Daily COVID-19 digest

Virtual open board meeting and Q&A session with Canadians: For the first time in its 20-year history, Canadian Blood Services’ board of directors will be holding an online, virtual open board meeting on June 23 from 2:45–5:30pm (EST). As part of the meeting, our CEO, Dr. Graham Sher, will be holding a question and answer session with staff and members of the public. He will answer questions about COVID-19 and how Canadian Blood Services is striving to meet patient needs for blood, plasma, stem cells and organs and tissues during this challenging time. Watch and participate at obm.blood.ca starting at 2:45 pm (EST). You can pose questions for our Q&A session by email to engage@blood.ca and tune in to watch that part of the agenda from 4:00–4:30. Following the Q&A session, stakeholders have the opportunity to present to the board virtually.

Meeting the rising need for lifesaving plasma protein products: Advances in cancer treatment are giving patients more hope than ever, but the side effects of those lifesaving medications can take their own serious toll. Terry Mills was diagnosed with malignant melanoma and treated with immunotherapy drugs to boost her immune system’s ability to find and destroy cancer cells. When the treatment started to have serious side effects, she was given immunoglobulin to boost her immune system. The need for immunoglobulin and other lifesaving plasma protein products for patients like Terry is on the rise. To help meet that need into the future, Canadian Blood Services is opening three new plasma donor centres. Learn more on blood.ca.

Question of the day: Why did Canadian Blood Services decide to move ahead with pandemic top-up pay for some employees?

We are providing support for employees whose hours of work may have been reduced due to COVID-19 through our newly implemented pandemic top-up.

The broad intent of this new measure is to ensure employees are not significantly financially disadvantaged if their regular hours of work have been reduced below those they worked prior to COVID-19. Largely, employees are paid for their regular pre-pandemic hours of work, even if they are scheduled for less.

Pre-pandemic hours of work are calculated based on the employee’s average hours of work in the 26 weeks prior to March 15, 2020 when the pandemic was declared.

About the daily digest

This daily 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. Things are moving quickly, so you can expect to hear from us daily. 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 the daily digest.

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