Your Digest
Lifesaving transfusion for baby Cleo
Cleo Maxwell was barely born when doctors realized that mother and baby had experienced a massive fetomaternal hemorrhage, where a large portion of Cleo’s blood had been transferred to her mother. It can be common for small amounts of a baby’s blood to enter the birth parent’s blood circulation before or during birth. But for Cleo, it was much more serious — she lost more than half of her entire blood volume. Less than three hours after being born, Cleo had an emergency transfusion where she received blood from an O-positive donor that saved her life. Visit Connect to read more about Cleo, who turned one this summer, and how the right blood transfusion at the right time can save a life.
Getting ready for back-to-school
For those employees with school-aged children, the beginning of September seems to come quickly. It can leave parents scrambling to prepare their kids for the transition while also having to balance work and household demands. Our well-being team reminds us of a few tips to alleviate back-to-school stress and worry:
- Take care of the basics
- Provide empathy to yourself and your children
- Problem-solve together
- Focus on the positive aspects of back-to-school
- Pay attention to your own needs
Read more about the back-to-school scaries on Connect. Visit Com-Psych's back-to-school guidance for a comprehensive suite of resources to help with the transition. Find ways to support your child’s mental health, along with tips and tricks for setting structures and managing work/life balance. You can also participate in Lifespeak’s Ask the Expert Webinar of the month: Preparing for Back to School and Return to Office (password thrive) on Aug. 24 at 12 p.m. ET. Watch for more back-to-school highlights here and on Yammer — check out the hashtag #BackToSchool2022.
Question of the day
I heard that Scarborough was going to have a permanent donor site, collecting both whole blood and plasma, but we haven’t heard much about it lately. Can you provide any update?
In the fall of 2021, we announced that a new fixed donor centre would be opening in Scarborough, Ont. at 880 Warden Avenue (intersection of Eglinton Ave. E. and Warden Ave.). Due to construction and permit timelines, and to ensure the design phase met the functional requirements for donors and staff, we now anticipate opening the new collection site in Scarborough to the public in late March/early April 2023. As the planning and construction phase continues for this new fixed donor centre, we are committed to providing information to employees as soon as new details are confirmed.
The new site will be over 7,000 square feet and will have the capacity for eight whole blood beds, two platelet beds, and eight beds to collect large volume source plasma to meet rising patient needs for lifesaving plasma products. In three years, the new collection site is projected to collect 25,000 whole blood donations annually.
Scarborough has become one of the most diverse and highly populated communities in the greater Toronto area. The new site will help meet the needs of increasingly diverse patient populations in Canada, including, but not limited to, stem cells and rare blood patient needs. With more than 430,000 eligible donors, the city has significant untapped growth potential for donors.
