Atlantic Regional Liaison Committee Meeting Date: 2015-05-25 Location: Charlottetown, PE Members in Fraser Eaton Dr. Jennifer Fesser Gordon Jenkins Attendance: Gordon Jenkins Heather Mingo William Njoku Morley Reid Margaret Rogers Calvin Taylor Karen Turner-Lienaux Allen Veale Presenters: Chris Brennan Don LaPierre Peter MacDonald Tracy Ross Stephanie Smith ( ) Regrets: Dr. Calvino Cheng Dan Doran David Noel Anne Robinson Observers: Lisa Rusk Meeting Summary: Welcome and Introductions: Peter MacDonald Chris MacInnis has resigned from the Atlantic Regional Liaison Committee (RLC). Review of Agenda and Approval of Summary Notes: Peter MacDonald Mary Ann Ducedre was unable to attend the May 25 th Atlantic RLC meeting. She will provide an update on the School Program during the fall meeting. Summary notes from the October 2014 RLC meeting were issued to and approved by the committee prior to the meeting and have been posted to the Canadian Blood Services website. Speaker s Bureau was added to the agenda. NLC Update: Presenter: Chris Brennan There are currently 18 members on the National Liaison Committee (NLC) representing regional, healthcare and patient group perspectives. Heather Mingo represents the Atlantic healthcare perspective and Dan Doran represents the Atlantic regional perspective. The NLC is in the midst of a recruiting push. Over the next six months, new individuals will be approached to join the committee. Information discussed and concerns raised during RLC meetings are shared with the Board of Directors through regional representation on the NLC and through reports provided to the Board. New Board co-chair, Dr. Kevin Glasgow, was welcomed during the last NLC meeting. Dr. Glasgow was CEO of the Crohn s and Colitis Foundation of Canada, the Cardiac Care Network of Ontario and the Brant County Board of Health. He was also a former physician executive for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. During the last meeting, six NLC members were asked to speak about their organizations as well as their priorities. Committee members discovered that they had a lot in common and that there were opportunities to unite in a number of areas. Page 1 of 7
Jason Acker, Senior Scientist, Development, spoke about research and innovation. NLC members were asked to comprise a list of upcoming events where Canadian Blood Services could have a presence and perhaps present. Comments/ A member of the Board of Directors should be invited to an upcoming Atlantic RLC meeting. As the NLC did during their last meeting, the Atlantic RLC should have committee members speak about their organizations, share what they wish to achieve by being a member of the Atlantic RLC and advise what they bring to the table. Our focus doesn t always have to be on having a presence at big events. Reserving a community table at a local grocery store to book appointments a couple of weeks before a clinic could make an impact. Action Item: Chris Brennan to provide the Atlantic RLC with a copy of the upcoming events list created by the NLC. MSM Update: Presenter: Don LaPierre Effective July 22, 2013, the indefinite deferral for MSM was moved to a five-year deferral. There has always been a five-year deferral for MSM in cells, tissues and organs. With physician and patient acceptance, an exceptional release is possible for cells, tissues and organs. MSM may join stem cell registries. Last year, Canadian Blood Services attended Pride events in Toronto, London and Vancouver. As well, Ally blood donor clinics were held in Toronto and Vancouver where friends and family were welcome to donate on behalf of those who could not. In February 2015, Canadian Blood Services hosted a Rainbow Blood Donor clinic at netcad in Vancouver. A total of 47 donors either booked an appointment or walked in. Forty donors were processed with 34 units collected and six deferrals. Twenty-seven new donors were acquired during the clinic. Canadian Blood Services will attend Pride events in Kitchener (June 6 & 8), Winnipeg (June 13 & 14), Halifax (July 25) and Vancouver (August 2). The Winnipeg Pride will include a WYT event and there will be a netcad booth at the Vancouver Pride event. Ally blood donor clinics are to be confirmed in Winnipeg and Halifax. As part of the preparation for the last policy change submission to Health Canada, a discussion paper was drafted and reviewed by a panel of international experts in various fields (i.e., risk, ethics, gay men s health, etc.). This discussion paper is now being updated and, once completed, it will be sent to RLC members. On June 18, Canadian Blood Services will hold an external Webinar where Dr. Dana Devine will share where the policy currently stands, scientific evidence and what is happening internationally. The MSM Working Group and organizations that were part of the previous consultation will be invited to take part. A face-to-face meeting of the MSM Working Group will take place in Ottawa on September 15 16. The NLC will be consulted during their September 28 th meeting. Pre-submission meetings will be held with Health Canada. An external Webinar will be scheduled to share the submission. It is anticipated that the official submission to Health Canada will be in November. Comments/ Why were there six deferrals at the Rainbow Blood Donor clinic at netcad in Vancouver? The deferrals were for medical reasons (i.e., high blood pressure, etc.). How many additional units have been brought in as a result of the policy change and the work that has been done since? Page 2 of 7
