactly what motivates people because it's so specific to what your individual values are. So motivating a population is just really a task.
Health Chatter
Motivation
I guess I have more of a question for you guys to chew on. What do we do when someone is experiencing these negative outcomes like diabetes or heart disease, but they are not motivated to make a change?
Health Chatter
Motivation
Even having a physical ailment that sends you to the hospital, like that doesn't necessarily scare them or someone that's maybe been chronically affected by not doing physical activity enough, like sedentary lifestyles. How do we motivate those people that,
Health Chatter
Vaccinations Update
She did have comorbidities, and that is a conversation point that a lot of people like to bring up when they talk about COVID. I had graduated college in 2020. I worked really, really hard to be the kid that sits in the front row, to have the extra tassels. I got 4.0. I really worked hard to be that kid in the front, and then I didn't get to walk. And we'd never got to celebrate my graduation.
Health Chatter
Vaccinations Update
And that was early in 2020. And I felt that sacrifice was necessary for other people's health and safety. And I will stand by that. But I did lose something there. Six months later, my grandma was diagnosed with COVID. And due to certain political pundits or talking points, The majority of my family did not think that COVID was serious enough to go visit her and say goodbye.
Health Chatter
Vaccinations Update
I was the only family member that went and said goodbye to my grandmother on her deathbed. I was not able to enter the building. I was saying goodbye through a window. She called me and she told me... What the hell are you doing out there? Get in here. It's cold out there, Sheridan. What are you doing out there? You're going to catch a cold. You might catch this COVID or something.
Health Chatter
Vaccinations Update
She was very delirious at this point. Her lungs were failing. Her cardiovascular system was failing. It was devastating. I could not go and give her a hug to say goodbye. I was the only family member that ever said anything to her. She ended up dying later that night in a room with... This is such a small world.
Health Chatter
Vaccinations Update
One of my good friends that I graduated high school with, her grandma was the other person in the room. They died together, holding hands, talking about their grandchildren. And I'm getting choked up right now, but she was a week away from getting vaccinated. And I do believe that if she had been vaccinated, things maybe would have gone differently. So...
Health Chatter
Vaccinations Update
I, as her grandchild, as a public health professional, I think it is my duty to get vaccinated for any communicable illness, anything that can keep myself safe, my community safe. And it's really an act of love and it's an act of service. And I just wish that more people saw it as that. And I understand that we live in an individualistic society.
Health Chatter
Vaccinations Update
It's hard to think about the community when you're thinking about your own pain and suffering, getting a shot. But I just think about other folks that lost more than just their grandma, that lost their moms, their kids. There was so much loss.
Health Chatter
Vaccinations Update
And if I can do one thing to prevent that from happening in my community, I'll get the shot and I'll get the shot again and I'll get it again and I'll get it again and I'll continue to do it. So that's just my little personal story.
Health Chatter
Indigenous Health
Yeah, just going back to talking about getting introduced to this topic earlier on. I was born and raised in Minnesota. I went through the public school system here. My first introduction to Indigenous struggles, Indigenous people in general, was in sixth grade in a Minnesota history class. I will, I hate to say this, I will say it was pretty whitewashed.
Health Chatter
Indigenous Health
It was very watered down from what I have sensed unpacked and learned from the community. And I would just like to share a few things that got me involved in the community a little bit more in case this would help other people. Indigenous Peoples Day is coming up October 14th, 2024. Great time to check in with the community.
Health Chatter
Indigenous Health
Great time to check in with the people around you about what they know, what they don't know. where they can get connected with resources and people more. So great day to just start exploring and unpacking. I, last year, found a great reading list of, I think it was like 15 different books that I, I mean, I ended up reading seven of them and every single one of them was great.
Health Chatter
Indigenous Health
So you'll find a lot of resources that day. You'll find a lot of things being shared around, you know, on Instagram stories, Facebook, Instagram, dig into it, click in, read, do your own research, like really engage with some of these sources, resources that people are putting out there because it takes a lot of effort to put this stuff out there. Give it a, give it a listen, give it a read.
Health Chatter
Indigenous Health
And I think this podcast will obviously be sharing on indigenous people's day as well. Um, And then also for me, locally, I live in downtown Minneapolis. I live very close to Awamni, which is a restaurant by The Sous Chef. I have to shamelessly plug that place. It is so good. It is really some of the best food I've had in Minnesota ever.
