Your digest

Reminder — today is the last day to pre-submit questions for Tuesday’s townhall:

Join Graham and a panel of our own scientific experts on Tues. April 27 at 1 p.m. ET to discuss what we know about vaccine safety and development, variants of concern, vaccine roll-out — and how all of this will affect our organization’s plans for the return to office. Participate by clicking on the meeting link in your Outlook invite. In addition to receiving questions through the traditional live chat, our panel will be answering employee questions submitted by video or voicemail.

To submit a video recording of your question:

• Using a smart phone or computer, record your question in 30 seconds or less and send to communications@blood.ca by end of day today.
• Only questions that include your first name, role and location will be submitted.

To submit an audio recording of your question via voicemail:

• Call 1-800-509-3329 and record your question in 30 seconds or less by end of day today.
• Only questions that include your first name, role and location will be submitted.

New series — my COVID-19 vaccination story:

As efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 continue across the country, a number of our employees have come forward to share their vaccination experience and why it matters in the hopes of inspiring others to do the same. In their own words, over the next few weeks we will be sharing their stories with you.

Our first story includes, Emma Willms, an event co-ordinator in Guelph,ON who says that when she received first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty® vaccine a few weeks ago, her eyes filled with tears with memories of pre-COVID times and dreams of a post-COVID future. One day, because of vaccines, her newborn twins will get to spend priceless time with their great-grandparents. She says “I feel so immensely grateful for the folks who worked tirelessly on the front lines throughout this pandemic. Now it’s our turn to show our thanks by taking the vaccine. This is our golden ticket back to normal life and it will literally save lives.”

To participate in this incredibly important series, please reach out to us at communications@blood.ca with the subject line “MY VACCINE STORY.” Read Emma’s story and more on Connect.

Understanding COVID-19 case management at Canadian Blood Services: At the start of the pandemic, we instituted a new process, known as case management, to help protect the health and safety of employees, donors, volunteers, contractors and our operations when a positive case of COVID-19 arises at one of our sites. We “virtually” sat down with Bernie Eurich, who assumed the new role of manager, COVID case management earlier this year, to learn more about how the process ensures key people, including affected teams and local public health authorities have the information they need so we can act quickly, transparently and keep people safe. Read the full story on Connect.

Creative resources help reach new audiences about organ donation and transplantation: Canadian Blood Services is supporting a number of new creative platforms that help raise awareness about organ and tissue donation with people of all ages. The Orgamites, a colourful team of animated organs empower grown-ups to talk to their kids — and kids to talk to their grown-ups — about organ donation and healthy living. New to Canada, the program will support our plans to develop a national organ and tissue education portal offering resources for kids (and big kids) alike. The Living Donation Storytelling Project created by researchers in the U.S. recently worked with Canadian Blood Services to produce a Canadian version. It’s a one-of-a-kind digital library of video stories, recorded by real people, sharing their living donor kidney transplant experiences. Read more about how we are supporting these and other exciting platforms on blood.ca/stories.

Question of the day: Are face shields mandatory for employees onsite? Should I wear one?

Although the use of face shields is not mandatory, we strongly encourage our frontline operational teams to wear a face shield provided by Canadian Blood Services in addition to their required surgical mask when working onsite.

Research has shown a number of benefits to wearing a face shield in addition to a properly fitting surgical mask:

• They can significantly limit your short-term exposure to infectious droplets, reducing contamination of your respiratory system.
• They provide an additional layer of protection around your face, reducing the potential for splashes, sprays and droplets from sneezing and coughing.
• They make it harder for you to accidentally touch your mask or your eyes, therefore reducing the potential for transmission.

We are currently looking at expanding the options for both face shields and goggles (snug fit around eyes) to provide employees with more choices. Updates will be provided once available

It is important to remember that a mask can be worn on its own or with the addition of a face shield. However, a face shield cannot be worn on its own because it does not offer the same level of protection. The additional protection of wearing a face shield with a mask is not a replacement for following all other safety measures in place such as physical distancing and proper hand hygiene. Employees should continue to maintain a two-metre distance from donors and other employees where possible.

For more information, including how to safely put on and remove, clean and store your face shield, visit www.blood.ca/employees/ppe.

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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