Your digest
Long-time blood donor celebrates incredible 270 donation milestone
Elmer Cantelo was just a teenager when he donated blood for the first time in 1950. Now, at age 87, he still donates regularly and recently marked a truly incredible milestone: his 270th donation of whole blood. Elmer attributes his exceptional altruism to a farming accident he experienced at age 15, where he was trapped under a tractor for 20 hours and almost lost one of his legs. His gratitude to some of his fellow farmers, who rushed him to the hospital and helped save his life is what sparked Elmer’s spirit of generosity. “I think it’s important to give back and I’m proud to be able to do it,” he says. “I’m going to keep on donating until someone tells me I can’t do it anymore.” Read Elmer’s inspiring story of giving at blood.ca/stories.
Frontline staff to be celebrated tonight at Blue Jays game
The Toronto Blue Jays have finally made their return to Canada, and to celebrate, they will be honouring various frontline champions at their home game tonight, Tuesday, Aug.3 — including 125 Canadian Blood Services employees from the Greater Toronto Area. Our frontline staff and their guests have been selected to attend the game along with other health care staff and first responders, as a thank you for their tireless sacrifices and dedication over the past 18 months. This is an amazing way to celebrate our frontline staff’s commitment to Canada’s Lifeline and is a testament to the important role you all play in supporting patients across the country. Canadian Blood Services will have its own section at the game and will be recognized with a special shout-out about the important work we do. The game begins at 7:07 p.m. (ET) – so be sure to check your local listings and tune in to root for the Jays and our frontline champions! Note: everyone in attendance will be required to follow the COVID-19 protocols set by the Rogers Centre.
Reminder: Submit your questions for our August 10 live townhall
As we prepare for our next live townhall on Tuesday, Aug.10 (1 p.m. ET), we encourage you to send in your questions for Graham and our panel of experts, including Isra Levy, VP of medical affairs and innovation; Pauline Port, chief financial officer and VP, corporate services and Andre Kroeger, director of strategic facilities management and business integration.
Next week’s town hall will have a special focus on the next stage of the pandemic and how we are planning and preparing our facilities for additional employees to return safety to our buildings across the country in September 2021. As always, however, we encourage you to submit questions on any topic(s) of interest.
You can send your email or video questions to communications@blood.ca with the subject line “TOWNHALL” or record an audio question by phoning 1-800-509-2339.
Participate in the Aug. 10 live townhall 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.
Question of the day: What is Canadian Blood Services’ stance on mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for employees, volunteers and donors?
Although we do not mandate that people be vaccinated in order to enter our spaces, we continue to strongly encourage it, to ensure we can all keep each other safe and help prevent a significant fourth pandemic wave.
In order for immunization to protect individuals and potentially have an impact on stopping the spread of COVID-19, enough Canadians need to choose to get the vaccine.
Canadian Blood Services continues to actively monitor the rapidly changing landscape to determine if additional COVID-19 policies need to be considered to safeguard employees, volunteers and donors.
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About your digest
This digest highlights 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.
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Have questions? Check out blood.ca/employees or email us at communications@blood.ca