Health Chatter
Indigenous Health
Truly deserves all the accolades, has one of the most beautiful views of the Mississippi. I and my vegan brother and fiance absolutely adored it too. It is truly an amazing restaurant. If you want to try also the Indigenous Food Lab in the Midtown Global Market.
Health Chatter
Indigenous Health
these are other they have great resources in there they have indigenous cookbooks they have things that you can buy from indigenous communities straight from the communities like it is truly a great way just start talking to those folks too I don't know I just think that go out there get in the community and just give it a try and just don't be afraid to also like make a mistake and say I'm sorry I love that I love that thanks for sharing Clarence
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
For me, I am not religious. I would call myself more spiritual, but I don't really know what that means. I'm currently in the process of trying to kind of explore that for myself.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
um my family is not very religious we are not super in touch with our cultural roots um so every funeral has been different for me um just based on preference and i think that's kind of an interesting thing about america is you can really find any kind of funeral or memorial service or celebration of life service today you can
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
You can really I mean, I've gone to a tree planting ceremony where somebody had their ashes made into like a tree and we planted that and everybody threw dirt onto the tree. And it was really lovely. But I've never seen anything like that before. I've also done the traditional funerals just in like a funeral home with open caskets and whatnot.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
So I think it's one thing I have found beautiful is the. the breadth of different ways that you can decide to celebrate your life at the end. I think something that's really interesting about this is we plan funerals and we never get to attend our own funeral and we never get to hear the beautiful things that all of our loved ones say about us. So I think I had this thought when I was 15.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
I said, I think if I know that I would be dying, I think I would have my funeral with me still there. I think I would force everybody to come with me still there. And I would like to hear all of those things for myself. And if they would still like to do something after I've passed, sure. But I mean, it's a little different. I'm not sure how many people would be interested in going. But
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
Yeah, absolutely. So this is actually probably we could do a whole episode, I think, on medical body donation. I would like to I would like to prep and if people are interested, we would I would absolutely be willing to do that. But I would like to preface that the organ donation is very different than medical body donation. Absolutely. Yep.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
Organ donation has to you have to consent to this while you're still alive. You would say so on your driver's license or an advanced directive. And you would just be donating organs in certain situations. And it can also include your skin and eyes and all of these other useful components to living people.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
Now, when you die and if for some reason you have not indicated exactly how you would want to be buried or cremated, and your family is kind of at a loss, and a lot of times families cannot afford the costs associated with a funeral service, that's where these medical body donation situations come into play. And so there are several different types of organizations that do this.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
You can donate directly to universities. So the University of Minnesota is one of them where I work and am a grad student. And you can donate your body directly to the University of Minnesota. This is going to be one of the more regulated ways to donate your body to science. Otherwise, there are these other organizations, and they come in several different names.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
There is a legal commercial market that exists for the purchase and sale of cadavers and even dismembered parts. So the loved ones of the descendants of the decedents they make no profit on the remains of these, of their loved ones. So they, basically are selling their loved ones remains to a body broker who collects cadavers generally for free.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
And the body brokers stand to make somewhere between 4,000 and 8,000, typically around 5,800 for selling a whole cadaver. So picture this, your loved one has just passed. You can't afford a funeral. Somebody approaches you for a free way to have them cremated and you and also use some of their body for science. There is a contract that you sign. The contract is highly legal.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
It has a lot of jargon. It's very confusing. You sign it because you don't have a lot of other options. And then you find out later that your loved one's body was not used for actual medical research. It was used for research literally anywhere. The bodies could be sold to the military. It could be used...
