COMMUNITY LIAISON COMMITTEE, NS/PEI

Transcription

1 COMMUNITY LIAISON COMMITTEE, NS/PEI SUMMARY NOTES of the meeting of the Canadian Blood Services (CLC) held at CBS, NS/PEI, on Friday, October 24, 2003 at 11:00 am. PRESENT: OBSERVING: REGRETS: Janet Copeland Art Lewis Chris MacInnis Glenda Pollard Jennifer Evans PJ Vankoughnett-Olson Sharon Fraser Jennifer Spencer Brian Green Tony Richard Dr. Irene Sadek Gord Hickman Norma MacDonald Heather Mingo Derek Shanks Sue Smith Karen Turner-Lienaux Wendy Turner Tom Pinsent Judy Risser Lorna Tessier 1.0 OPENING OF THE MEETING Sue Smith welcomed everyone to the CLC meeting. The meeting commenced with round table introductions. Due to Lab renovations currently underway, the Lab tour originally scheduled following the CLC meeting has been postponed until the next CLC meeting. 2.0 REVIEW OF AGENDA The agenda was reviewed by the CLC members. The following items were added to the agenda; IPSOS Reid Survey, Communications and Public Involvement Update, Hospital Customer Service Strategy, Honouring Our Lifeblood Awards and Potential Labour Interruption. 3.0 APPROVAL OF SUMMARY NOTES Janet Copeland moved to approve the summary notes of June 20, Motion seconded by Karen Turner-Lienaux and approved by CLC members. Janice Phillips to request Lorna Tessier to post summary notes on the CBS web site. 4.0 BUSINESS ARISING 4.1 Report from NLC Representative Gord Hickman provided the following update from the NLC. The NLC has held 5 teleconferences. Four of these teleconferences were related to WNV and Roche testing. The most recent meeting held on was to discuss and prepare for the upcoming meeting with the CBS Board of Directors. The NLC also discussed the Terms of Reference, the Statement of Principles for Conduct of Meetings and Conflict of Interest Guidelines. Gord Hickman recently had the opportunity to meet with the NLC co-chair and learned a great deal more about the NLC. Page 1 of 6

2 4.2 West Nile Virus (WNV) Update Sue Smith, Centre Director, CBS NS/PEI, provided an update on West Nile Virus. Copies of the update were distributed to CLC members. Sue Smith, Dr. Irene Sadek and Sharon Fraser are members of the Nova Scotia Provincial Working Group for WNV. As of last week, there have been 2 confirmed human cases of WNV. CBS is continuing to monitor the situation and will communicate regularly with hospital customers. The following actions and measures have been taken to protect the blood system: - December 12, 2002 precautionary withdrawal of frozen blood products collected in Ontario in June, July, August, September and October Winter 2002 when risk of WNV was extremely low, began stockpiling blood components that could be frozen and stored for up to one year. - May 20, 2003 launched urgent national appeal to build stockpile of red blood cells in a 4- week donation blitz. Stockpile could be used should the first human case appear prior to commercial testing. - May 26, 2003 began deferring potential donors who had experienced headache and fever in the previous 7 days. - June 17, 2003 early testing introduced with an internally-developed test to screen a limited quantity of blood products from southern and eastern Ontario (primarily platelets) according to 2 criteria: supply and proximity. This area represents roughly 30% of the entire blood supply and is near the testing site (Ottawa). Some of the blood products must be transfused within 5 days and collection sites with quick ground transportation routes to Ottawa were essential. The in-house test was replaced by the commercial test. - June 23, 2003 began to use commercial test on blood collected in Ontario. - July 2, 2003 began commercial screening of every unit of blood for WNV in laboratories located in Toronto and Calgary. - September 3, 2003 precautionary withdrawal of blood collected in Saskatchewan over summer months and single-unit testing of Saskatchewan blood. - September 8, 2003 temporary cancellation of clinics in Medicine Hat Other Measures: - CBS ensured accurate and timely public messages about the magnitude of the risk at every step - CBS distributed regular letters to hospitals and the medical community advising of changes, recommending informed consent, outlining the continuing risk and reminding of the investigational nature of the test. - CBS continues to work closely with public health officials and medical communities to manage this risk. - Monitoring continues for human cases of WNV infection in all provinces. - CBS continues to consult with and keep all stakeholders informed as the issues evolve. (Provincial/Territorial partners, NLC, CLCs, Hospital partners, etc.). It appears that CBS will continue WNV testing through the winter months, i.e., all year through. Sue Smith stated that she would keep the CLC committee members up to date regarding WNV. 4.3 Donor Recruitment Update Sharon Fraser, Communications Specialist, CBS NS/PEI, provided an update on Donor Recruitment key indicators. Copies of the update graphs were distributed to CLC members. Derek Shanks stated that the Life Bus Program has been a great success. Commencing December 2003, transportation via taxi will be available to donors in the Sydney and Charlottetown permanent sites as part of the Life Bus Program. Page 2 of 6

