Your Digest
Employees and volunteers in P.E.I. honoured by their community as COVID Warriors
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Canada in March 2020, people who were able to work from home were asked to do so. But for many Canadian Blood Services employees, going into work was essential to keep supporting patients. In P.E.I., an emergency physician at the province’s largest hospital established the COVID Warrior Coin to recognize the leadership, initiative, dedication and hard work of people and organizations who have gone “above and beyond” during the pandemic. P.E.I.’s lieutenant governor honoured employees and volunteers of Canadian Blood Services with that award earlier this month. The presentation was made by the Honourable James Aylward, a regular blood donor and Member of the Legislative Assembly, on behalf of the Lieutenant Governor. Visit Connect for the full story.
Every stem cell registrant matters
Our stem cell registry holds more than 400,000 potential lifesavers, ready and waiting to donate stem cells to patients in need. These potential donors matter because patients who are unable to find matching donors within their own families turn to unrelated donors on this registry. That's why we’re constantly looking for new and improved ways to inspire donors to give, by delivering an exceptional experience that’s easy and personal and makes them feel valued. Our donor experience and stem cell teams have been working behind the scenes to understand registrant preferences, preparing us to meet their expectations in ways that deliver on our commitment to safeguard, engage and improve. Read more on Connect about what they’re doing to recruit and understand the needs of our donors.
New ‘snooping’ prevention guidelines
At Canadian Blood Services, we are responsible for a secure system of life essentials for transfusion and transplantation that’s reliable, accessible and sustainable. As part of this work, we collect, use, disclose and store personal information about donors, registrants, patients and employees. “Accessing and viewing personal information when it’s not required for a specific work-related purpose is an unauthorized use of personal information and considered a privacy incident,” says Rodrigo Thome, privacy and technical specialist at Canadian Blood Services. “We refer to this type of privacy incident as ‘snooping’. Snooping happens even when you are just looking at personal information but don’t share that information with anyone else.” Visit Connect to read more about our new Snooping Prevention guidelines.
Question of the day: What are our inventory needs heading into the first long weekend of Spring?
While many Canadians are getting ready to enjoy the upcoming long weekend, patients across the country continue to rely on donors to give lifesaving blood and plasma.
The integrated supply chain planning department regularly monitors daily and weekly inventory levels and forecast inventory of each product. Heading into the long weekend, we are in a stable inventory position for red blood cells and at sufficient capacity to meet platelet demand.
Currently, there are nearly 1,800 open appointments to donate blood and plasma that need to be filled before Tuesday, April 19. Employees can help by booking an appointment to donate or talking to friends and family about donating. Same day and open appointments spots are available every day at many donor centres and community events across the country. If you’ve never donated before, are well and able to leave home, please book an appointment and keep it.
With the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions across the country, many Canadians have returned to a new normal during holiday weekends. Travel and family activities make it difficult for people to find time to donate, but the demand for blood and blood products never stops.
Whether you choose to donate blood or plasma this week, next week, or next month, all donors are an important part of Canada’s Lifeline. In addition to blood, plasma and platelets, more potential stem cell donors are also immediately needed to support patients requiring lifesaving treatment. We encourage employees who are eligible to join the registry and tell friends and family about that need as well. Show up and give like lives depend on it, because they do.
About Your Digest
This digest highlights the latest policy and employee support measures, resources to help you manage our new reality and original content to remind us that what we do matters. This information can be found on blood.ca/employees from any device, no login required.
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Have questions? Check out blood.ca/employees or email us at communications@blood.ca.