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
by like research companies that are trying to understand like knee implants and how they would fit into bodies and things like this. So you really have no idea where your loved one is going after you have signed this contract. You're typically told that it will be used for research and education, but there's really little oversight and people that have done
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
exposés and a lot more research into this topic have found several instances where bodies are being exploited. One example is that a body was donated to Tulane University in 2004, where it was shipped to a broker who then passed this body to the army for landmine experiments. Now, for me, that happening to my loved one, that would just be devastating. That is truly a gross misuse of
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
exploitation of someone's grief and lack of resources. And this is unfortunately still going on. I know that that is in 2004, but there have been several instances. You can look them up. It's really concerning. But yeah, a lot of that came up in my research. But this, again, I would like to make it very clear, this is extremely different than organ donation.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
And we have an entire episode on organ donation, which if you have any questions, go check that episode out, but it is entirely different. Please do try to keep them separate in your head. I know they sound similar, but that is a really important point that they are very different.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
I think Maddie wanted to skip her last thoughts. I just got that message.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
Yeah, I unfortunately have quite a bit of experience with death and dying in my life. Like Barry, I also professionally am surrounded by it a lot. I worked in research with much older people. They call them the oldest old in literal research. So they're much older than even just like senior citizens. They're 80s, 90s, 100.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
And I'm constantly losing participants or talking to participants that are in hospice or losing a loved one. So I'm really surrounded by it a lot in my in my daily life. And then in my personal life, I certainly have been through quite a few losses. I've talked about them on the podcast before, especially in the organ donation episode. So do refer back to that episode if that's interesting to you.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
And I would also like to note that organ donation and the conversation that we're having today are going to be very different, but they are obviously linked in a way. And we do have other episodes about death and dying. So check those out if you're interested in this topic. But my personal experience has been different with every death.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
So I think it's just interesting as you grow as a person and as you have more life experiences, your experience with death and dying changes a lot, too. And a lot of the death that I... I lost my grandma over COVID, so I was not able to say goodbye. I was not able to see her. It was really, really challenging. We'll definitely talk about COVID later.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
I did the research for today's episode, so I know that that's in there. I also know that I learned so much from the research. I didn't go into a lot of detail about... the differences between cultures. And I think that we can talk about that with our own personal experiences here. But I'm just really excited to talk more about it.
Health Chatter
Burials, Funerals, & Health
The research was really interesting and looking forward to the conversation.
Health Chatter
Sorrow, Hope and Health
Yeah. So, Patty, you know, what's super interesting about that is growing. I was born in 1998 and growing up. One of my best friends lived very close to me and we would bike to and from each other's houses. It's just a little bit faster. And I do remember when we first started venturing out a little bit further, our parents sat us down and actually talked about this case and said, well,
Health Chatter
Sorrow, Hope and Health
There are things that you need to be aware of and things that you need to be vigilant about. And I think it was a really good segue for my parents to both of our parents actually, to sit down with us and just have a general talk about safety. And I think that you and Jacob's story really sparks a lot of necessary conversation for families.
Health Chatter
Sorrow, Hope and Health
I also want to point out that it sounds like community was crucial for your healing process here. Sounds like community members and just the effort of community coming together. And that's something that's really, I'm passionate about. I study community health promotion. And so it's honestly, it's just really touching to hear that
Health Chatter
Sorrow, Hope and Health
the community could come together and help you individually, help your family, help other kids feel safe, and figure out how to tackle these problems as a community. I just wanted to note that. I think that's beautiful.
Health Chatter
Organ Donation with LifeSource
Yeah, unfortunately, I would say I do have a lot of insight on the process of organ donation, not as a recipient or donor myself, although I am registered as a donor on my license. And I encourage anybody that is willing and able to as well. Just check your license, see if you're registered. And next time you get it renewed, consider adding yourself if you're not. But my aunt last summer said,
Health Chatter
Organ Donation with LifeSource
became very ill. She had Graves disease and she had a thyroid problem and she's in the hospital and she ended up aspirating and her heart just kind of went out and she still had some brain activity. So they ended up getting her heart working again, but she had very, very little brain activity. And so this was over several months of, you know, back and forth about
Health Chatter
Organ Donation with LifeSource
What what does it mean to be a human being at a certain point when you've lost all capability to really exist without a ventilator and everything? And ultimately, as a family, we decided and also it was in her will, living will. So I also encourage you to make sure that, you know, you have all of your your.
