Your digest

Save the date for our next live townhall:

Join us on Tues. April 27 at 1 p.m. ET for the next townhall with our CEO. We are excited to share that we are switching things up a little. Graham will be moderating and leading a discussion with a panel of our own scientific experts to answer questions and share what we know about vaccine safety and development, variants of concern, vaccine roll-out — and how all of this will affect our organization’s plans for the return to office. Our panel includes: Dr. Dana Devine, chief scientist, Dr. Steven Drews, associate director, microbiology, Dr. Isra Levy, VP medical affairs and innovation and Dr. Kathryn Webert, director, medical services.

We are also shaking up how our panel will take questions from our audience. In addition to receiving questions through the traditional live chat, our panel will be answering employee questions submitted by video or voicemail.

To submit a video recording of your question:

• Using a smart phone or computer, record your question in 30 seconds or less and send to communications@blood.ca by Friday, April 23.
• Only questions that include your first name, role and location will be submitted.

To submit an audio recording of your question via voicemail:

• Call 1-800-509-3329 and record your question in 30 seconds or less by Friday, April 23.
• Only questions that include your first name, role and location will be submitted.

Participate by clicking on the meeting link in your Outlook invite. Can’t make it live? A recording of the event will be available on your COVID-19 employee portal within 24 hours.

Reminder — local vaccine eligibility is changing daily: Our dedicated team is monitoring regional vaccine eligibility changes across the country and updating the vaccine page on your COVID-19 employee portal daily so you are aware of the latest. This week, we’ve seen many local public health regional authorities significantly open-up vaccine registration by age group as vaccine supply increases. If you haven’t yet pre-registered or received your first COVID-19 vaccination, we strongly encourage you to take advantage of all opportunities outside of Canadian Blood Services to do so. Learn more about when you may be eligible through your local public health regional authority, or by visiting www.blood.ca/employees/vaccines. Have a question or an update in your area that we haven’t captured? Email us at communications@blood.ca.

Celebrating our volunteers: National Volunteer Week (April 18–24) is a time to express gratitude to our dedicated volunteers for their commitment. Over the past year, their invaluable support helped to ensure that Canadians continued to get the products and services they needed during this unprecedented time in our history.  Many of our volunteers hold a personal connection to the cause. For Paul and Geri Laforet, volunteering at the Sudbury plasma donor centre caps off their lifelong involvement with Canada’s Lifeline. Paul’s introduction came early, as his parents were avid blood donors. Paul never imagined that 18 years later, he would have to stop donating blood and instead need blood products donated by others just to survive after being diagnosed with hairy cell leukemia. Read more on Connect.

Young girl receives lifesaving kidney during pandemic, thanks to former babysitter: A 13-year-old Ontario girl is looking forward to a bright future after a lifesaving transplant made possible by the Kidney Paired Donation program ― and a very selfless former babysitter. Stephanie Jolink was only ten years old when she was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure and faced years of dialysis to keep her kidneys working. When she learned earlier last year that she would need a new kidney, it set off months of emotional changes. She found a kidney donor last spring, only to find out her surgery was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, finally going through her life-changing surgery, thanks to her former babysitter and neighbor. Read more about how this incredible connection saved Stephanie’s life on Connect.

Question of the day: I want to show my support for National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week during my online meetings. How do I access the new branded backgrounds on Teams?

Whether you are looking to celebrate National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week, or showcase the area of expertise you support, newly branded Teams backgrounds such as the Organs and Tissues for Life template are now available!

The new backgrounds have been automatically installed on most computers and feature our four areas of expertise: Blood for Life, Plasma for Life, Stem cells for Life, Organs and Tissues for Life.

If you haven’t changed your background before, here’s a step-by-step guide for setting your background image:

• You must be connected to VPN or a Canadian Blood Services network.
• You must be in a meeting.
• Click on the three dots at the top of the window.
• Select “Apply Background Effects.”
• In the background settings box, scroll down to the bottom for the new branded backgrounds and pick one.
• Select “Apply and turn on video” and your background will appear on camera.
• If you aren’t seeing the new backgrounds on Teams, try re-connecting to VPN or restarting both Teams and Windows for the install to take place.

Still experiencing issues? Submit an IT Helps ticket through your Connect apps or call 2500 for support.

 

Image

 

 

 

 

About your digest

This 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.  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 your digest.    

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