From simply giving through our website, to holding fundraisers, organizing campouts, donating poker winnings, and more, we could go on and on sharing all the ways British Columbians (of all ages!) have found a way to support our Emergency Response Fund.

And this Giving Tuesday, we’re asking if you would do the same: give.

Give because you want to put this pandemic behind us once and for all.
Give because you care for your fellow British Columbians.
Give because it’s who you are.

And give because you believe in what we do.

Our work in public health is nowhere near complete. Your donation to our Emergency Response Fund will help us focus on addressing the current pandemic, as well as transitioning our thinking around public health to a broader view—one that places public health research, programs, policy, awareness, and capacity at the forefront.

Your gift to our Emergency Response Fund will help us remain focused on COVID-19 response and prevention, while at the same time shifting toward pandemic recovery, proactive planning, and learning, to ensure that we help keep the population of British Columbia safe and healthy through the next months and well beyond.

Whether it’s $5, $50, $500, or $5,000, every dollar counts. And every dollar helps put this pandemic behind us, so we can move on.

Please consider donating to our Emergency Response Fund this Giving Tuesday, and join the millions of Canadians across the country who will be participating in this day of giving back too.

You’re busy, and we’re busy too. We get it. Even the most important things can easily slip our minds at times, so to ensure you don’t forget on the 30^th, click below and make your Giving Tuesday contribution to our Emergency Response Fund today.

Without you, we couldn’t do this important work of helping to keep British Columbians like yourself, and those you most cherish, safe and healthy. We thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity this Giving Tuesday.

The post ‘Tis the Season of Giving Tuesday appeared first on Pacific Public Health Foundation.

Phase 1: BC COVID-19 Population Health Survey

The BC COVID-19 SPEAK survey is open to all British Columbians who are 18 and older, and is a tool to help public health experts understand public risk perceptions, personal behaviours and circumstances, acceptability of public health measures, and broader impacts of COVID-19—including social, economic, physical health, mental wellness, and resiliency of communities.

This coordinated effort, led by the BCCDC, engages with the Ministry of Health and each of the health authorities to ensure that British Columbians from all corners of the province, and from all backgrounds, are included and represented. The results of this survey will help us better understand COVID-19, and inform public health strategies to keep us safe and healthy.

Phase 2: BC COVID-19 Serological Survey

Until a vaccine is developed and deployed, herd immunity is our population’s protection against COVID-19. Through serological (blood) sampling, our public health experts will be able to determine susceptibility and immunity within the general population, telling us how close or far we are from herd immunity. We’ll be able to assess and better understand transmission, and determine how much of our population is vulnerable, or immune from the virus.

Experts will also be able to assess the risk of spread among subgroups, including those who are particularly vulnerable or high-risk, as well as those who may be better protected, such as children.

Phase 3: BC COVID-19 Sentinel Surveillance

This is the work that will keep our population safe from future waves of COVID-19 and help us prepare for future pandemics. This type of surveillance will act as an early warning system for any increases in community transmission. To be launched in the fall, this will be particularly important as flu season begins—being able to rapidly identify, contain, and suppress cases of COVID-19 will protect us at a point in time when there is an increase in other respiratory illnesses (like the flu).

This type of surveillance is critical to alerting public health professionals, and allowing them to engage in rapid response wrap-around public health services keeping you, your family, and your community safe.

These are the strategies and approaches that we need to keep all of us safe and healthy for the long run. Public health’s value is three-fold: preventing illness and injury before it happens, understanding diseases and the human impact, and finding solutions that work not only for individuals, but on a population-level. This three-phased collaborative approach is what BC needs now, as we continue to be all in together, and until we can take back normal.

The post Combating COVID-19 on a population level appeared first on Pacific Public Health Foundation.

See below for some examples of these donors in action:

View this post on Instagram

New Tides Link to the full catalog is now live in my bio. For the week I will be featuring a piece from the show, along with the charity we will be supporting with the work: ‘Line Break’ 36”x48” 2020 A portion of proceeds from this work will be donated to BCCDC Foundation for Public Health ( @bccdcfoundation ) The BC Centre for Disease Control, a program of the Provincial Health Services Authority, provides provincial and national leadership in disease surveillance, detection, treatment, prevention and consultation. To inquire please contact @vanartrental or email info@artrentalandsales.com

A post shared by s c o t t s u e m e (@scottsueme) on Apr 6, 2020 at 9:17am PDT

View this post on Instagram

we are so excited to announce that in addition to the $1 donation to help save the bees, we will also be donating $1 from the sale of each scrunchie to @bccdcfoundation to assist with flattening the curve and supporting front line healthcare workers! that means that a purchase of one scrunchie helps make a difference with TWO amazing causes!

