Your digest

Join us on Thursday, Jan. 28 for Bell Let’s Talk Day:

Now more than ever, open discussions about mental health are critical to our wellbeing. In support of Bell Let’s Talk Day, join us on Thursday, Jan. 28 for one of three live events on mental health hosted by our CEO and VP of people, culture and performance. Joining them will be Yasmine Sikender, a licensed therapist and clinical social worker who supports our employee assistance program and virtual drop-in therapy program.

During the event, employees will have an opportunity to ask questions and share their experiences around mental health and learn more about how to access the resources we have in place. To accommodate employees who work in different time zones across the country and well as frontline employees who typically conduct shift work, live sessions will be taking place at 11 a.m. ET, 3 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET. To participate, click the meeting link in your Outlook invite. If you can’t join us live, recordings will be made available on Connect. We encourage you to submit a question in advance by emailing thrive@blood.ca.

Q2 performance report reveals our strengths and challenges as we weather the COVID-19 storm: All employees should feel proud of their achievements this past quarter; what we do matters and every task performed over the last four months has contributed to the successes outlined in our latest performance report. Read exciting highlights and learn more about how COVID-19 is affecting certain areas of our business on Connect.

Nova Scotia adopts “deemed consent” for deceased organ donation: On Monday, Nova Scotia became the first jurisdiction in North America to adopt deemed consent for deceased organ donation. This means every Nova Scotian will be considered an organ and tissue donor unless they opt out, and the province expects to see a rise in donation rates as a result. Read more about the change in this CBC story and listen to this interview with Dr. Sam Shemie, medical advisor for Canadian Blood Services’ organ and tissue donation and transplantation team, about how this change will impact organ and tissue donation.

Stem cell donor thanks staff for ‘kindness and compassion’: A young woman who recently donated stem cells has high praise for Canadian Blood Services staff in Moncton. Lizzy Burns had been on the stem cell registry for five years when she got the call in October that she was a match for a patient. In early December, she made her donation at Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Halifax, N.S., and the very next day, she contacted John Ruddock and his team in our Moncton offices with a heartwarming e-mail message. Congratulations to all those who contributed to this donor’s positive experience. What you do matters, for donors and patients alike. Check out Lizzy’s message on Connect, and her story on blood.ca/stories to learn more about the donor experience and the importance of committed donors.

Question of the day: After almost a year into the pandemic, has guidance changed on whether or not employees can conduct personal or business travel?

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) continues to advise against non-essential international travel and most provinces and territories are recommending against non-essential travel outside of the province or region.

We are asking employees to do their part to keep our teams, donors and operations safe. Please follow federal and local public health guidance; and consider whether work or personal travel you would like to pursue is truly essential. Below is an overview of how Canadian Blood Services is handling travel requests:

Business travel

While domestic business travel is being assessed on a case-by-case basis through our essential travel approval process, at this time we will not be approving international business travel. This decision follows public health guidance and considers current restrictions by our corporate travel insurance partner related to COVID-19-related illnesses outside of Canada. If you have questions, please contact corporatecard@blood.ca.

Personal travel

The same advice from PHAC applies to international personal travel. It is important to remember that if you are considering personal travel outside of the country, that you check your personal travel insurance before leaving. Following the advice from public health, upon your return you must isolate for 14 days, monitor your symptoms and inform your manager/supervisor. If you are travelling outside of your province or region within Canada, please consult local public health guidance to determine if you should isolate and inform you manager.

If you have to isolate when returning from personal travel and cannot work virtually, you will not qualify for COVID-19 financial leave measures such as quarantine leave.

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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.    

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