Daily COVID-19 digest

PPE inventory tracker: We know that personal protective equipment (PPE) is top of mind for many employees — especially those of you on the frontlines. Ensuring we have an appropriate supply of inventory is essential to keeping our teams safe during the pandemic. To help you understand how our supply levels are doing and what it means for you, we have created a PPE inventory tracker. This tool will be updated every Thursday on your employee portal, along with a brief overview from our supply chain team about what the data means and how we are addressing challenges associated with PPE inventory. It is also meant to spark conversation around your experience with our PPE. We encourage you to share your thoughts with your supervisor, so they can be communicated with the procurement team.

Ipsos poll results — donor perspectives:

Throughout the pandemic, we have surveyed our donors to monitor their feedback on emerging issues and their intentions to donate. This feedback has significantly helped us determine whether our actions in response to COVID-19 are in line with donor expectations. Thanks to work done by our teams since 1998 to build strong trust with the public, the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

Confidence in Canadian Blood Services to protect the health and safety of donors has remained above 90 per cent throughout the pandemic. We sustained a strong and healthy level of attendance at our donor centres, allowing us to continue to meet the needs of patients who need blood and blood products.

Although at the outset of the pandemic donors indicated they were less likely to continue to donate blood, a few weeks ago we saw those responses stabilize signaling a strong desire from our donors to help where they can. We’ve also asked our donors if they were familiar with our convalescent plasma clinical trial. We were excited to see awareness of the trial was at 40 per cent with over 90 per cent of donors indicating that they would donate plasma if eligible. These numbers speak to the dedication our donors, the work of our teams to respond to COVID-19 and serve as a reminder that what we do matters. We will continue to survey donors as we navigate the pandemic to ensure we can continue to earn their trust.

Question of the day: Has the 2020–2021 budget been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?

The 2020–2021 budget was negotiated with the provinces and territories in November 2019 and was approved by governments in March 2020 as part of our regular budgeting process. Projects and initiatives which were put on hold due to COVID-19 have already been approved by governments and will be carried out when appropriate in light of the current pandemic.

The majority of Canadian Blood Services’ operations is funded by provincial/territorial (PT) governments excluding Québec, which supports Héma-Québec. These governments have collectively recognized that Canadian Blood Services operates the national blood supply system and that our continued operations is critical to all jurisdictions. They have extended their appreciation for the work that Canadian Blood Services is carrying out during the COVID-19 pandemic.

About the daily digest

This daily digest will highlight the latest policy and employee support measures, resources to help you manage our new reality and original content like articles and videos to remind us that what we do matters. Things are moving quickly, so you can expect to hear from us daily. No access to email? No problem — all this information and more can be found on blood.ca/employees from any device, no login required.

Click here to read past editions of the daily digest.

Have questions? Check out blood.ca/employees or email us at communications@blood.ca.