Health Chatter
Organ Donation with LifeSource
eyes dotted and your t's crossed in your living will with your wishes um and we determined that it would be best to let her peacefully pass and we were approached by life source to have her be an organ donor and we she had not previously indicated on her license but she had indicated it in her living will so that made it a little bit easier but it also complicated things not having it directly on her license so again i encourage you if you support this to put this on your license um
Health Chatter
Organ Donation with LifeSource
and I the whole process it happened over a day after we took her off the ventilator and I'm sure that the the team can speak to this a little bit more but they don't actually they they had her pass naturally so they don't actually give you anything to pass and if you don't pass in a certain time frame they actually can't harvest your organs and so that's I really want to
Health Chatter
Organ Donation with LifeSource
emphasize the statistic that less than 1% of donors end up meeting the extremely specific criteria to donate their organs. It's a very, very specific criteria. However, even if all of your organs cannot be harvested, your eye tissue and other tissues can still be harvested. So this is still going to help so many people with the gift of eyesight, the gift of tissue can help
Health Chatter
Organ Donation with LifeSource
countless people, but really the organs are very difficult to procure from my understanding. And throughout the entire process, LifeSource made us feel so much more comfortable. They answered our questions every step of the way. They were next to her bed with us when we were saying goodbye. They gave her, I think, what they call a hero walk as they took her off.
Health Chatter
Organ Donation with LifeSource
I'm going to start tearing up as they took off the ventilator. All of the health care workers came into the hallway and just clapped as they took her to go harvest her organs. And it was really, really special, you guys. Oh my gosh, it was really, really special. They gave us a heartbeat in a bottle. And so now I still have her heartbeat in a bottle on my shelf.
Health Chatter
Organ Donation with LifeSource
I don't think that we would have been able to comfortably go through the process without LifeSource really holding our hands every step of the way. My tears were all over the consent forms. And the lovely lady really just held my hand and gave me boxes of tissues and
Health Chatter
Organ Donation with LifeSource
It was very difficult, and without the support and love and kindness of the transplant team, we would not have been able to handle it. And I really feel that she was honored. This happened at HCMC, and there is a flag that they raise for people that donate their organs. And they do a flag raising ceremony. And that was really, really special as well.
Health Chatter
Organ Donation with LifeSource
So the way that I felt that Teresa's life was honored, second to none, there is no possible way that you could have made that they could have made the process feel any easier. Just like everything that they did really made me feel comfortable and the rest of my family. And it's a really difficult time. Not everybody necessarily agrees with organ donation. So
Health Chatter
Organ Donation with LifeSource
Just having that support really made it leaps and bounds better. And even to this day, they get you in contact with other families that went through the process. And it's really special to hear from other families that maybe lost a kid or lost somebody else. And it's just really special to have that community. So thank you, LifeSource. Thank you all organ donation services.
Health Chatter
Organ Donation with LifeSource
It was so difficult, but you guys made it so much better.
Health Chatter
Organ Donation with LifeSource
Yeah. Can I also just say thank you to The organ donation team, without you guys, there wouldn't be the beauty in the pain of losing my aunt.
Health Chatter
Organ Donation with LifeSource
Knowing that somebody else out there is getting the gift of seeing a beautiful sunset or seeing their granddaughter's face or their mother's face or, you know, just some of the hardships in the world and that my aunt in her last moments could pass that on to everyone Another human being is really the most beautiful thing I could possibly think of.
Health Chatter
Organ Donation with LifeSource
So really, without you guys, that wouldn't be possible. Thank you so much for letting me share my story, too. And I just want to say also thank you to my aunt Teresa for being willing to donate.
Health Chatter
Health Disparities
Yeah, no problem. Also, I love the mention of Second Harvest Heartland. I used to work with them. Fabulous company. If you're ever experiencing food insecurity, consider checking out their resources. I also really appreciated your commentary on shifting our mindset in the healthcare field to shift blame off of the patients. I think that's a really important point.
Health Chatter
Health Disparities
Comment, we've also been discussing disparities mostly in terms of race and ethnicity. And obviously we have work to be done in the racial and ethnic disparities. For example, the maternal mortality rates is much higher for black women in the US. And I'd like to push a conversation more towards intersectionality. With the maternal mortality example, these patients are black and women.
Health Chatter
Health Disparities
This is two groups that have disparities separate, but together they compound. Um, and in our research from, I don't remember who did our research. I think it was Aaron or Maddie. Somebody did some lovely research. Maddie. Thank you, Maddie.
Health Chatter
Health Disparities
Um, it's also pride month and our research showed that black and or trans Minnesotans reported the highest rate of unfair treatment by healthcare providers, uh, How do we address the compounding effects of disparities for individuals that exist in these intersections between race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, sexual identity?
Health Chatter
Health Disparities
Black and trans people are going to have a much different experience than white cisgendered. And how do we address these compounding effects?