Blood Emergency Readiness Corps
The Blood Emergency Readiness Corps (known as "BERC" or the "BERC Program") consists of 36 U.S.-based community blood centers that work together to provide an emergency reserve of blood products to respond to a mass shooting or mass casualty event. The program is administered by the Alliance for Community Transfusion Services (ACTS). To date, the BERC reserve has responded to supply blood products needed as a result of the Collierville Kroger shooting (Collierville, TN), the 2021 Oxford High School shooting (Oxford Township, MI), the Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021, the Robb Elementary School Shooting (Uvalde, TX) on May 14, 2022, and the tornado outbreak sequence primarily impacting Perrytown, TX in the Texas Panhandle on June 15, 2023.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]
The following blood centers are participants in the program:
- Blood Assurance (Chattanooga, Tennessee)[15]
- Bloodworks Northwest (Seattle, Washington)[16]
- Blood Bank of Hawaii (Honolulu, Hawaii)
- Carter BloodCare (Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas)[17]
- Central Pennsylvania Blood Bank (Hershey, Pennsylvania)[18]
- Coastal Bend Blood Center (Corpus Christi, Texas)[19]
- Community Blood Center of the Ozarks (Springfield, Missouri)[20]
- ConnectLIfe (Buffalo, New York)
- Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center (Houston, Texas)[21]
- Houchin Community Blood Bank (Bakersfield, California)[22]
- ImpactLife (Davenport, Iowa)[23]
- Inova Blood Donor Services (Sterling, Virginia)[24]
- LIFELINE Blood Services (Jackson, Tennessee)[25]
- LifeServe Blood Center (Des Moines, Iowa)[26]
- LifeSouth Community Blood Centers (Gainesville, Florida)[27]
- LifeStream Blood Bank (San Bernardino, California)
- Marsh Regional Blood Center (Bristol, Tennessee)
- MEDIC Regional Blood Center (Knoxville, Tennessee)[28]
- Miller-Keystone Blood Center (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania)[29]
- Mississippi Blood Services (Jackson, Mississippi)[30]
- Northern California Community Blood Bank (Eureka, California)[31]
- Oklahoma Blood Institute (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)[32]
- OneBlood, Inc.(Orlando, Florida)
- Rock River Valley Regional Blood Center (Rockford, Illinois)[33]
- San Diego Blood Bank (San Diego, California)
- South Texas Blood & Tissue (San Antonio, Texas)[34]
- Solvita Blood Center (Dayton, Ohio)[35]
- Stanford Blood Center (Palo Alto, California)[36]
- SunCoast Blood Centers (Sarasota, Florida)[37]
- The Blood Center (New Orleans, Louisiana)[38]
- The Blood Connection (Greenville, South Carolina)[39]
- The Community Blood Center (Appleton, Wisconsin)[40]
- Versiti (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
- Vitalant (Scottsdale, Arizona)
- We Are Blood (Austin, Texas)[41]
- Western Kentucky Regional Blood Center (Owensboro, Kentucky)[42]
References[edit]
- ^ Connection, The Blood (2021-12-11). "Midwest tornadoes activate nation's emergency blood reserve". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release) (in French). Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ^ "Michigan shooting activates nationwide emergency blood reserve". www.beckershospitalreview.com. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ^ "Collierville shooting activated emergency blood supply". localmemphis.com. September 24, 2021. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ^ Corps, Blood Emergency Readiness (March 2022). "Majority of U.S. blood centers now part of nation's first emergency blood reserve". WFMZ.com. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ^ "SunCoast Blood Centers joins national blood donation network in response to mass trauma events". WFTS. 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ^ Staff, WBKO News (9 February 2022). "Blood Assurance joins Blood Emergency Readiness Corps". wbko.com. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ^ Denton, Evan (10 January 2022). "ImpactLife joins Blood Emergency Readiness Corps". kwqc.com. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ^ "Blood Emergency Readiness Corps (BERC)". Carter BloodCare. 2021-09-13. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ^ Southwick, Lee (2022-01-12). "Blood supply severely low, donations needed". WDSU. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
- ^ "Majority of U.S. blood centers now part of nation's first emergency blood reserve – Blood Emergency Readiness Corps". 2 March 2022. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
- ^ Cochran, Tamlyn (25 May 2022). "Blood Emergency Readiness Corp activated to send blood to Uvalde". newschannel10.com. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
- ^ "Local blood bank sends supply to Texas hospitals after Uvalde school shooting". wtsp.com. May 27, 2022. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
- ^ "Blood Emergency Readiness Corps activated following deadly storms in Texas". www.fox23.com. 2023-06-17. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
- ^ Moreno, Julie (2023-06-16). "South Texas Blood & Tissue sends blood to Perryton following deadly tornado; How you can help". KSAT. Retrieved 2024-03-26.
