We recently launched our Emergency Response Fund to support the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re calling on all British Columbians to donate to this fund to support the public health experts working to protect our population. Right now, we need your help to help more people, faster. This is a public health emergency that is affecting all of us, and you can help public health experts address it today.
Our team spoke with Dr Réka Gustafson, Vice President, Public Health and Wellness, PHSA & Deputy Provincial Health Officer (who oversees the BC Centre for Disease Control), to find out exactly what public health professionals need to address the pandemic. Dr Gustafson identified two key areas where our public health professionals need support urgently:
Rapid Guideline Development
The situation is rapidly changing, and we need to have additional experts on the ground investigating new information and evidence as it arises, and turning that evidence into guidelines for healthcare professionals and the public. The healthcare system and individual practitioners rely on official guidelines developed by public health officials to instruct them on best practice, and the public relies on accurate and timely information on prevention and protection measures. Right now, we need more humans to investigate, evaluate, and develop those guidelines in real time.
Research in Real Time
During a pandemic, situations are constantly changing and evolving. Public health professionals must react immediately. What often isn’t able to happen during an outbreak is for research to be undertaken simultaneously in real time, to observe, describe, gather evidence and inform our experts on what’s working, what’s not, and what’s needed. Having infectious disease and outbreak experts dedicated to observing and describing what’s happening as it happens is critical to understanding a shifting landscape and to learning from it. We need to learn now, as this unfolds, so we can both react and respond quickly, and be prepared for future emergencies. This is imperative to allow public health to be prepared for the future and take steps faster. We have an opportunity to support this work like never before.
Projects like these are what the Emergency Response Fund will support. We need to raise $325,000 right now to be able to make this work happen. More needs will be identified and updated as the situation progresses.
We’re calling on all British Columbians, businesses, and funding organizations to contribute towards these measures that will keep you, your family, and our population safe right now. We need to band together as British Columbians today to take action to protect our population.
You can donate online through our website here.
Cheques, cash donations, and donations over the phone can be made using the information at the end of this post.
Charitable tax receipts will be issued for all donations of $20 or more.
Please share this information widely. This affects all of us. We need everybody’s help right now. Help us by making a donation and sharing this information on social media, and via email with your friends, family, and colleagues.
For up to date information on the situation and how to protect yourself and others visit the BCCDC website and Health Canada.
