BBM: Spotlight on Women in Business

FREE THE STATE OF OIL AND GAS

OUR COMMUNITY GIVES BACK

SPOTLIGHT ON: WOMEN IN BUSINESS

MASK UP LOUISIANA

MAY 2020

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MAY 2020 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

PUBLISHER’S NOTE |

MAY 2020 • VOLUME 3 • ISSUE 5

TABLE OF CONTENTS IN EVERY ISSUE:

SPOTLIGHT ON: WOMEN IN BUSINESS 10 12 14

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FROM MOTHER TO DAUGHTER

Felger’s Footwear spans two generations of women in business.

06 08 16 18

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

Paisley Park proves to be a success for a local “momtrepreneur”.

NEVER RETREAT

Simone Maloz advocates for the coast.

GOVERNMENT UPDATE Trust is a Two-Way Street

OIL AND GAS UPDATE

State of the Oil and Gas Industry

FROM THE TOP Elmy Savoie

MOVERS & SHAKERS Headlines and accolades

BUSINESS NEWS

Crawfish season may end early

PUBLISHER

Brian Rushing EDITORIAL Mary Ditch EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Drew Miller CONTRIBUTING WRITER

CREATIVE Lauren Pontiff GRAPHIC DESIGNER

ADVERTISING Deanne Ratliff DIRECTOR OF SALES Beth Tabor

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE Michelle Ortego

SPOTLIGHT ON WOMEN IN BUSINESS

CONTACT Publisher: publisher@rushing-media.com Editorial: editor@bayoubusinessmonthly.com Sales: sales@rushing-media.com

W

hat an interesting time to be a business owner in America.

As we uploaded last month’s issue on what turned out to be our last day working within the physical constraints of a building, we had no idea the next week would be the beginning of the new “business as usual” for our team. On Monday, March 16, Rushing Media went completely remote.

We are lucky. Since our on-site server started letting us know it was dying around Christmas, we started moving all of our data to Google Drive along with an office wide migration to Google’s G-Suite. It’s been a bumpy transition but now we all know it was worth it.

We have adapted and flourished with our team working from their homes. Our sister company, Reimagine Marketing, has been able to help several other local, small businesses navigate the choppy waters of a Stay-at-Home order buy helping them move online. Our team stands at the ready to help you continue to navigate what will be the “new normal” for the foreseeable future.

In this month’s edition, we shine a Spotlight on Women in Business.

According to a study by American Express, between 1997 and 2017, the number of women-owned businesses increased by 114 percent, a rate 2.5 times higher than the national average.

Right here in the Bayou Region, we proudly support our women-owned and women-run businesses.

The mother-daughter duo of Brenda Felger and Rebecca Romano have been finding your perfect fit at Felger’s Footwear since 1991. The footwear store has been the recipient of a multitude of awards over the years.

Sometimes coming up with a business idea is as easy as recognizing a need that you have, with no local solution, and seeking to provide that solution to others. Such is the case for Jennifer Robinson with Paisley Park. Robinson recognized the need for a children’s resale store in our area, and set to work making that a reality.

A passion for the state where she was born and raised drives Simone Maloz, the executive director of Restore or Retreat, to be successful in her career. She is encouraged by how many women have entered her field as leaders in the advocacy realm.

As we keep moving forward from the pandemic that has gripped our country, business owners will have to adapt to stay afloat. We will need to embrace the restrictions that are placed on us and find ways to be resourceful and support one another.

We will emerge changed, but I believe, for the better.

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Reproduction or use, without written permission, of editorial or graphics content in any manner is prohibited.

Bayou Business Monthly is published monthly by Rushing Media.

MAY 2020 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

GOVERNMENT UPDATE | BY STEPHEN WAGUESPACK, LABI PRESIDENT

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bout two weeks ago, certain businesses in Lafayette Parish opened their doors to a new way of doing things. They wear masks if interacting with customers. They established systems for spacing employees and customers six feet apart. They monitor employees’ health and don’t allow sick workers to report in. They keep to 25 percent of their fire

marshal’s set capacity. And if they don’t, they risk fines and even having their utilities cut. It meant some adjustments, creativity and patience, but… they were back in business. Meeting their customers’ needs, providing paychecks for their employees and jump-starting a community’s economy – safely.

That’s because the leadership in that area listened to employers, consulted

with health care experts, worked with economic development officials and came up with a creative solution for businesses that fall within the “gray area” of the governor’s “Stay at Home” order… they’re non-essential, but also nonprohibited. They trusted their people. It’s estimated in Lafayette Parish alone, that gray area covered roughly 60 percent of the parish’s businesses. And the governor

confirmed that indeed, this “Safe Shop Policy” complied with his order, and these gray area businesses could have been open this whole time, with such safety measures in place. So, if this type of policy is deemed safe and smart for one community, why not for the rest of the state?

