Your Digest
National Day of Mourning: Monday, Sept. 19
Canadian Blood Services will recognize a one-time federally declared holiday, the National Day of Mourning, for Canada’s former head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, following the protocol for federal statutory holidays.
Employees who are not operationally required to work will receive a day off with pay. No action is required — however, if you are unsure of your status, please confirm with your manager as operational support may be required for some functions. To meet patient needs, frontline operations currently scheduled in testing, production, distribution, logistics and collections, for blood, plasma and stem cells will continue as planned. Those employees scheduled to work will be paid according to their collective agreement or terms of employment.
If you have questions, your PCP business partner is available to help.
More fitness rooms to re-open today, Sept. 16
Our facilities teams have been working to assess how and when on-site fitness rooms could safely reopen to employees. In July, we announced the reopening of Calgary, Winnipeg, Brampton and Dartmouth fitness rooms. We are happy to announce that we will reopen our fitness rooms in Saint John, St. John’s and Vancouver, as of today. Employees are now able to use the Condeco booking systems to use these facilities. Employees will be required to sign a waiver, available at reception/security or on Connect, before a key or key card access is activated. We will provide updates on the remaining fitness rooms as soon as possible. Your continued patience is much appreciated as our team members continue to work on this important aspect of the Return to Office project.
How an emergency room nurse became a two-time living organ donor
Julia King has always felt driven to help others. It led her to a career in nursing, as well as to an inspiring commitment to Canada’s Lifeline. The 24-year-old emergency room nurse from Vancouver, B.C. joined Canadian Blood Services Stem Cell Registry at 17 and started donating blood at 18. Before she turned 19, she applied to be an anonymous kidney donor and then donated an organ twice — first as a living liver donor and then as a participant in the kidney paired donation program. Thanks to living donors, like Julia, their gifts help both the patients to whom they donate and others on the waitlist, because they help to reduce demand for organs from deceased donors. Read more about Julia on Connect.
A stem cell donor and recipient celebrate their 20-year bond
In 2002, the parents of one-year old, Sarah Byrne of Guelph, Ont., received the diagnosis that Sarah had a life-threatening, rare disease called Hurler Syndrome. Her only hope was a stem cell transplant to avoid slowing losing her ability to move, see, hear or even breathe. Across the country, Dave Charlebois of Victoria B.C., a regular blood donor, had registered to be a stem cell donor years before he got the call in 2002 that he was a match for Sarah, allowing him to save her life. After her successful stem cell transplant, Sarah has gone on to graduate from high school and is planning for a career in office administration in health services. Read more about Sarah and Dave’s 20-year friendship on blood.ca. As we celebrate World Marrow Donor Day on Sept. 17, we are thankful to stem cell donors all over the world and encourage eligible donors to register online.
Question of the day:
Where will Grifols’ clinics be located?
This is being determined. Canadian Blood Services has approval rights on where Grifols will open its new centres in Canada. We will only approve locations that will have no negative impacts on the national blood system.
