Your Digest

Blood donors have saved this teen’s life more than 200 times, and counting

From almost the moment he was born, 15-year-old Eric Polo has depended on blood donors, and he will continue to rely on them for the rest of his life. Eric, who lives in Toronto, has Diamond-Blackfan anemia, a rare blood disorder. He receives transfusions every month to survive. In gratitude, his mother — who happens to be O-negative — recently donated blood for the first time, qualifying after years of being ineligible because of the 110-pound minimum weight requirement. “Blood donors are our heroes,” says Daphne Flint-Polo. “I get emotional every time I talk about it. Without them, Eric wouldn’t have lived more than a few weeks.” Read more at blood.ca/stories.

“I’m here and I exist”: Q&A with trans employee Malcolm Henderson

The International Transgender Day of Visibility takes place on March 31 each year, to celebrate trans and non-binary people, their achievements and their contributions to society. It is also about renewing our commitment to educate ourselves on trans issues and to raise our voices against transphobia in all its forms. In honour of Trans Day of Visibility, Malcolm Henderson, an equipment deployment associate with our organization in Vancouver, B.C., recently shared his story about coming out as trans to his colleagues. He also talked about the impact of getting misgendered and what “visibility” means to him. “You still hear people saying “being trans isn’t real…well I’m right here, I’m real, and I exist,” said Malcolm. Read the full Q&A with Malcolm on Connect and learn how you can become a supportive ally to your trans and non-binary colleagues.

New employee resource group invites women and non-binary employees to join

The Women’s Empowerment Network is a new employee resource group with the goal to create a safe and supportive space for women and non-binary employees to connect, learn, network and grow both professionally and personally. Dr. Yasmin Razack, chief diversity officer, is co-chairing the group with Judie Leach Bennett, vice-president, general counsel and chief risk officer. Through open conversations and dialogue, the resource group will address important gender-based topics and help to eliminate existing barriers related to advancing gender equity at Canadian Blood Services. Read more about the Women’s Empowerment Network on Connect. If you are interested in joining the network’s first virtual meeting, please email DEI@blood.ca by Thursday, March 31.

Tune in to our new TikTok channel

Canadian Blood Services is now active on TikTok, the video-based social media channel. Since late 2021 we have been using TikTok to expand our reach to a grassroots audience that values authenticity. Our content on TikTok is fun, bite-sized, engaging and informative. It has been created to retain a viewer for as long as possible before they skip to the next video in their social media feed. Our account is still very much in its infancy and needs diversity and employee advocacy in order to grow. If you’re on TikTok, please visit our page and follow us! The more followers we have, the more people we can reach with our fun yet important messages to build engagement with Canada’s Lifeline. If you have any content you think would be a good fit for our TikTok channel, please reach out to communications@blood.ca with your ideas.

Question of the Day: Many organizations and businesses are having trouble finding qualified candidates for a number of different jobs. Is Canadian Blood Services having any issues recruiting people to the organization?

Like other organizations across the country, we are having challenges in finding qualified candidates for some roles. We have had to adjust our approach to recruitment and are currently attending virtual career fairs, sharing these positions on our social media channels; and also networking with a wide variety of community partners, local schools, and associations. We also encourage all employees to follow the Canadian Blood Services social media channels — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn — and share our postings with their own networks on social media.

About Your Digest

This digest highlights the latest policy and employee support measures, resources to help you manage our new reality and original content to remind us that what we do matters. This information 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.