Governments don’t exist without taxpayers and taxpayers don’t exist

spent the past few weeks reaching out individually and in groups to understand what they need to bounce back from the effects of this shutdown.

They’ve been specific in asking that certain regulations be lifted to allow operations, that incentives be tweaked to keep investment robust, and that laws – especially liability protection – be changed in the short term, so they can recover in the long-term. We look forward to releasing those policy recommendations in the coming weeks, but in the immediate future, we ask for something far simpler: It’s time for government to start trusting the people they represent again.

Everyone has learned a lot over the last month or so. We are all much wiser to the need to take smart, sanitary steps to protect ourselves, our family and our neighbors. People get it. Businesses get it, too. It’s time to let people start using that new knowledge and get back to work in a safe manner.

The legislature seems to get it. They have already stated they are ready to get back to work in a safe way and they seem ready to focus on steps to piece this broken economy back together again.

We commend them for that mindset and hope the governor will adopt the same goal soon.

Trust is a two-way street. The people of Louisiana trusted government weeks ago when they were told to sacrifice everything they had to stay home for the greater good. That trust has held firm for weeks now. Now, it is time for government to return that trust to them.

The people have earned that right… by their commitment to social distancing, by their sacrifice of their jobs, by the health care providers who have fought courageously, by the employers who stayed open to serve and by the ones patiently begging and waiting for a chance to do the same. It’s time to get back to work. It’s time for government to return that trust.

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without jobs. It’s time to start listening to employers on how best to put the pieces of our economy back together.

The best way to listen to employers is simply to pay attention to what is happening right now in towns across Louisiana. The businesses providing essential services, such as hardware stores, grocers, the maintenance and construction companies, have operated safely for weeks now. They are meeting the needs of the community, keeping their workers employed and taking smart steps to protect public health. They’ve shown us how to conduct ourselves, and in the meantime, the curve has indeed flattened.

There’s an all-too-prevalent but incorrect assumption that when anyone speaks about the need to open businesses back up, they’re putting the almighty dollar ahead of human lives. But that’s just not the case. That’s a political talking point.

These are our neighbors, our friends, job-creators in our own communities who want to do the right thing. They just want to be allowed to do so.

We’ve all had to pivot in our personal lives. We’ve figured out video conferencing. We’ve adjusted to home school. We’ve altered our daily lives to meet our household needs with health at the forefront, and employers at essential businesses have done the same. When forced to adapt, these entrepreneurs, leaders, thinkers and doers have come up with innovative ways to serve, in a way that makes their clients and customers confident they’re entering a safe environment.

Since this crisis started, nearly 350,000 jobs have been lost. Each one of those represents a Louisiana family who is now desperately searching for stability and answers – for them, two weeks is too long a wait. Some projections put the state’s post COVID-19 unemployment rate near 22 percent, which would be the highest since the Great Depression.

At LABI, our more than 2,000 member businesses large and small collectively employ more than 320,000 Louisiana workers – including a significant number in the health care sector. We constantly seek their guidance and input, and have

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OIL & GAS |

MAY 2020 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

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BY GIFFORD BRIGGS, PRESIDENT, LOUISIANA OIL & GAS ASSOCIATION

here is no doubt that COVID-19 has shaken our country to its core.

Families and communities across the nation are adapting to unforeseen challenges from record unemployment, shuttered business and schools as well as stay-at-home orders. These are significant hurdles, and while it’s hard to imagine that is only half of what Louisiana energy producers are facing.

Before COVID-19 began to make its impact on the United States, Saudi Arabia and Russia had parted ways, retreated to their corners, decided to end their production cuts, and began planning to increase production. This news laid waste to oil prices, creating a 30% drop in prices over the first weekend in March. Coupled with the decline that began Jan 1, 2020, US oil producers were facing a 79% decline in prices from $61.06 to $12.34 at the time of this writing.

Over the next few weeks, as COVID-19 swept across the globe, demand for oil

began to tumble, bringing prices down with it. With consumption suppressed everywhere, storage facilities began filling up. With oversupply thrown open

by Russia and Saudi Arabia, a perfect storm began brewing for the oil and gas industry.

Larger companies, multi-nationals, super-majors and the like have the ability to weather the storm. They can reduce their capital expenditures as many have already done, focus on their refining capabilities, minimize expenditures and survive on reserves. The same cannot be said for the service companies and smaller independents.

This environment is crushing independents, the backbone of the industry. A survey of our members indicated that many are expecting to lay off as many as 70% of their workforce over the next 90 days, and we are very early still in this downturn. The margins were thin already with the break-even price for oil

at $37 and $2 for natural gas in Louisiana.

Now with prices half or even a third of break-even, companies are left with the choice at producing at a loss or no longer producing. As many as four or five have already begun shutting in production.

The service companies that support the industry will be hit the hardest. With wells not being drilled and work-overs not being completed, their services will no longer be needed, completely eliminating the income stream for many and greatly reducing it for the rest. These are the hardworking men and women, unsung heroes all, who spend weeks at a time far away from their families, producing affordable, abundant, American energy for everyone to enjoy.