The policy change was not about numbers but was about doing the right thing and being as minimally restrictive as possible. However, anecdotally, a couple of thousand donors across the country have come into or back into the fold as a result of moving from a lifetime to a five-year deferral. RLC members can help move the policy forward by promoting events within their networks (locally and regionally), dropping by local events to witness the engagement process, connecting with and supporting local territory managers and by letting Canadian Blood Services know of specific groups to consult. Do you have any evidence that supports the move from a five-year to one-year deferral? Some of our evidence is based on international results. Australia went from a lifetime deferral to a oneyear deferral about 10 years ago with no negative impact on the Australian blood supply. The UK has had a one-year deferral period for about six or seven years. Again, evidence shows that there has been no increased risk. The United States is considering a change from a lifetime to a one-year deferral. If this change becomes big news in the United States, media spillover could possibly influence public opinion in Canada. Do any large, industrialized countries have it on their radars to go lower than a one-year deferral? Australia attempted to go to a six-month deferral period; however, it was turned down by their regulator. A number of European countries have shorter deferral periods; however, they have completely different systems so it is difficult to compare. Italy, for example, has a process that is physician-screened where the donor s entire medical history is taken into account and there is more of a focus on risk-based activities. Action Item: Don LaPierre to invite Atlantic RLC members to a Webinar of the cross-divisional plan prepared for internal staff. Don LaPierre to forward details of the Halifax Pride event to the Atlantic RLC. Hospital Demand April 30 th Announcement: Presenter: Peter MacDonald On April 30, 2015, it was announced that the Sydney, Corner Brook, Prince George and Sarnia Sites would be closing. As well, the Bloodmobile Program has been discontinued and we will not be returning to a number of mobile communities across the country. Changes in utilization, surgical and clinical practices within hospitals have resulted in lower hospital demand. There is also sharing of blood products between hospitals. After announcing the closures of the Sydney and Corner Brook sites to staff, Peter MacDonald informed the mayors of Sydney and Corner Brook as well as former RLC member, Chris MacInnis. Peter was a guest on Information Morning in both Cape Breton and Western Newfoundland and was interviewed four times (radio/newspaper) in Western Newfoundland and five times (radio/television/newspaper) in Cape Breton. Canadian Blood Services is working on a reconciliation of the messaging about the need for blood and the closure of blood donor clinics. There are currently 405,000 active donors across the country. This year there will be a turn rate of almost 42%. Of the 405,000 active donors, 175,000 will leave for various reasons so we need to continually recruit to replace those donors. Comments/ How many units were required this year vs. last year? A year ago, the plan was built on 870,000 units. This year the plan was built on 830,000. Is this the first year there has been a decline? Hospital demand has been declining on a consistent basis for five years. It is anticipated that hospital demand will continue to decline in all programs Plasma, Platelets and Red Cells. One blood group that is not following the decline is O neg. Although Plasma for transfusion is declining, Plasma is still sent for Page 3 of 7
fractionation. Héma Quebec has ramped up collections to close the gap on sufficiency for Plasma that they send for fractionation. This is one of the possibilities that Canadian Blood Services is considering. How self-sufficient is Héma Quebec with respect to IVIG? Héma Quebec was in the same range as Canadian Blood Services. During the past year, Héma Quebec has opened a number of new Plasma sites. Why have no mobile clinics been planned for Corner Brook and Sydney following the closure of the perm sites? The decision was based on the costs of running mobiles to those communities. Windshield time required to send teams to communities is one of the most expensive sub-costs of a clinic. Donor messaging needs to be very clear. The average donor has difficulty reconciling the requirement of 80,000 new donors each year with the closure of clinics and cutting of clinic hours. PEI mobile clinic arrangements used to be completed out of the Charlottetown clinic but is now done out of Dartmouth. Although it may make sense to centralize some of the work, you still require boots on the ground. Some staff is worried as work appears to be taken away from the Charlottetown clinic. There were a number of tasks that the local Territory Manager was performing that prevented her from getting out in the community to recruit new donors and work with partners. Some of these tasks were centralized out of Dartmouth to allow the Territory Manager time to focus on the specific functions of her role. How many donors have been affected by the Corner Brook and Sydney closures? There are 1,800 active donors in Sydney and 900 active donors in Corner Brook. We were collecting approximately 3,800 units/year in Sydney and over 2,000 units/year in Corner Brook. Financial concerns were obviously a significant part of the rationale for the closure of the Grand Falls clinic and more recently, the Corner Brook clinic. Canadian Blood Services is responsible for a public purse and is obligated to operate in a safe and cost efficient manner. The closure of the Sydney, Corner Brook, Prince George and Sarnia sites will result in approximately $3,000,000 in savings on an annual basis. Why was the