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Adaptability Annual Report 2019–2020 Adaptability Janrene Savellano Cord blood collections specialist Table of Contents 2. Optimizing blood system performance 11. Ensuring Canada’s plasma sufficiency 16. Managing the national formulary 22. Collaborating on access to organs and tissues 30. Extending the power of stem cells 37. Continuously improving how we work 44. Engaging and empowering employees 51. A message from our chair 53. A message from our chief executive officer 56. Management analysis 70. Financials In responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve drawn on a legacy of preparedness and foresight built through more than 20 years of adapting to patients’ changing needs. And we’ve focused on the core commitments of our promise to Canadians: to safeguard the quality of our products and services; to engage with donors and our health-care partners; and to continuously improve our systems and processes. Because we know that adaptability is the key to resilience. Canadian Blood Services’ Annual Report 2019–2020 1 OPTIMIZING BLOOD SYSTEM PERFORMANCE CONTINUED PROGRESS IN MANAGING OUR SUPPLY CHAIN AND MEETING PATIENTS’ NEEDS Deanna Kitchen, Blood donor Cole, Blood recipient Click to ➔ Ensuring Managing Collaborating Extending Continuously Engaging and additional Canada’s plasma the national on access to the power of improving how empowering sections sufficiency formulary organs and stem cells we work employees tissues Canadian Blood Services’ Annual Report 2019–2020 2 OPTIMIZING BLOOD SYSTEM PERFORMANCE The big picture Stability and agility: strategically managing the nation’s blood supply COVID-19 response Ensuring blood donors feel safe, confident — and needed Rick Prinzen, Chief Supply Chain Officer and Top priority: To explain and reinforce the protective measures Vice-President, Donor Relations in place at Canadian Blood Services donor centres, adhering to public health guidelines across Canada and sharing information updates through a range of channels. Please note: The information summarized here and Canada’s blood system maintained strong performance in fiscal throughout this report reflects the current state as of 2019–2020, experiencing significant inventory fluctuations August 1, 2020. Our COVID-19 response has necessarily been dynamic and nimble, adapting to new evidence-based only in the final two months, with the onset of the COVID-19 insights while staying focused on keeping donors, staff, pandemic. Through the first 10 months of the year, stable volunteers and our health-system partners healthy and safe. whole blood collection enabled us to meet the needs of Transmission risk: Canadians count on us to keep the our hospital customers and keep inventories consistently blood system safe, and we’ve always responded quickly and effectively to public health issues. We’ve reassured Canadians within target ranges. The progress we achieved, working that COVID-19 does not appear, based on current scientific with health systems across the country, builds on a multi-year evidence, to be transmissible through blood or blood products. All of our mitigation efforts are therefore to ensure effort by Canadian Blood Services to amplify the value we that people who are infectious do not spread the virus to deliver by improving patient outcomes and enhancing system others. That said, we continue to follow rigorous protocols performance while optimizing cost-efficiency. to ensure the safety of all Canadian Blood Services products and services related to blood, plasma, stem cells, and organs The COVID-19 outbreak required swift action to address the concerns of and tissues — as do our contract manufacturers and health- system partners. donors and employees by introducing additional safety protocols at donor Donor eligibility: As the COVID-19 pandemic has unfolded, centres. Now, as we move from crisis to recovery, the challenge will be we’ve constantly reviewed and updated eligibility criteria to maintain effective blood collection — and keep donors informed and based on the latest information about the virus and how engaged — as hospitals resume deferred medical treatment and elective it is spread. Following guidelines set out at the beginning surgeries, and as more trauma patients (from increased vehicle traffic, as of the crisis, prospective blood donors are ineligible if they have tested positive for COVID-19, or if they’ve developed a well as workplace accidents) fill emergency wards.Rick Prinzen, chief fever and cough after close contact with someone who has supply chain officer and vice-president, donor relations, discusses our tested positive. We also disallow donors who show potential level of preparedness and the further changes we can expect in a post- symptoms after returning from travel outside Canada, or after