Today those businesses are predicted to shutter, communities are expected to be ravaged by unemployment, and the revenues and wages those jobs bring in are projected to all but dry up. Our story does not have to end this way.

We are a proud industry. We have brought energy independence and security to our country that was once thought impossible. We are a leader in exporting natural gas to countries around the globe. Given a chance, we will be there to lead our country and our communities out of the challenges we are facing today.

We need bold action now on two specific points to ensure our industry, its families, and communities, are a proud fixture of Louisiana’s economy, history, and culture for decades to come.

In addition to the OPEC+ price war and the demand destruction brought on by COVID-19, our energy industry is facing an additional war, this one being waged by a small group of trial lawyers, who have taken control of local governments to file abusive lawsuits against the industry.

It does not have to be this way. The Governor and the Attorney General have the ability to take control of the lawsuits and bring them to an end. The state can

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tax reform is one of the things we can change. Please ask your legislators to support HB 506 to suspend severance taxes. Follow these bills and many others that might impact the industry at www. loga.la/tracker.

The challenges we are facing as an industry will not end when we have moved past COVID-19. No, our challenges are just beginning. We are looking for bold action from our leaders in Baton Rouge to address the coastal lawsuits and severance taxes to give our industry fighting chance, so we can keep Louisiana’s oil and gas producers proudly working, our wells flowing, and our people working to produce the energy our country needs.

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then immediately begin an administrative review to ensure our precious coast is protected right now, instead of waiting years to outsource the enforcement of our coastal programs to the judicial system. Please ask your legislators to support Senate Bill 359, Senate Bill 440, and Senate Concurrent Resolution 7 to address the massive issue of the coastal lawsuits.

Secondly, the industry needs the legislature to immediately suspend the severance tax on producers, especially the oil producers that are subject to the highest severance tax rate in the nation (12.5%). With prices so far low below what’s needed to break even, severance

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FROM THE TOP |

QUICK QUESTIONS FOR THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR WORK: WHAT IS THE BEST PART OF YOUR JOB? It has been my pleasure to work at Synergy Bank for over six years now. Synergy is a community bank that was founded over 20 years ago with a mission that each employee lives by each day – excellence in customer service. That commitment extends beyond the bank to helping our community and supporting the growth and prosperity of the Bayou Region.

My job responsibilities vary each day depending on the needs of the bank. One day I may be writing press releases, the other I am conducting training or coordinating a bank event. Because of this, my job is never boring and always challenging which is why I love it.

WHAT IS THE HARDEST? My varying responsibilities make it challenging to juggle all the different jobs but that’s also the best part.

SYNERGY BANK IS VERY INVOLVED IN THE COMMUNITY. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE WAYS YOU LOOK FORWARD TO SERVING THE COMMUNITY IN 2020?

With the recent cancellation of community events, it has been challenging for so many nonprofits and civic organizations. As a former nonprofit director, I understand that many of these organizations depend on fundraising events to sustain their missions. Though I cannot volunteer, I will continue to support them through monetary donations and virtual events.

WHAT’S ONE LEADERSHIP SKILL YOU FEEL EVERYONE MUST LEARN?

MAY 2020 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

Every great supervisor that I have ever had the pleasure of working with, had one very important quality that I valued most and that was patience. Throughout my career I admit patience has been the most challenging for me to develop because my mindset, unfortunately, has always been “Instant gratification isn’t soon enough.”

Every leader should strive to develop the patience to train, the patience to assist and the patience to lead.

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MARKETING ADMINISTRATOR, SYNERGY BANK

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF: AS A CHILD, WHAT DID YOU SEE YOURSELF DOING AS A CAREER? When I was younger, I despised writing and being creative. I actually wanted to be nuclear physicist because I loved math and science so much.

WHAT WAS YOUR VERY FIRST JOB? My first job was a cashier in fast food.

WHAT TIME TO DO YOU WAKE UP AND HOW DO YOU START YOUR DAY? I normally wake up around 5:30 a.m., feed the dog and cat and then take a one to two-mile walk/run.

WHAT’S ONE THING YOU COULDN’T LIVE WITHOUT? I couldn’t imagine living without my family.

IF YOU COULD VACATION ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, WHERE WOULD YOU GO AND WHO WOULD YOU BRING? I love to travel so picking one place is rather difficult, but the top of my bucket travel list is Australia. Since I always travel with my family, I would want to take them with me.

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FAVORITES/THIS OR THAT: Favorite snack food: Grapes Favorite vacation spot: My home, Utila Bay Island, Honduras Favorite TV series?

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How do you take your coffee?

Cream and one Splenda Favorite superhero?

Thor Ice cream or frozen yogurt?

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SPOTLIGHT ON WOMEN IN BUSINESS | BY DREW MILLER

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the store offers.