- ^ Christen, Mike. "Blood Assurance joins emergency readiness network". The Daily Herald. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
- ^ "Blood Emergency Readiness Corps grows to 30 blood centers serving 37 states | Blood Centers of America". bca.coop. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
- ^ "Blood Emergency Readiness Corps (BERC)". Carter BloodCare. 2021-09-13. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
- ^ "Blood centers launch nation's first emergency blood reserve. | Blood Centers of America". bca.coop. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
- ^ "Coastal Bend Blood Center providing products for Michigan after school shooting". KRIS. 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
- ^ "CBCO joins effort to increase blood supply during emergencies". KOLR - OzarksFirst.com. 2022-03-22. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
- ^ Varma, Juhi (2022-07-15). "Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center joins Blood Emergency Readiness Corps". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2022-07-27.
- ^ "Houchin Community Blood Bank joins nation's first emergency blood reserve". KGET 17. 2021-09-09. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
- ^ Denton, Evan (10 January 2022). "ImpactLife joins Blood Emergency Readiness Corps". www.kwqc.com. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
- ^ "Inova Blood Donor Services Joins Nation's First Emergency Blood Reserve". Inova Newsroom. 2022-04-25. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
- ^ Staff REPORTS. "Lifeline joins national joint blood bank reserve". The Jackson Sun. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
- ^ Deckert, Taylor (2022-05-25). "LifeServe Blood Center sending blood to support Texas shooting victims". KMEG. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
- ^ "LifeSouth partners with blood centers amidst national shortage". WHNT.com. 2022-01-17. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
- ^ "MEDIC joins nation's first emergency blood reserve". Oak Ridger. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
- ^ Rader, Tom (26 May 2022). "Miller Keystone sends pints of blood to Texas after deadly school shooting". WFMZ.com. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
- ^ "Mississippi Blood Services joins mass transfusion program". WJTV. 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ "Northern California Community Blood Bank joins First Emergency Blood Reserve". Del Norte Triplicate. 30 December 2021. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ Branham, Dana. "Oklahoma Blood Institute joining 5-state coalition to shore up emergency blood reserves". The Oklahoman. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ "Blood donations needed after Texas school shooting, Illinois blood banks say". Shaw Local. 25 May 2022. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
- ^ Burrell, Morgan (2021-09-11). "South Texas Blood and Tissue Center joins first-of-its-kind emergency blood reserve". WOAI. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ "CBC JOINS NATIONAL ALLIANCE FOR MASS TRANSFUSION READINESS – Blood Emergency Readiness Corps". 2022-04-21. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
- ^ "Stanford Blood Center Joins The Blood Emergency Readiness Corps". Stanford Blood Center. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ "SunCoast Blood Centers joins Blood Emergency Readiness Corps to help respond to mass casualty events". wtsp.com. December 1, 2021. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ Francis, Kendal (2021-12-12). "The Blood Center joins nation's first emergency blood reserve". WDSU. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ "The Blood Connection joins Blood Emergency Readiness Corps". GREENVILLE JOURNAL. 2021-12-06. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ "The Community Blood Center responds to emergency blood reserve activation". Merrill Foto News. 2021-12-13. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ "We Are Blood joins nation's first emergency blood reserve to combat blood shortage". KXAN Austin. 2021-09-10. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
- ^ staff, New Era (21 December 2021). "West Ky Blood Center joins first national emergency blood network". Kentucky New Era. Retrieved 2022-05-30.