close contact with a symptomatic person who became pandemic world. ill within two weeks of travel abroad. Other donors exposed to those who fit the above criteria, whether at work or in Q: The COVID-19 crisis emerged at the end of a fiscal year in which the community, may also be temporarily ineligible. Anyone Canada’s blood system was performing well by most key metrics. deemed ineligible can only resume blood donation 14 days How does this position you to manage the challenges ahead? after the last contact with an infected individual. (For details, see our COVID-19 information page: blood.ca/covid19) Rick Prinzen: We have to start by acknowledging that while the impact (cont’d) of COVID-19 can’t be fully assessed at this point, it clearly changes everything, both in our organization and across the health systems we Click to ➔ Ensuring Managing Collaborating Extending Continuously Engaging and additional Canada’s plasma the national on access to the power of improving how empowering sections sufficiency formulary organs and stem cells we work employees tissues Canadian Blood Services’ Annual Report 2019–2020 3 OPTIMIZING BLOOD SYSTEM PERFORMANCE THE BIG PICTURE serve. That said, it certainly helps that we’re tackling this crisis from a position of relative strength, with steady blood collection over the past year and hospitals reporting that their inventories are consistently on COVID-19 response (cont’d) target. As the pandemic strains resources in every area of health care, Ensuring blood donors feel safe, we can point to specific metrics that give us confidence moving forward. What’s driving those numbers is disciplined, systematic planning — confident — and needed because that’s where we’ve put a lot of effort in recent years. Appointments only: To facilitate pre-screening of donors As in any good planning system, we have a short-term horizon, where and minimize the number of people in our donor centres, we the focus is very tactical, and then we have a longer-term horizon, no longer accept walk-in visitors. Prospective blood donors which looks ahead 18 to 24 months at productivity outcomes, budget can book appointments online, via the GiveBlood mobile app, or by telephone. As our COVID-19 response has evolved, implications, community impacts and other strategic factors. We used we’ve modified opening hours at some donor centres while to do longer-term planning on an annual basis. Over the past year we temporarily suspending collection at others — and in some moved to quarterly cycle, which positioned us well to rethink planning cases moving mobile events to alternate locations — to ensure we meet physical distancing requirements. even more frequently as we responded to COVID-19. Protecting donors: Respiratory infections are common in Canada, and our donor centres already had robust protocols in place to protect donors, volunteers and employees. Additional COVID-19 measures include wellness screening, physical distancing, supervised hand sanitizing, mandatory masks — and, of course, rigorous cleaning of all equipment PATHOGEN and surfaces. Personal protective equipment (PPE): From the onset of the pandemic, we’ve constantly reviewed our PPE practices INACTIVATION to ensure they remain consistent with the latest science, government regulations and advice from public health authorities. A promising tool to make blood In our donor centres (both permanent and mobile), all employees and volunteers must wear surgical masks. Donors transfusion even safer are required to wear cloth masks, which we provide if they don’t have their own. In operational environments, including Over the past decade or so, leading blood operators have welcomed our testing, production and distribution facilities, surgical the development of an effective new tool for ensuring the safety of masks are mandatory at all times. In administrative settings such as offices, employees must wear cloth masks (their own blood products: pathogen inactivation technology. Rather than focus or from our PPE inventory) except when they’re alone at on specific pathogens, the technology neutralizes a broad spectrum of their workstations. viruses, parasites and bacteria, as well as any residual white blood cells Face shields, intended to be worn with masks, are available to staff in situations where effective physical that may be present in collected blood units. The result: blood products distancing is not possible. In many environments, we’ve that meet the highest standards of quality and safety, with no need installed clear acrylic barriers to add a further level of for additional layers of time-consuming (and potentially incomplete) protection. We constantly assess how PPE practices may need to be further modified as blood collection, production screening. and administrative
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