A post shared by bee knotty scrunchies (@beeknottyhair) on Mar 28, 2020 at 1:45pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

We are launching a pay by donation Tea Ceremony and Tasting – recreating a warm and casual tea gathering event performed in Chinese family – to build connections between people, and to raise awareness about coronavirus and “virus-led” fear and racism. *100% of the raised fund will be donated to BCCDC Foundation for Public Health. Join us this Sunday, Feb 23 from 1-5pm to show your support! #covid19 #coronavirus #ncov2019 #tea4acause #fightcov #teaceremony #teaparty #charity #publichealth #antiracism #equality #diversity #inclusiveness

A post shared by Sunzen Art Gallery | 三生缘 (@sunzenart) on Feb 19, 2020 at 6:59pm PST

This Insight Exchange is by voluntary donation – all proceeds will be donated to @BCCDCFoundation. Participants will have the option to donate during the registration process and Realize Strategies will match their donations dollar for dollar

— Realize Strategies (@realizecoop) April 29, 2020

The BCCDC Foundation has launched the Emergency Response Fund to support the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic & the experts working to protect our population. You can help them save lives. #SupportSunday https://t.co/4TqaOpXyK0

— Canucks For Kids Fund (@Canucksforkids) April 19, 2020

View this post on Instagram

Today, Please, Join us to SUPPORT this great movement and all the great human beings, friends, and companies it represents. Altro Labels is joining the team and will be donating proceeds from both merch sales and labels/tapes to the BC Centre for Disease Control, while providing discounts to those in need. Thanks so much to @bccdcfoundation, @coastalreign, and @thevancouversun for their incredible work on this. Please show your love to all these great people anyway you can – even if it’s just a like! Merch on the way! For more info copy this link! https://bit.ly/3bN9iJs . . . #vancouverstrong #vancouver #vancitybuzz #healthcareheroes #healthcare #britishcolumbia #buylocal #timetobuybc #bcbeer #craftbeer #stayhome #covid19 #workfromhome #flattenthecurve #altrolabels #staysafe #customlabels #quarantine #smallbusiness #shoplocal #love #loveislove #dailyhivevan

A post shared by Altro Labels (@altrolabels) on Apr 28, 2020 at 11:08am PDT

View this post on Instagram

This week’s #52WeeksofGiving is dedicated to the BCCDC Foundation for Public Health. Their mission is to establish protection and promote health in the community. At this time, it is important to support their rapid response activities that will protect our population’s health from the currect coronavirus outbreak and for future emergencies. To learn more, visit www.bccdcfoundation.org. . . . #kellerwilliamsrealtyvancentral #kw #garykeller #realestate #kwcares #52WeeksofGiving #realtor #agent #givingback #community #leadership #vancouver

A post shared by KW Realty VanCentral (@kwrealtyvancentral) on Apr 2, 2020 at 1:34pm PDT

The post BC businesses helping to beat COVID-19 appeared first on Pacific Public Health Foundation.

What your donations are funding

As our provincial leader for outbreak response, population health, prevention, and so much more, the BCCDC exists to keep our population safe and healthy year-round. When a public health emergency like COVID-19 arises, BCCDC’s public health experts—epidemiologists, medical doctors, virologists and microbiologists, lab and data technicians, and many others—take action immediately to protect the population.

Your donations are helping to fund critically important, rapid-response research that will help keep us safe. This funding will allow experts to assess BC’s COVID-19 pandemic response at a population level, by specifically investigating the efficacy and acceptability of current public health measures and directives, assessing the true extent of infections, immunity, and the susceptibility of BC’s population to COVID-19, and importantly planning for future waves and outbreaks to ensure the best systems are in place in advance.

In essence, the questions that this work will start to ask are:

• What are the risk perceptions, acceptability of measures, and broader impacts for the public?
• What does the susceptibility and immunity to COVID-19 look like in BC?
• Which evidence-based strategies are needed for enhanced surveillance?
• What evidence and strategy do we need now to prepare for future waves, so we can act swiftly in the future?
• How do we best inform ongoing public health and prevention measures?

This comprehensive approach will not only help us understand COVID-19 in BC right now, it will help to create evidence-driven plans to prepare and strengthen our public health response that will serve us now and in the future. It will help protect more British Columbians faster, and for longer.

The donations you’ve provided will get this work started. But we know that we still need to build on and generate new evidence around COVID-19 and how to protect more British Columbians. We’ve increased our target to $500,000 to support the BCCDC’s ongoing work. If you haven’t yet already, we ask you to join the hundreds of others and donate to make this work possible today:

As the work develops, we’ll continue to share updates on the progress and needs of our public health experts. This is just the beginning, and we’re just getting started. We hope you’ll continue to follow this journey and support this work.

“We’re so grateful for the outstanding support of British Columbians, coming together to protect our community and support our public health experts at the BCCDC.”

– Cathy Daminato, Chair of BCCDC Foundation

Thank you on behalf of the Foundation and the BCCDC for your collective generosity and support. The amazing messages of thanks, well wishes, and kindness have been so moving to our team. Those messages, in a time when everything is uncertain and anxieties are high, are what keep us going. Thank you for that and for protecting our population.

Diverse partners

We’ve seen incredible support from businesses, unions, other foundations, and individuals. From independent makers of scrunchies and apparel, to tech companies supporting remote work like Teradici, to media giants like Postmedia, and so many more, the support from our private sector partners has been absolutely overwhelming. If you would like to discuss how your company can get involved and help lead the response to COVID-19 in BC, please contact us at donate@bccdcfoundation.org or (604) 707-2635.

Other ways to donate

Online through our website
Over the phone, contact us at (604) 707-2635

The post Rapid Response to COVID-19: Your donations at work appeared first on Pacific Public Health Foundation.