Each member of the Felger’s team is trained to measure customers’ feet and select the most comfortable fitting shoes for them. Working with such brands at New Balance, Aetrex, Vionic, Eastland, Dansko and other noteworthy vendors, the store provides a wide selection for back-to-school, therapeutic, comfort, style, exercise or any other shoe needs.

But even with the special training and highly favored brands, it’s the employees themselves and family-like atmosphere that the two are perhaps proud of the most. “The employees mean everything; they are the front line. They represent me, Felger’s — the company. They’re invaluable. We teach them what they need to know, and they do the rest,” Felger shared in a previous Bayou Business Monthly article. “They’re an extended part of our family. They might not have the same last name that we do, but they are part of our family,” Romano added.

A good owner has to listen and be attentive to their employees, Felger said, and be there for them. “You’re not necessarily their boss. You are their equal,” she continued.

Felger also shared some advice for future women business owners.

“One, be patient; it doesn’t happen overnight. Get all your ducks in a row before you sign anything. Make sure you know what products you may have; have your business plan and follow that plan,” she said. “Know that you can’t be everything to everybody. Get your niche — whatever that is — and be that. Be good at that.”

She makes sure to stay in touch with a few women-led businesses around town, Felger said, to call for advice and share ideas.

“Having that support of another woman who maybe has a very similar perspective helps confidence, helps make good decisions,” she continued.

“Sometimes you have to step back and try and look at the bigger picture. And you can’t always do that by yourself.”

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elger’s Footwear, the family-owned Houma store known for selling the latest and greatest in therapeutic and stylish shoes and treating every customer that walks in like family, is led by the mother-daughter team of Brenda Felger and Rebecca Felger Romano.

Brenda and her husband Mark took over the store at its original location in Southland Mall in 1991, and since then, it’s been on a prosperous run.

That success has come with challenges along the way, Felger shared, such as being a woman-owned business in a male-driven industry. “You would think not with all of these women’s shoes, but it is predominantly male for some reason,” she said.

“At the time there weren’t a ton of women business owners. So just being taken seriously and accepted was hard, but that just took time,” she continued.

“Once they got used to us and we got used to them, it was not a problem. But it was an obstacle at first.”

Like other local businesses, Felger’s Footwear’s latest challenge is having to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. The store opened to appointments only (one person or parent and child at a time). It also implemented curbside pickups, or if the customer didn’t feel comfortable coming for that, employees did a noncontact delivery.

“If you take care of your customers, they’re going to keep coming back and going to tell their friends and, and all that does is grow,” Felger said.

She continued: “During all of this shutdown business, I had one customer call...and we told them we were closed because we weren’t considered essential.

His words were, ‘But you are essential to me; my feet hurt.’ And it’s true — when your feet hurt, the rest of you hurts.”

While overcoming challenges along the way, the business has received much recognition since the Felgers took over nearly 30 years ago — winning various local and national awards with one of the latest being the Gold Medal Service Award for Outstanding Customer Service from Footwear Insight magazine last year, which the store was nominated for again this year.

The achievements can be linked to the training the staff receives and the products

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SPOTLIGHT ON WOMEN |

BY DREW MILLER

MAY 2020 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

PAISLEY PARK PROVES TO BE A SUCCESS FOR A LOCAL “MOMTREPRENEUR”

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ennifer Robinson realized a need in the Houma-Thibodaux community when she and her husband Chris visited her mother-in-law in Ponchatoula one weekend with their newborn — Paisley.

The Robinsons packed their vehicle with Paisley’s things: a swing, pack n’ play, high chair and other valuable items. “And we drove up and the truck was loaded down and my mother-in-law was like, ‘No...we’re going to go get stuff to put at my house,’” Robinson remembered.

Robinson said she didn’t see the need to buy a bunch of brand new stuff, however, her mother-in-law brought her to a second hand children’s store on the Northshore. She continued: “And I was like, ‘Why don’t we have anything like this in Houma?”

Thus, the idea for a local children’s resale shop was formed — and two years later, in 2015, that idea turned into reality as Paisley Park, named for her two children.

The store received positive feedback from moms immediately, Robinson said, and she still has regular customers from when the store was founded. “From day one, it was something that I thought would be successful,” she shared, “and then it turned out to be super fun to have in the area.”

Paisley Park buys and resales gently used children items, including clothes, apparel, strollers, high chairs, and toys, among other products. Sellers can choose cash upfront or store credit.

“We’re going to go through it with every intention of checking for recalls

to make sure everything’s up to safety standards and making sure everything is free of stains, tears, odors and works properly,” Robinson added.

With the shop’s growing popularity, she was able to move it to its current location (6861 W. Park Ave., Houma) and triple the space.

“Everything,” Robinson answered on what her customers mean to her. “I don’t have inventory without my community; I don’t have the inventory without the moms that are coming in.”

