Your Digest

Community outreach on the east coast 

For the first time since 2019, Canadian Blood Services participated in the annual Regatta Day celebrations in St. John’s, N.L. Gord Skiffington, community development manager, and Susanne Stevenson, volunteer coordinator, attended the early August event to recruit new donors, raise awareness, and engage with the community. Two surprise visitors to their tent brought some additional excitement to the day: board members Dr. Jeff Scott, from Halifax, N.S., and Victor Young, from St. John’s, N.L., both stopped by to show their support. Visit Connect to read more. 

Townhall September 8: Call for questions  

Our next live town hall event is coming up Thursday, Sept. 8, 1–2 p.m. ET. Join our CEO, Dr. Graham Sher, and his guest panellists for updates and answers to your questions. Please submit questions in advance to communications@blood.ca with the subject line ‘TOWNHALL’ or use this anonymous form . You can also submit questions live during the event after joining with the meeting link in your Outlook invitation. A recording of the townhall will be available on the employee portal and the “Podcasts” section of the Connect on the Go app within 24 hours of the event.    

Back-to-school help: Promoting acceptance 

For some school-aged children, back-to-school can mean experiencing discrimination, racism and even bullying, either first-hand or as a witness to how other children behave. Knowing how and when to talk to kids about these tough topics is the third focus of our back-to-school series. It’s important to help children learn how to respect and embrace others’ differences. This brief guide can help steer the conversation of diversity and inclusion, providing parents with a starting point. Visit ComPsych's back-to-school guidance for a comprehensive suite of resources and tips, such as ways to help you promote your child’s physical safety and emotional well-being. Visit Connect and stay tuned to Your Digest for more back-to-school highlights; you can also connect with your colleagues on Yammer — check out the hashtag #BackToSchool2022. 

Question of the day

Are there capacity limits in meeting rooms now that physical distancing is no longer required?  

There are no longer distancing-related restrictions for meeting spaces in our on-site meeting rooms. When a meeting space is booked in Outlook, there are posted seating capacities. The seating capacity provides an indication of the size of the meeting space and the ideal number of persons for that specific space. This is to assist those who may not be familiar with the site. 

Meeting and office spaces can continue to be booked through Outlook as before but can also be booked through the Condeco booking system. Suspending physical distancing requirements means more space is available in our meeting spaces and also in our break rooms and restrooms.  

You may choose to still consider physically distancing from others where feasible. Although physical distancing requirements have been suspended, our sites will continue to manage workspace booking through the Condeco app. In the event more employees want to return to our spaces, Condeco can make spaces available.     

Find more information in the Q&A section of our employee portal and if you have other facilities-related questions, please contact Ask.Facilities@blood.ca.