Your digest

Join us TODAY for a live Q&A: Join us today at 1 p.m. ET for our next live event with Graham. These events are an important opportunity for us to come together to have open conversations about our latest measures, issues or concern and diversity, equity and inclusion. We look forward to seeing you all there — if you cannot attend live, a recording of the event and a jump-to list of questions will be made available shortly following the event on your COVID-19 employee portal.

Group of plasma donors returns to pre-pandemic routine: A group of dedicated plasma donors will not allow pandemic restrictions to prevent them from doing what they love to do: donating plasma and gathering socially (distanced). Known as the Friday Friends, the group is made up of more than a dozen men and women who donate plasma regularly at our collections site in London, Ontario. Meeting over 15 years ago, the members of the group had regular appointments at around the same time. They sparked a friendship and soon formed their own unique community. “Our personalities differ, and we come from all walks of life, but we share a common bond,” says “Friend” Irene Hoekstra. “We all recognize that there’s an ongoing need for plasma and we want to help meet that need.” Read more about the Friday Friends at blood.ca/stories.

We made progress on our strategic plan: If you’ve been measuring time in terms of “Before COVID-19” and “After COVID-19”, you might be wondering how we are performing against the objectives laid out in our strategic plan, Keeping the Promise. The results are in, and while the COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly affected progress on many of our key priorities, employees should feel an enormous sense of pride in everything we did to keep our promise to Canadians in the final quarter of 2019-2020. We met or exceeded many of our targets, while adapting to unprecedented changes that could have threatened the success of our most critical projects if it were not for the commitment and agility of our teams. Read the highlights and access the report on Connect.

Staycation series — explore natural beauty in Calgary: Each week, we are sharing ideas to help you plan a safe, stress-free vacation that is closer to home this summer. Next stop in our series? Calgary! Combining big-city energy and natural beauty with western hospitality Calgary has plenty of staycation spots to explore. Whether you are looking to take the kids on an unforgettable family adventure, explore your own city like a tourist, or enjoy nature and namaste outside of town, these staycation ideas should help you plan your perfect (and safe) summer getaway. Pack your bags, grab the kids and plan your next trip by heading over to Connect.

Question of the day: Can I go into the office and get my monitor and other items from my desk?

At this time, we ask that only employees who have an operational imperative or essential task that impacts our essential operations enter our facilities.

However, if you think you need to enter a facility to retrieve something from our workspace essential to your work, please discuss your situation first with your supervisor. In that discussion, please consider the risk of not completing the task you need to do or delaying it for a few weeks vs. the risk you may create for other essential staff and our operations by going into the facility.

If you will be entering a site to gather essential items, such as files, monitor, keyboard or mouse, please promptly exit the building afterwards. Furnishings including chairs, desks and tabletops are not to be removed as these will be needed to support return to office planning.

If you need items to work from home, you can contact the OH&S group to receive an ergonomic assessment and options for accommodation.

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About your digest   

This 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.  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 your digest.     

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