“They’re also the people who turn around and come shop in this store,” she continued, “because they know they can get quality items for half the price than if they’re going to buy it from anywhere else.”

Robinson said she believes in leading

a team through camaraderie. “Your employees are only going to be as good as you are. So I believe that I’m never going to ask an employee to do something that I wouldn’t do myself and get dirty doing with them,” she shared.

“I’m really lucky to have an amazing team that we can kind of bounce ideas off of each other.”

The Sulphur native also said she believes in supporting other female business owners, passing out swag bags filled with samples, discounts and other items from local women-led businesses.

“That might be one of my favorite things that I’ve adopted at Paisley Park,” she said. “Just honestly because I had so many supportive women whenever I first started through the Chamber of Commerce and through the bank that

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“As long as you know that you have to work harder than anybody in the room and that you have more to prove because you are a woman...you can absolutely do it and can prove yourself.” three brothers who taught me how to hold my own,” she shared.

Fearlessness is something she hopes all future female business owners have.

“My biggest advice for any women out there who are wanting to start a business is don’t let anything scare you away from doing it,” Robinson shared. “I traveled the state with both of my kids in infant seats in the backseat of the car for a year and a half before I opened the business.

I opened this business with a six-monthold child nursing in the backroom.”

“As long as you know that you have to work harder than anybody in the room and that you have more to prove because you are a woman,” she added, “you can absolutely do it and can prove yourself.”

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MAY 2020 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

I was dealing and with other people around the community.”

Robinson also knows some of the challenges women can face when starting out.

“The biggest challenges I faced as a woman came very early on, not just a woman but a young person going into a vacant building and meeting individuals, whether it was the contractor who had just built it, or it was the landlord who owned it,” Robinson recalled. “The challenges I faced were very like, ‘Oh, do you think that you can handle this little lady?’”

She doesn’t believe anyone meant those comments maliciously, Robinson said. “There’s a generation gap, and fortunately I grew up with a dad and

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MAY 2020 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

SPOTLIGHT ON WOMEN IN BUSINESS | BY DREW MILLER

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estore or Retreat (ROR) is a non-profit coastal advocacy organization which “seeks to identify and expedite the implementation of aggressive, largescale restoration projects to protect the irreplaceable bayou region of southeast Louisiana.”

Based at Nicholls State University, the nonprofit has advocated for freshwater and sediment diversions into the Barataria and Terrebonne Basins, marsh creation, shoreline restoration and barrier islands, among other projects, and has called for federal and state attention to the Barataria and Terrebonne Basins though several different planning processes.

The organization is led by its Executive Director and Houma native Simone Maloz, who works on state, local and federal levels to advocate for communities on Louisiana’s vanishing coast. “We advocate for projects in our areas, but we also try to connect the communities to the people who are planning, building funding, constructing those projects as well,” she said.

A graduate of Nicholls with a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication, Maloz had previously worked in the medical field as the Development Representative for the American Cancer Society’s Houma office and Coordinator of Clinical Recruitment and Retention at Terrebonne

General Medical Center. Prior to joining ROR, she gained experience recruiting and training volunteers and coordinating fundraising events. She also learned what people could accomplish when they come together to get behind a cause.

“All of that taught me a lot about our community and a lot about the Bayou Region, especially my time at the American Cancer Society when people were so passionate for a cause -- how much they were willing to do as a volunteer and how generous they were with their time and their resources,” she said.

With her wanting to know more about the coastal land loss subject and join in

restoration efforts, Maloz took over the executive director position in January of 2005, and later that year, she encountered major challenges when tragedies struck South Louisiana in the forms of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Maloz commented on the resilience of the Bayou Region community: “ [Our resilience] started long before all of that.

But I can tell you from my time at Restore or Retreat, that is something that has been proven time and time again. Whenever we’re met with these challenges, we face them directly and head-on -- and we learn from them.”

“That is something that carries over into the world today, both with the

“Things like hurricanes and oil spills, for example, you can’t control. You have to be able to adapt in whatever the situation.” virus and the impacts of the oil and gas industry,” she continued. “We are no strangers to adversity...At this point, I’m pretty sure it’s ingrained in our DNA.” Those events were a game changer in different aspects as Maloz explained: “not just for the loss of life and impact to the area, but they decided to do business differently in Louisiana.” Restoration and protection were put together, Maloz said, and the state started a brand new entity.

New rules were implemented again five years later after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which ROR had to adjust to as well, but the organization still manages to stay on the path to a healthier Louisiana coast.

Maloz said someone being genuine about their work and having determination can lead them to accomplish their goals -- even through adversity. “You also have to be open-minded,” she continued.

“Things like hurricanes and oil spills, for example, you can’t control. You have to be able to adapt in whatever the situation.”

There are no specific challenges Maloz has come across being a woman in her

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field, she said, it’s more about breaking down the stereotypes in an androcentric world that revolves around engineering and construction in the different aspects of coastal work.