Bloodmobile Program discontinued? The Bloodmobile Program was operated in Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa. About a year ago, the Ottawa bloodmobile was destroyed by fire. It wasn t replaced and the program was under review. The Bloodmobile Program never achieved an appropriate level of success so the decision was made to discontinue the program. How much product is kept on hand? Canadian Blood Services measures inventory in days on hand. Depending on blood group, Canadian Blood Services keeps between six and eight days of product on hand. Hospitals have their own formulas to determine buffers and also have a maximum surgical blood order. The Canadian Blood Services Hospital Liaison Specialist works with hospitals on inventory requirements and keeps abreast of new techniques and procedures being implemented by hospitals that may have an effect on utilization. Communication, or the lack thereof, is an ongoing issue for many organizations, including Canadian Blood Services. Canadian Blood Services could have done a better job communicating its message about the Corner Brook and Sydney site closures to the layperson. Know your audience, paint a picture for that audience that answers the most questions with the least amount of words and substantiate that picture with the numbers. The public should have been informed of the amount of savings resulting from the Corner Brook and Sydney site closures. As well, messaging should have been put out more frequently. Specific messaging should have been in place for those donors who continued to donate at the sites slated for closure. Once site closures were announced, the national radio campaign should not have continued to be broadcast in that area. Is there a way to determine the cost of collecting a unit of blood in Corner Brook vs. a unit of blood in Southern Ontario? Yes. Two of the performance measures that members of the leadership group are measured on are cost per unit and labour hours per unit. Page 4 of 7
RLC Deeper Connections Strategy: Presenter: Chris Brennan Canadian Blood Services has evolved significantly over the last five years and brought in new lines of business. Members of all five RLCs are being asked to complete a survey to specify which perspectives they are connected to and which networks they represent. Results will indicate whether there are any significant gaps in our committees. The RLC will be taken in a new direction by broadening committee representation, enabling members to actively engage their networks/communities to advocate and drive recruitment and expanding the role of the committee beyond meeting-based advisors to active, ongoing involvement. A three-year strategic plan will focus on four key areas; demonstrating value, renewal, stakeholder reach and corporate support. The revamped RLC will include a standardized transition process. As members leave the RLC, there will be a formal off-boarding process to discuss the member s experiences and to ensure that contact is maintained. Project management program, Basecamp, will be used to help manage RLC activities. A RLC toolkit that includes all the material needed to support advocacy and recruitment efforts, key messages, collateral, committee templates and support documents, contact lists and event calendars will be available on Basecamp. Committee members broke into groups geographically to discuss the particular needs of their areas and sketch out actions and activities to address those needs. Committee members were asked to consider how they could contribute to collections on impact days, which networks and communities they could access, to look beyond blood and determine whether there were any quick wins we could target. Comments / Is there an area in Basecamp where committee members can book resources such as pc viewers, etc., for in community events? No. Committee members should continue to book required resources through the Territory Managers in their areas. There is also a spot on the reporting template where committee members can record their requirements. It was suggested that it would be beneficial if an After Event Report was completed after each clinic. Action Items: Chris Brennan to issue an invitation to committee members to set-up their Basecamp accounts. Chris Brennan to post contact information of Atlantic Territory Managers on Basecamp. Committee members to book appointments with local Territory Manager to develop their action plans. Action plans to be posted on Basecamp by end of June. Volunteer Resources Program Update: Presenter: Tracy Ross The Atlantic Region now has two dedicated Volunteer Coordinators following the recent Canadian Blood Services reorganization. There are two volunteer roles the in clinic volunteer and the in community volunteer. Twenty-five per cent of volunteers are in community and 75% are in clinic. The in clinic volunteer role focusses on customer service and donor safety. Volunteers are in the hospitality areas of clinics and ensure a warm and welcoming experience for donors. They also act as the eyes and ears of staff and alert them to any donor experiencing a post-donation reaction/incident. The in community volunteer focusses on public awareness and donor recruitment. Our goal is to grow the in community volunteer role. One of the tasks taken on by in community volunteers was the Sign Me Up program which was started last year. This is a direct ask where volunteers go into communities with Sign Me Up forms and ask people to sign-up to donate. There are a number of boxes that interested people can check (i.e., to schedule an appointment, learn about OneMatch, request further information, etc.). If people wish to Page 5 of 7
