By Lisa Yates
Editor, The Times
For her numerous contributions to Southwest Louisiana – including starting the Children's Miracle Network at CHRISTUS St. Patrick Hospital in 1987 - Rosalie Marie “Poddy” Leveque Champeaux is this year's “Times Person of the Year.”
Although this year's “Person of the Year” was a well-kept secret, word leaked out to a couple of Champeaux's friends and colleagues, who wanted to express their appreciation to her.
Pam Alston, who has known Champeaux for more than 40 years, expressed respect and admiration for her friend.
“She's always there for the CMN kids,” she said. “She's very giving of herself.”
Alston is also the mother of Rick Alston – Children's Miracle Network Kid, 1996. When her son was diagnosed with a brain tumor, he had brain surgery to remove the right side of his brain. In addition, he required multiple radiation treatments to his brain and spine.
“I believe he was the first radiated child at St. Pat's,” Alston said.
“On the last day of his radiation treatments, Poddy and a representative from the national CMN surprised us at the hospital with balloons and a cookie cake. They were there at 5 a.m. - these procedures are scheduled early in the morning at the hospital. My son appreciated the visit so much. It was wonderful!”
Bernard Leger, Hospital Administrator of CHRISTUS St. Patrick Hospital, extended his appreciation on behalf of all CHRISTUS St. Patrick Hospital associates for Champeaux's years of dedication and hard work.
“Poddy Champeaux has made a tremendous impact on children’s health in our community,” he said. “She is a strong voice and advocate for pediatric care and preventive education. CHRISTUS St. Patrick Hospital was honored to have been chosen 21 years ago as the Children’s Miracle Network hospital for this region. Today we remain dedicated to continuing and expanding the efforts she began as our CMN director. Under her guidance, CMN was able to not only support hospital-based health care, but also fund children’s health initiatives in Southwest Louisiana through other non-profit organizations.”
For anyone out there who may not be familiar with Champeaux, her lifetime of community service projects is too detailed to list individually.
Champeaux, who recently turned 70, has been a board member of 20 nonprofit organizations, has received more than 30 community honors and is involved in more than 40 community organizations.
She is a former nurse, CHRISTUS St. Patrick Hospital Director of the Senior Membership Program VIP 50+ and Director of the Children's Miracle Network for Southwest Louisiana. From a pioneer family, Champeaux is a native and lifelong resident of Lake Charles, whose philanthropy work has made her an icon in the community.
Just Poddy
But most people just call her “Poddy.”
Just how did she get that nickname?
“One of my great aunts was also named Rosalie,” Champeaux said. “When I was very young, my parents said I pronounced a 'P' before my words. So when I went to say her name, it came out 'Poddy Dee' and that just stuck. Everyone just started calling me Poddy.”
When her husband Joe called to ask her out on a first date, her mother answered. He was surprised to hear her mother calling “Poddy” to the phone. Joe asked her to explain the name.
“I told him and he's called me Poddy ever since,” she said.
Family life
Champeaux said her husband always supported her in her career, and in everything in her life.
“I married my best friend,” she said.
She is married to Joe Champeaux, a local architect. They are the proud parents of three daughters and “sons” - Renee and her husband Frank Wood of Lake Charles, Cherise and her husband Chris Sale of Baton Rouge, and Annette and her husband Blake Cotton, also of Baton Rouge.
Champeaux described her six grandchildren as “beautiful, intelligent, full of personality and talented.” They are: Ashley and Frankie Wood, André and Simone (Simi) Sale, Peggy “Marie” and Camille Cotton.
“Work was always very, very important to me, but my husband and family are my world,” Champeaux said.
Faith is also very important in her life.
“I have a deep relationship with God,” Champeaux said. “I thank him all of the time. I have a beautiful life filled with family, friends and many opportunities. Hopefully, I've made a difference in their lives, too.”
She said her parents taught her to place God first in her life.
“I believe learning takes place, first, on the parents' knees when a child is born. They are your first teachers. In my family, God always came first, and he still does,” Champeaux said.