“It is interesting and very encouraging to see how many women have entered this field and how many women are leaders in this field,” she shared. “But it is certainly something that we think about from all aspects of diversity -- that coastal work is apolitical; it’s nonpartisan. So people involved in coastal work should represent the communities that have the most at stake.”

“Whether it’d be a career or a place where you volunteer, or something that you’re passionate about, there’s an opportunity to still be in that space,” Maloz added. “I certainly didn’t know -having kind of this PR background -- that I would be in a coastal world. Don’t let challenges get in your way if you’re really interested in something.”

More information on Restore or Retreat can be found at restoreorretreat.org.

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MOVERS AND SHAKERS |

HEADLINES AND ACCOLADES

MAY 2020 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

TPSO OFFICERS RECEIVE FREE COVID-19 TESTS

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Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office (TPSO) officers received free blood tests on April 29, which signaled if they had been exposed to or currently carried COVID-19.

Two hundred forty-nine tests were administered at the HoumaTerrebonne Civic Center, which hosted the drive-though testing site.

“First, it gives the officers a peace of mind,” Sheriff-elect Tim Soignet said.

“It also gives us a baseline.”

His major concern is individuals who are asymptomatic, Soignet explained, as they might infect people without knowing it, causing them to have symptoms. “I think it’s important to know that to stop the spread,” he continued. “So we can kind of clear that air and find out if there’s anybody asymptomatic, confirm that they are positive and send them home so they don’t infect anybody else.”

After the pandemic reached Terrebonne Parish, two members of TPSO tested positive, Soignet said, and have since been medically cleared and returned to work. The blood tests administered at the testing site today confirmed they had the antibodies, he said, which proved the tests work.

Brandon Rhodes, owner of All Industrial Medical Services (AIM) — which administered the blood tests — said the “rapid tests” given this morning are used more as a screening tool, meaning that it’s not a diagnostic test.

“So any positive tests that we do acquire here, [positive officers] are then sent to our office to do a nasal swab for verification,” he said. “So you never verify a positive test just off of a screening test.

You want to always back that up with a positive swab.”

The test is complete and documented 10 minutes after it has been administered, Rhodes said, and deputies were notified of the result soon after. “But one of the most important things to remember is even though we’re telling them they’re negative — to not let your guard down,” he said. “Just because you’re negative doesn’t mean that if you don’t protect yourself properly; you could catch it tomorrow, the day after, whenever.”

The free tests for officers, which cost an estimated $10,000, were made possible through an agreement between GulfGuaranty Insurance and United Health Care, two insurers of TPSO. Alford Insurance Group helped negotiate the price.

“Gulf-Guaranty Insurance — whose MedPlus division provides secondary coverage for Terrebonne deputies, agreed to pay for the blood tests if needed. The Alford Insurance Group helped set in motion negotiations between the lab and Gulf Guaranty, making their promise for payment possible,” according to TPSO. “Subsequently, United Health Care agreed for the bill to be submitted to them.”

“I can’t say enough about how GulfGuaranty Insurance, United Health

Care, All Industrial Medical and the Alford Insurance Group have come together to go to bat for our road deputies, correctional officers and detectives,” said Sheriff Jerry Larpenter. “This testing provides an extra measure of security for these men and women who are always on the front line — but now even more so during this pandemic.”

“Because the blood tests have not been classified as medical necessities by insurance companies, coverage for them has been difficult to secure,” TPSO noted, “although insurers will pay for swab tests when an individual’s physician has recommended them, due to exposure or the presence of symptoms.” Gulf Guaranty said they were ready to backup any additional testing expenses that might have occurred, according to TPSO. “Law enforcement and first responders are among the heroes of this whole pandemic, and if they need support, companies that expect to do business with

them need to be there to support them,” said Richard Cothern, president of Gulf Guaranty. “They are out there going to work every day while many of us cannot.”

Only the two aforementioned deputies were confirmed to be carrying the antibodies, TPSO told the Times around noon.

In addition to getting the deputies tested, Soignet said the Sheriff’s Office has been proactive in stopping the spread — with officers being equipped with personal protective equipment (PPE) and sanitizers, disinfecting their vehicles and washing their clothes after shifts, among other precautions.

“We’re exercising lots and lots of precaution because we understand how deadly this can become,” he said. “We certainly don’t want our families infected, and we certainly don’t want the officers to get infected.”

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THIBODAUX REGIONAL PARTICIPATING IN CLINICAL RESEARCH AND TREATMENT ADVANCEMENTS FOR COVID-19 Thibodaux Regional Health System continues to adopt leading edge COVID-19 treatment options, and is actively participating in innovative clinical research and treatment advancements with Mayo Clinic and GE. Thibodaux Regional is the first hospital in the region to begin using blood plasma therapy as a treatment for COVID-19. This treatment is being performed as part of a clinical trial with Mayo Clinic.

