Your digest
Share your feedback with our chief diversity officer
Yesterday, Graham shared an exciting announcement with employees about the appointment of our first chief diversity officer (CDO), Dr. Yasmin Razack. Yasmin will officially join Canadian Blood Services on Dec. 1, 2021 and will become the newest member of our executive management team (EMT). Earlier this year, it was identified as critical by our EMT that we engage an executive-level, senior leader to drive and inform our work in the area of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
In her role as CDO, Yasmin will work to advance DEI across our organization ― and one of her first priorities is to learn from employees about which projects, activities and strategies in the DEI space would be most meaningful to them. You can share your comments, feedback or questions for Yasmin by sending an email to dei@blood.ca (with the subject line CDO FEEDBACK). If you prefer, you can also share your feedback anonymously through this form.
We will be sharing further communications in the coming weeks and months so you can get to know Yasmin better. In the meantime, you can read her welcome announcement on Connect.
Supporting workplace wellness initiatives with new employee wellness specialist
On Wednesday, Dec. 1, our new employee wellness specialist, Christina Warrysh, will deliver a wellness workshop that is very timely. Her “Tips for Managing Seasonal Stress & Connecting with Joy” will explore creative and effective ways to reduce stress, connect with calm, create joy and look after your whole self. In addition, it will highlight the other helpful employee wellness supports we provide at Canadian Blood Services. Click here to register. Read more in a detailed Q&A on Connect about how Christina is eager to support employees on their wellness journeys.
Sneak peek: 2021 National Honouring Canada’s Lifeline event
Honouring Canada’s Lifeline is a national recognition event that occurs each year. During this important celebration, we recognize exemplary donors, community leaders, volunteers and employees (including our Living our Values award recipients for their generous contributions and commitment to Canadian Blood Services. Once again, we’ll be holding this year’s event virtually. It will be hosted by Andrew Phung, an award-winning actor and star of the CBC show Kim’s Convenience.
Canadian Blood Services employees are invited to join the event online on Monday, Nov. 29 at 8 p.m. ET. We expect it to be a memorable and inspiring evening, full of stories from some of the incredible people who keep Canada’s Lifeline going. We hope to see you there! In the meantime, you are invited to watch a special video sneak peek of this year’s event.
Question of the day: Have the recent weather events in B.C. impacted our inventory or collections?
Due to the heavy rainstorms that caused extensive floods and road closures recently in many parts of B.C., Canadian Blood Services has cancelled or postponed donation events in Chilliwack, Abbotsford, and other areas. We are continuing to manage the blood inventory in B.C., however, by leveraging our national inventory. Every day, we redistribute products across the country. Sometimes, it’s for an individual patient who needs a specific product. More often, it’s to top up the inventories at our regional distribution centres, so they can meet overall hospital needs.
During the first week of impact (Nov. 14), we lost 364 red blood cell (RBC) units and this week, we are also seeing impacts, including a loss of 204 RBC units. We continue to monitor impacts via the local emergency response team.
Continuous blood donations from healthy donors, along with our sophisticated systems for anticipating and meeting demand, help ensure critical blood products flow to patients, even when unexpected health, weather or other events occur. We are undertaking an integrated effort, particularly through activities in donor recruitment, marketing and communications, to increase planned collections and replenish our inventory. For residents who can travel to donate blood, our planning and supply chain teams have adjusted plans to expand our fixed donor centre capacities to offset the effects of postponing or cancelling mobile site collections.
As we enter into the season of giving, we are urging eligible blood donors to book and keep their appointments to support lifesaving care for patients across the country.
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.
Click here to read past editions of your digest.
Have questions? Check out blood.ca/employees or email us at communications@blood.ca