3 5.0 NEW BUSINESS 5.1 Hospital Customer Service (HCS) Strategy WT provided an overview of the Hospital Customer Service Strategy. Copies of the overview were distributed to CLC members. In November 2001, the CBS Leadership Council acknowledged the need to focus attention on Hospital Customer Service. A pilot program in BC & Yukon confirmed the benefits of a HCS Representative. A performance review conducted following the pilot reinforced this strategy. It was felt that each Centre should have a HCS Representative. Currently, there are HCS Representatives in place in 5 CBS Centres across the country (BC & Yukon, Alberta, Toronto, Southern Ontario and NS & PEI). The remaining Centres will be looked at next year. CBS understood that there was a need to establish effective customer service to improve service to hospital customers, to improve product availability, to reduce the cost, to enhance education for our hospital customers and ensure that CBS is meeting customer needs. To determine where CBS would put its resources, a series of surveys were conducted by IPSOS Reid. The results provided CBS with the top 3 hospital priorities; availability of blood products, improved communications and better transportation service. CBS will focus on these priorities for the remainder of the fiscal year. 5.2 Communications and Public Involvement Update Jennifer Spencer, Executive Director, Communications and Public Involvement, provided the following update. Communication is an extremely important part of CBS. CBS Communication & Public Involvement s focus is primarily to rebuild public trust. Once the trust is rebuilt, we must guard that trust and reputation. Currently, Communications and Public Involvement are working on 3 main areas; ensuring an adequate number of donors, guarding public trust and managing CBS reputation. This is done by being transparent, by being open, by demonstrating that CBS is accountable, by being responsive and by involving the public. CLC s are an important way to get into the communities. To date, CLC s across the country have addressed issues such as WNV, MAK, Speakers Bureau, NCC, Roll Up Your Sleeves, What s Your Type High School Program and UBMDR. Three CLC s are working on increasing involvement of youth through high schools, increasing involvement of multi-cultural groups and gaining corporate support allowing employees to donate. 5.3 Donors for Life Presentation PJ Vankoughnett-Olson, Manager, Donor Recognition and Retention, provided an overview of the Donors For Life Program. Copies of the presentation were distributed to CLC members. The goal of the Donors For Life Program is to build donor loyalty and increase frequency. It was built on the success of Donors and Holiday Heros. Donors For Life was launched in Donors For Life membership is growing but frequency is dropping. There are a large number of inactive members. Less than half of WB members achieve the goal of 4 donations/year. The average frequency of AP members is about double the commitment. Current frequency initiatives include: Membership mailings LifeLine Members section on CBS web site Completion pin Page 3 of 6