She and her husband are members of Our Lady Queen of Heaven, Immaculate Conception Cathedral Church and St. Martin DePorres Church.
“My great aunt Julia Leveque was the first graduate of Catholic school in Lake Charles - St. Charles Academy,” Champeaux said. “She later became a nun.”
Champeaux graduated from St. Charles Academy, which is now St. Louis High School. There she received the coveted “Spirit Award.”
She graduated first in her class from Hotel Dieu School of Nursing and Loyola University in New Orleans, where she was named an outstanding graduate.
Nursing
Champeaux's older sister inspired her into choosing nursing as a profession.
“I grew up with a wonderful mother, daddy and sister,” she said. “My sister was beautiful, compassionate and caring. She always wanted to be a nurse. I watched her graduate nursing school; and, I would go and visit her. I've always admired her and loved her – not just as a sister, but as a dear, dear friend.”
When it came time for her to choose a profession, Champeaux didn't think she would make a great nurse, like her sister. She loved to act and sing.
“I wanted to be in theatre – in Hollywood, or on Broadway,” she said. Since age 3, she has been performing on stage.
When she was young, she started to make a list of things she always wanted to do. There were three things on it: Sing for the Pope in Rome; sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir; and, sing at Carnegie Hall.
“Dreams do come true,” Champeaux said.
As a member of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral Chorale Club, she participated in a Pilgrimage to Rome during the fall of 1998, where she sang for the Pope!
In 2004, she sang with the Morman Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City, as an invited guest. The performance was recorded on a CD, which is in Utah. Champeaux doesn't have it, but she said would love to get a copy.
“This December, I'll be going with Paul Groves to Carnegie Hall,” she said.
She laughingly said she will slip her foot on stage and sing a few notes! Something similar to that happened, when she visited the Sydney Opera House.
“I was on tour with a group of friends,” she said. “We were on stage and the guide asked if anyone in the group liked to sing.”
Champeaux's friends pointed to her, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sing on the stage of the Sydney Opera House presented itself. She sang!
Even though she never pursued theatre as a career, she managed to fulfill her life's ambitions – and, more.
“Part of my life's journey was to have parents, who had to wisdom to point me in the right direction,” Champeaux said.
When she told her father she wanted to go into acting, he said “no.”
“My daddy had a medical background – he was a dentist, who graduated from Loyola in New Orleans,” Champeaux said. “So, I asked him what were my choices. He said I could become a teacher, go into home economics, or become a nurse. Since my sister was a nurse, and a role model, I picked nurse.”
Women didn't have a lot of choices like today, she said. If she had the opportunity, she would have become a doctor – like her father, she said.
Children's Miracle Network
“Starting the Children's Miracle Network at CHRISTUS St. Patrick Hospital in 1987, was one of the greatest, rewarding, significant and memorable experiences of my life,” Champeaux said. “This was made possible because of the beautiful friendships I made throughout the years with the hospital associates, sponsors, donors, volunteers, the community, the kids and their families.”
She said her philosophy has always been that children are precious gifts and caring for their health and well-being are not just a responsibility, but a privilege.
How did it all begin?
Champeaux retired from her work as a registered nurse to be a stay-at-home mom. However, she continued serving the community as a successful fundraiser, board member and volunteer.
During a casual lunch, Craig Shaddock, the director of nursing at the hospital, asked her to come back to work.
She accepted. Soon after returning to work, Champeaux was asked to work in philanthropy, continuing her successful fundraising efforts for the hospital. She did, bringing in top entertainers like Crystal Gayle and Bill Cosby were brought in to perform at local fundraising functions.
“One day we got a call from a man with the Children's Miracle Network telling us that St. Patrick's hospital has been chosen to be the home of CMN,” she said. “It became one of only 170 hospitals in a nationwide network.”
Champeaux said it was a win-win for the the community. Her salary as director, and overhead costs, were paid by the hospital enabling funds to go straight to health care for children. She said every dollar raised stays in the community helping children in Southwest Louisiana.