Plasma donated by someone who has recovered from COVID-19 may be helpful in treating a person hospitalized with a severe or life-threatening case. Plasma contains antibodies that can immediately affect a person’s immunity, and potentially lessen the severity or shorten the length of the infection.

Plasma donated from one individual can be used to treat up to four patients.

Individuals who have had COVID-19 and have recovered can call 985.435.4813 for

information on how to become a donor.

In addition, Thibodaux Regional has entered into an agreement with GE Healthcare to participate in a study that will utilize data analytics to develop Artificial Intelligence (AI) that would assist in future screening, detection, triage and monitoring of COVID-19 cases. GE will use de-identified data from Cat (CT) Scan and X-ray imaging from COVID-19 and pneumonia patients to create an algorithm that would aid in developing the AI Imaging models.

“Thibodaux Regional is proud to partner with world-renowned organizations such as Mayo Clinic and GE to provide leading edge treatment options for Covid-19 patients,” said Greg Stock, CEO Thibodaux Regional. “These new advancements in clinical care appear promising. We remain committed to bringing progressive treatment options to our region.”

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5450 West Main Street P.O. Drawer 4319 Houma, LA 70361

LAFOURCHE LIBRARY DIRECTOR NAMED LOUISIANA LIBRARY DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR In 2016, under Sanders’ leadership, the Lafourche Parish Public Library was awarded the Louisiana Library Association’s James O. Modisette Award for Public Libraries. Awarded every two years, if merited, the award recognizes significant improvement in library services in a two-year period. The Lafourche Parish Public Library had last won the James O. Modisette Award for Public Libraries in 1955.

Among the advancements the library system has made during Sanders’ leadership are an emphasis on providing digital resources for library users, such as eBooks and TV, movie, and music streaming services; technology resources such as hotspots, iPads, video games, and learning tablets for checkout; and increased programming for people of all ages.

“We are more than books,” said Sanders of the Lafourche Parish Public Library.

Sanders is from Claremore, Oklahoma, a small city in the Ozark foothills that is part of the Tulsa metro area. She married Bill Sanders in 1991, and they have three children, William, Ian, and Addisyn. Sanders was a middle school math teacher for 13 years in Tulsa and in Thibodaux public schools before beginning her work with the Lafourche Parish Public Library.

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Laura Sanders, the director of the Lafourche Parish Public Library, has been named the Louisiana Public Library Director of the Year for 2020.

Each year, if merited, the Louisiana Library Association recognizes the outstanding contributions of a current Louisiana library director. Sanders’ colleagues nominated her for the award given her leadership, forward thinking, and dedication to the Lafourche Parish Public Library.

The recognition is an honor to receive and is the result of collaboration and a dedicated library staff, said Sanders.

“I’m honored and humbled to be recognized by my peers for my work as Lafourche Parish’s library director, but this is truly a team effort,” she said. “My staff and I work each day to ensure that Lafourche Parish residents have access to exceptional library services. We’re proud of the work we have done, but are always aware that there is more work ahead to move our library system continually forward.”

Sanders began her work at the Lafourche Parish Public Library in 2012 as a reference librarian at the Lockport Branch, soon after receiving her Master in Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree from Louisiana State University.

Less than six months later, she became Lafourche Parish’s library director.

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BUSINESS NEWS | BY LSU AG

MAY 2020 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

CRAWFISH INCOME DOWN, SEASON COULD END 40 DAYS SOONER

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Results from a survey of crawfish producers show that decreased demand for their product is resulting in lost income of about $500 an acre and a season that could end about 40 days sooner than usual in some cases.

“When you look at all those things, it’s a pretty impactful scenario for producers,” said LSU AgCenter economist Kurt Guidry, who compiled the survey results.

A total of 67 producers responded to the survey, representing more than 10% of the total estimated crawfish acres in the state, Guidry said.

The survey was conducted at the request of the Louisiana Farm Bureau and crawfish producers to make the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Louisiana congressional delegation aware of the problems facing the industry.

Demand for crawfish has decreased as restaurants face restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic. The shutdown hit when crawfish season was in full swing — and when producers make most of their income.

“It happened at the absolute worst possible time,” Guidry said. The survey results could result in government

assistance.

“It’s in the hands of the policymakers,” he said. “This is the first step to make sure policymakers are aware of the issues.”

The survey only addresses farm-raised crawfish and not the wild crawfish caught in the Atchafalaya Basin. Other faculty in the AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant are currently examining the economic impact to wild-caught crawfish fishermen.

Based on survey results, the average projected decline in wholesale prices for the entire production season is about 55 cents below the previous three-year average. For some producers, the drop in price has resulted in prices falling below their breakeven point. Harvesting has been curtailed, and buyers are limiting how much they will buy from producers.

“On average, producers are harvesting more than two days fewer per week,” Guidry said.

In addition to the decreased harvest and lower prices, producers who hired foreign labor to bring in the catch are contractually obligated to pay those workers for a guaranteed amount for a full season’s work.