schedule an appointment, their information is entered into a spreadsheet which is then sent to the NCC who then contacts them to book the appointment. Individuals requesting further information will receive a series of seven e-mails designed to inspire them to donate. In 2014-15, the national Sign Me Up goal was 16,000. The actual number of forms completed was 18,658 which resulted in 8,303 donor donating and 8,307 units collected. There were 3,551 new donors and 713 donors were reinstated. The national Sign Me Up form target for 2015-16 is 22,027 and the Atlantic Region s target is 2,122 forms. In NL and Moncton, NB, government grants were approved to allow Canadian Blood Services to hire summer students to plan and execute events at various locations (i.e., festivals, Sobeys, store fronts, busy intersections, etc.) where they and in community volunteers would be out with Sign Me Up forms asking people to donate. In Halifax, 4 th year Nursing students at Dalhousie University are required to complete a community placement program and donate one day per week to a voluntary role. Canadian Blood Services usually has two Nursing students who volunteer one day per week from September to February and work on various projects. This year, we will be asking Nursing students to work on planning and executing Sign Me Up events. Last year, a Dalhousie student started up a Blood Club committee on campus. He recruited members and they took on the sponsorship of Dal clinics. The Blood Club expressed an interest in doing more. They will be helping us promote and recruit for the IWK, QEII and Halifax perm site clinics. It is hoped that this model can be developed on other campuses and perhaps be a legacy of the summer students. Going forward, individuals attending OneMatch swabbing events will be asked if they are interested in being a blood donor. Interested individuals will be asked to complete a Sign Me Up form. They will be contacted within a week to inform them where they can donate, book them an appointment or put them into the e-conversion program. Volunteer satisfaction surveys are run every year from November to December. The results provide a snapshot of where things are working and where they need to be improved. The goals of the 2015-16 Volunteer Program are to develop online advocacy opportunities, revise the volunteer section on blood.ca, grow the in community volunteer base to reach targets, engage in community volunteer leaders and look at our strategy for involving high school sponsorship for mobiles. Comments / How are volunteers recorded in the Volunteer Management Information System Database? Up until now, only the volunteer leaders were entered into the database, not the volunteers. Going forward, volunteer leaders will be asked for their volunteer lists for the year. Tracy Ross was asked whether her counterparts in other provinces were replicating the Blood Club. Some areas have similar programs in place. Alberta has the most success with the Sign Me Up forms due to a long running Youth Committee based on the University of Alberta campus. Territory Managers and Event Coordinators provide the committee with targets and the committee plans their own events to produce the results. One committee member expressed surprise that the Sign Me Up forms have been in existence for a couple of years and suggested that this should be pushed more. One of the focuses this year will be to really push the Sign Me Up forms with the in community volunteers. Summer Recruiting Challenge: Presenter: Stephanie Smith In 2014-15, there was an increase in volunteer participation to recruit prospective donors. Volunteers supported community events, including donor recruitment events, with the use of Sign Me Up forms. These events brought in 18,658 forms, 8,302 units and 3,547 new donors. The volunteer summer challenge will launch on June 8, 2015 (in line with National Blood Donor Week) and will run from June 8 to the end of August. The main goals are to engage in community volunteers to recruit 50 prospective donors to book an appointment or register for e-recruitment and to engage in-clinic Page 6 of 7
volunteers to share online tools with their friends and networks. The national goal is to generate 6,771 prospective donors and 1,218 new donors during this time. The Atlantic Region s goal is to generate 657 Sign Me Up forms. RLC members can get involved by sharing messaging with their friends and networks and encouraging them to sign up on www.blood.ca/learnmore/. An e-mail template and social media messaging is being developed and will be shared with in-clinic and in-community volunteers. Speaker s Bureau: Presenter: Morley Reid In order for the Speaker s Bureau to be truly successful, Canadian Blood Services needs to provide presenters with the tools they require. Canadian Blood Services has indicated that presenters will require a flash drive, laptop and screen. However, when the local Territory Manager was approached about access to these resources, she was only able to provide the flash drive. Action Items: Tracy Ross to look into whether the St. John s site has laptop and screen loaners available. Possible Future Topics: Utilization presentation from NLC. School Program Work on Deferrals Work on Iron Stores Update Feedback on RLC Terms of Reference Organs & Tissues Update No Shows and Cancellations at Mobile Clinics MSM Update Next Meeting: The next meeting is tentatively scheduled for November 2, 2015, at the Canadian Blood Services site in Dartmouth, NS. Action Items: Save the date e-mail to be sent to Atlantic RLC members. PM to invite Canadian Blood Services Board member, Dr. Jeff Scott, to the next Atlantic Regional Liaison Committee Meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 2:40 pm. Page 7 of 7