Over the years, many children in Southwest Louisiana benefited as a result of Champeaux's fundraising leadership. But, she credited the generosity of people in the area for the success of CMN.
“We live in an area rich in tradition,” she said. “Our love of life. Our love of family and the ability to give our time and hearts completely to others is unmatched by any other culture. To say that we have a generous community, is an understatement. When there is a need, you can count on the people of this community to come through every time.”
She said Robin D'Augeaux with KPLC TV was instrumental in joining with CHRISTUS St. Patrick's Hospital as a partner to do the telethon.
“Mari Wilson is now the program director for KPLC/CMT,” Champeaux said. “Another huge supporter is GAP Radio. They do our annual radiothon.”
Retirement
Champeaux retired on June 30, 2008.
“My last order of business was to purchase AEDs to go into the schools,” she said. “It started as an initiative with Calcasieu Parish Superintendent of Schools Wayne Savoy after a basketball player in Westlake passed out on the court at school. Luckily, someone across the street had an AED.”
An automated external defibrillator (AED) is a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses the potentially life threatening cardiac arrhythmias in patients, and is able to treat them through defibrillation – the application of electrical therapy, which stops arrhythmia allowing the heart to reestablish an effective rhythm.
AEDs are designed to be simple to use for the layman, and the use of AEDs is taught in many first aid classes.
Now every public and private school in the parish will have this lifesaving device, as a result of the partnership with CMN and the Calcasieu Parish School Board.
“St. Pat is providing the training, so school officials will know how to use them properly,” Champeaux said. “Now everyone can rest a little easier.”
She is confident her successor, Kay Morgan, will manage this and future projects successfully.
“I've had my eye on her for a couple of years,” Champeaux said. “I know she'll take the ball and run with it. Shes giving, loving and dedicated. She'll continue with the work of helping children throughout the years to come.”
Champeaux said her work is like her child. She watched it grow, but now it's grown and she is turning it over to someone else. However, she vowed to stay involved.
“It's hard to retire,” she said. “I miss the kids and their families. It's just been an honor to work with them. I miss the staff at the hospital, the administrators and associates. They all got behind CMT. They were the nucleus behind it, making it succeed.”
Champeaux defined what it takes to succeed as a fundraiser, and in general. She said four qualities are necessary: passion, motivation, energy and a positive attitude.
“Attitude is everything,” she said. “Sometimes we forget we can build a healthy attitude by getting involved in something greater than ourselves.”
She learned this lesson from her grandmother, who taught her to rise above circumstances and choose a positive attitude each and every day.
“She never knew a bad day,” Champeaux said. “Her positive attitude was so strong, I wanted to be just like her. She left a legacy for all of us that became her motto – live, love, laugh.”
It's the ones who say “I will” – not “I wish” – who will get the most out of life, she said.
“The 'I will' is the most important thing,” Champeaux said.
She carried this positive attitude, even after being diagnosed with cancer.
“In 2000, I was diagnosed with colon cancer,” she said. “I thank God for putting me in that situation. Priorities in life become very real. Things that we worry and fret about, aren't even on the list after that – not even the top 20.”
As a nurse, Champeaux knew the diagnosis was serious. She could have one only one more day, or many years.
“I decided each day is going to be for God and dedicated to doing what he wants me to do,” she said. “He's carried me through.”
Like a song
Often times a person will find there's a song that best describes them. Champeaux shared some lyrics to a song she described as deeply meaningful and relevant to her life. They are as follows:
I believe there
are angels among us
sent to us from
Heaven above.
They come to us in
our darkest moments
to teach us how to live
to show us how to give
to guide us from the light above.
She said, “The words to this song perfectly describes to me the awesome angels I have met and loved throughout my lifetime – my family, friends, and all of the courageous children and their families. The dedicated doctors and nurses, my wonderful CMN staff, associates and volunteers, who have been an integral part of God's journey for me these past 25 years at CHRISTUS St. Patrick Hospital.”
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