4 Questions & Comments: 1. What would encourage donors to join the Donors For Life Program and what could be done to persuade members to meet their commitment? Derek Shanks suggested volunteers could encourage donors by explaining the program. Sharon Fraser stated that the reason our Donors For Life members are so knowledgeable is due in large part to the volunteers pushing the program. Karen Turner-Lienaux suggested that program information and the LifeLine newsletters be posted on clinic bulletin boards and CBS posters placed throughout hospitals in elevators and waiting rooms. Art Lewis suggested program pamphlets be made available to donors just before screening. PJ Vankoughnett-Olson stated that perhaps if Donors For Life members pre-booked their 4 donations, they would meet their commitment. It was mentioned, however, that donors often say they have no idea what they are doing in 56 days so they are unable to book in advance. 2. What type of recognition should there be for those donors who donate every time CBS is in their area? PJ Vankoughnett-Olson stated that one of the possibilities being looked at is a tiered recognition program based on multiple years of donating, i.e., bronze, silver and gold status. Karen Turner-Lienaux stated she liked the idea of a tiered recognition program. Derek Shanks stated that donation recognition is very important. Acknowledgement only starts at 50 donations. What about recognizing previous donations? Chris MacInnis pointed out that donors are well aware of the number of times they ve donated. Sue Smith agreed and stated that a lack of donation recognition is an issue that is raised frequently at donor awards. 3. What if a Donor for Life member is unable to meet one of their donation commitments? Sharon Fraser suggested that donors be allowed to send a proxy. Sue Smith agreed and stated that this would encourage donors to meet their commitment. The proxies could also be potential new donors for CBS. Art Lewis said the availability of a Proxy Program would need to be made known to donors. 4. Sue Smith asked what would motivate hospital workers to donate? KarenTurner-Lienaux and Heather Mingo indicated that hospital workers would be unable to attend a clinic at the last minute. They would need to schedule an appointment well in advance of a clinic. The posting of clinic schedules throughout hospitals may also help motivate/remind hospital workers to donate. 5. Glenda Pollard stated that the importance of pins for donations cannot be discounted. In her experience, donors like receiving pins for donating. 6. Any further comments or questions on the Donors For Life Program should be forwarded to Sharon Fraser. 5.4 MAK Progesa Sue Smith, Centre Director, CBS NS/PEI, provided an update on MAK Progesa. Copies of the update were distributed to CLC members. MAK-System is an international organization that specializes in Blood Centre and Blood Bank operations and transfusion medicine. MAK Progesa is a software tool for the management of Blood Bank and Transfusion Service Operations. The whole premise of Progesa is to enhance the safety of the blood supply and to help promote the vein to vein tracking of the blood system, from Page 4 of 6

5 the vein of the donor to the vein of the recipient. MAK Progesa was implemented at the Halifax Centre (the pilot Centre for CBS) in March Donors will see some increased use of computerization at clinic, including laptops for mobile clinics. MAK Progesa improves donor identification and eligibility determination and provides improved customer service by updating the donor s file at the point of contact. Donor identification cards will undergo a subtle change and will be issued to donors the first time they attend a MAK clinic. Components will be shipped with fewer labels and tags. Much of the component information will be consolidated onto a single label. The unit label number will be expanded by four additional digits, providing hospital customers with the option of continuing to use the current 7-digit or the expanded 11-digit identifier. This will alleviate the problem of managing duplicate unit label numbers in hospital blood banks. Bar-coding will also be used to facilitate ease of data entry. Packing slips will be produced directly from the integrated manufacturing/inventory system, with an expected reduction in distribution incidents. Karen Turner-Lienaux asked if it would be possible to obtain an actual picture of a unit with a scanable version of the label. The label should also display the space required for phenotype information. Wendy Turner advised that she would follow-up with the MAK team on this request. 5.5 IPSOS Reid Survey CBS commissioned IPSOS Reid to conduct a series of interviews with corporate and community blood donor participants. Survey results will guide the national Life Link Program which secures long-term corporate and community relationships that contribute to the ongoing stability of the blood supply. 5.6 Honouring Our Lifeblood Awards Derek Shanks will be recognized at the Honouring Our Lifeblood Awards ceremony in Ottawa for helping CBS build a better blood system. Derek stated that he appreciates the award and is looking forward to the ceremony. The national key note speaker (recipient) is Tom Pinsent. Norma MacDonald is a former award recipient. Also receiving an Honouring Our Lifeblood Award is Joe McCardle in PEI. 5.7 Potential Labour Disruption CBS and NSUPE, Local 12, are currently at a critical stage in contract negotiations. Contingency plans are in place in the event of a labour disruption. Sue Smith wanted to reassure hospital customers, recipients and donors that blood products will continue to be available. Questions and concerns should be forwarded to Sharon Fraser or Sue Smith. 5.8 Post-Hurricane Juan Sue Smith commended staff, donors and volunteers for their efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Juan. Karen Turner-Lienaux stated that over 200 patients were removed from a wing of the hospital that had lost its roof during the hurricane. Patients have now been moved back to their rooms following completion of repairs. 6.0 FUTURE TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION Volunteer Strategy Record of Donation Changes Military Deferrals Page 5 of 6

6 7.0 NEXT MEETING DATE The date of the next meeting is Friday, March 26, 2004 from 11:00 am 2:00 pm. A tour of the Lab will follow the meeting. 8.0 ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 pm. Page 6 of 6