“It’s basically an expense some are

having to pay without having a way to generate any income,” Guidry said.

The average starting date of the season for producers surveyed was in late December as usual. Producers indicated their season would usually end by midJune, but the survey showed that, on average, producers felt their season could end by the first week of May this year because of either below-breakeven prices or a lack of available market outlets.

For many rice farmers, crawfish has been a way to fill the economic gap created by low rice prices. “For a lot of producers, they rely heavily on crawfish,” Guidry said.

Some individuals who responded to the survey reported that this was their first year to harvest crawfish, and they had invested substantially to buy harvesting equipment. Some crawfish producers have drained their fields because they were unable to sell their harvest at a profit, Guidry said.

Mark Shirley, AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant crawfish specialist, said draining a pond that is overpopulated could be done quickly to reduce the population. A field that is not overpopulated should be drained slowly over two to three weeks to allow the crawfish to burrow so they can reproduce for the next season. Restocking crawfish in early planted rice fields can be done in May. Shirley said he has found a few fields with the white spot virus. “I don’t know if it’s 10%, 20% or just 5%, but it’s out there in a lot of the ponds,” he said.

There is no cure for the disease, and it returns the following year in some fields, but not all. AgCenter scientists are currently sampling ponds to determine how widespread the white spot virus is and what conditions trigger some of the crawfish to die in the pond.

“Fortunately, the white spot virus only affects crustaceans and not humans or other animals,” Shirley said.

Jeff Durand, who farms with his brothers in St. Martin Parish, said they have drained some fields because of the limited market.

“We would have gone another month or two in those fields,” he said. Durand said they are only harvesting three days a

week.

The Durands lost several big orders, and the restaurant business has decreased considerably. The peeler market also is down. But the drive-thru boiling businesses are buying.

“We’re lucky to be moving some crawfish,” Durand said.

Paul Zaunbrecher, who farms with his brothers in Acadia Parish, said their business is surviving because they have a large grader that allows them to cull large crawfish.

“We’re not suffering as bad as most people. We’ve got some good buyers,” he said. Zaunbrecher said the market has increased significantly with more acreage and more people in the crawfish business.

“A lot of our markets just dried up,” said Alan Lawson, who farms with his father in Acadia Parish. He harvests crawfish from their rice ponds, and he buys crawfish to be peeled.

Lawson said he’s had no choice but to peel a large amount of big crawfish.

“We’ve had some pretty good sales with the tail meat,” he said.

Lawson said he has had to reduce the amount he buys from other farmers because markets have disappeared or declined, and he suspects many farmers stopped harvesting crawfish.

He also has a whole-boiled operation to freeze boiled crawfish. “The wholecooked market just went away. We had hundreds of thousands of pounds that would have been sold,” Lawson said.

He said crawfish businesses like his won’t be able to take advantage of the federal payroll protection program because the workers are foreign.

When the economy emerges from hibernation, the crawfish industry won’t make a quick recovery because it is a seasonal business that peaked when the coronavirus shutdown occurred.

Lawson is trying to stay positive. “We’re all just going to make the best of it like we always do,” he said.

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MASK UP LOUISIANA Louisiana Department of Health and Governor John Bel Edwards now recommend wearing cloth face coverings in public places, such as the grocery store or pharmacy, while continuing to practice social distancing.

“Part of our new normal will mean wearing a mask or face covering in public,” said Governor Edwards. “Wearing a mask in public is just like holding a door open for someone, it’s being kind and courteous, and it will be critical to Louisiana moving forward.”

For a face covering to be most effective, there are a few things you should know.

Cloth face coverings should: • Fit snugly but comfortably against the sides of your face • Be secure with ties or ear loops • Be made of multiple layers of fabric • Allow for air flow and breathing

without restriction

• Be able to be washed and machinedried without damage to the fabric or change of shape Additionally, cloth face coverings should not be used on children under the age of 2, anyone who has trouble breathing or anyone who is unconscious or unable to remove their face covering without help.

The golden rule of wearing a face covering is that you should wash your hands any time you touch it! That means before putting on your face covering you should wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If possible, try to avoid touching the face covering while using it, but if you do have to touch your face covering, make sure to wash your hands or use hand sanitizer immediately afterward.

When removing your face covering,

make sure you don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth. You should always wash your hands after removing your face covering, and your face covering should be machine-washed and dried regularly.

It’s important to note that face coverings recommended for public use are not surgical face coverings or N-95 respirators, as these are critical supplies needed for hospitals and healthcare workers. You can make your own mask with simple cotton fabric.

“When I say mask, I mean wearing some sort of cloth facial covering,” said Governor Edwards. “We’ve seen creative folks make masks out of t-shirts or other household materials, and I am encouraging everyone to begin the process now to start getting them for yourselves and your families.”

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MAY 2020 | BAYOU BUSINESS MONTHLY

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