Blood Emergency Readiness Corps

The Blood Emergency Readiness Corps (known as "BERC" or the "BERC Program") consists of 38 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 in the Mississippi Valley of December 10–11, 2021, the Robb Elementary School Shooting (Uvalde, TX) on May 14, 2022, the tornado outbreak sequence primarily impacting Perrytown, TX in the Texas Panhandle on June 15, 2023, the tornado outbreak in North Texas on May 26, 2024, the ransomware attack impacting the blood supply in the southeast U.S. on July 30, 2024, the flooding in southwest Florida as a result of Hurricane Debby on August 5, 2024, the blood needs as a result of Hurricane Milton making landfall in southwest Florida on October 9, 2024, the New Orleans Truck Attack of January 1, 2025, the New York Blood Center Enterprises Cybersecurity Incident of January 26, 2025, and the Tour Bus Crash in Western New York on August 22, 2025. ^{[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) ^[17]
• Carter BloodCare (Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas) ^[18]
• Central Pennsylvania Blood Bank (Hershey, Pennsylvania) ^[19]
• Coastal Bend Blood Center (Corpus Christi, Texas) ^[20]
• Community Blood Center of the Ozarks (Springfield, Missouri) ^[21]
• ConnectLife (Buffalo, New York) ^[22]
• Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center (Houston, Texas) ^[23]
• Houchin Community Blood Bank (Bakersfield, California) ^[24]
• Hoxworth Blood Center (Cincinnati, Ohio)
• ImpactLife (Davenport, Iowa) ^[25]
• Inova Blood Donor Services (Sterling, Virginia) ^[26]
• LIFELINE Blood Services (Jackson, Tennessee) ^[27]
• LifeServe Blood Center (Des Moines, Iowa) ^[28]
• LifeSouth Community Blood Centers (Gainesville, Florida) ^[29]
• LifeStream Blood Bank (San Bernardino, California) ^[30]
• Marsh Regional Blood Center (Bristol, Tennessee)
• MEDIC Regional Blood Center (Knoxville, Tennessee) ^[31]
• Miller-Keystone Blood Center (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) ^[32]
• Mississippi Blood Services (Jackson, Mississippi) ^[33]
• Northern California Community Blood Bank (Eureka, California) ^[34]
• Our Blood Institute (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) ^[35]
• OneBlood, Inc.(Orlando, Florida)
• Rock River Valley Regional Blood Center (Rockford, Illinois) ^[36]
• San Diego Blood Bank (San Diego, California)
• South Texas Blood & Tissue (San Antonio, Texas) ^[37]
• South Bend Medical Foundation (South Bend, Indiana)
• Stanford Blood Center (Palo Alto, California) ^[38]
• SunCoast Blood Centers (Sarasota, Florida) ^[39]
• The Blood Center (New Orleans, Louisiana) ^[40]
• The Blood Connection (Greenville, South Carolina) ^[41]
• The Community Blood Center (Appleton, Wisconsin) ^[42]
• Versiti (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
• Versiti Ohio (Dayton, Ohio)
• Vitalant (Scottsdale, Arizona) ^[43]
• We Are Blood (Austin, Texas) ^[44]
• Western Kentucky Regional Blood Center (Owensboro, Kentucky) ^[45]

References

1. 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.
2. "Michigan shooting activates nationwide emergency blood reserve". www.beckershospitalreview.com. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
3. "Collierville shooting activated emergency blood supply". localmemphis.com. September 24, 2021. Retrieved 2022-03-11.
4. 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.
5. Roberts, Emily (2024-08-05). "Community Blood Center helps hacked blood bank in the South". www.wbay.com. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
6. "Blood Emergency Readiness Corps Activated in Response to Hurricane Debby - ImpactLife". www.bloodcenter.org. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
7. Staff, BakersfieldNow (2024-08-05). "Houchin Blood Bank urges residents to donate blood, Type O most-needed for Hurricane Debby". KBAK. Retrieved 2024-08-12.
8. Staff Reports (2024-10-11). "Donors needed for Hurricane Milton relief effort". Miami Valley Today. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
9. "BERC Activation for Hurricane Milton - ImpactLife". www.bloodcenter.org. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
10. WQAD News 8 (2025-01-02). New Orleans blood center activates national emergency corp to treat victims on Bourbon Street . Retrieved 2025-01-05– via YouTube.
11. "Houchin Community Blood Bank sends blood to New Orleans after terrorist attack; needs help increasing supply". Yahoo News. 2025-01-04. Retrieved 2025-01-05.
12. Kate, Bird (2025-02-03). "New York Blood Center Enterprises Cybersecurity Incident Update". New York Blood Center Enterprises. Retrieved 2025-03-24.
13. Cuevas, Jeanine Santucci, Emily Barnes and Eduardo. "Five killed, dozens injured after tour bus crashes in upstate NY. Here's what we know". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
14. Staff, KCRG (2025-08-22). "Eastern Iowa blood provider shipping supplies in response to deadly New York bus crash". https://www.kcrg.com . Retrieved 2025-08-24.{{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
15. Christen, Mike. "Blood Assurance joins emergency readiness network". The Daily Herald. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
16. "Blood Emergency Readiness Corps grows to 30 blood centers serving 37 states | Blood Centers of America". bca.coop. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
17. name, Your name or company. "Blood Bank of Hawaii Joins First-in-the-Nation Blood Emergency Readiness Corps, to Assist in Blood Transfusion Access – Blood Bank of Hawaii" . Retrieved 2024-06-20.
18. "Blood Emergency Readiness Corps (BERC)". Carter BloodCare. 2021-09-13. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
19. "Blood centers launch nation's first emergency blood reserve. | Blood Centers of America". bca.coop. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
20. "Coastal Bend Blood Center providing products for Michigan after school shooting". KRIS. 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
21. "CBCO joins effort to increase blood supply during emergencies". KOLR - OzarksFirst.com. 2022-03-22. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
22. Blood Emergency Readiness Corps (June 3, 2024). "Blood Emergency Readiness Corps Activated to Respond to Extreme Weather in North Texas". FOX21 News Colorado (Press release). EIN Presswire. Retrieved 2024-06-20.
23. Varma, Juhi (2022-07-15). "Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center joins Blood Emergency Readiness Corps". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2022-07-27.
24. "Houchin Community Blood Bank joins nation's first emergency blood reserve". KGET 17. 2021-09-09. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
25. Denton, Evan (10 January 2022). "ImpactLife joins Blood Emergency Readiness Corps". www.kwqc.com. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
26. "Inova Blood Donor Services Joins Nation's First Emergency Blood Reserve". Inova Newsroom. 2022-04-25. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
27. Staff REPORTS. "Lifeline joins national joint blood bank reserve". The Jackson Sun. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
28. Deckert, Taylor (2022-05-25). "LifeServe Blood Center sending blood to support Texas shooting victims". KMEG. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
29. "LifeSouth partners with blood centers amidst national shortage". WHNT.com. 2022-01-17. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
30. "LifeStream joins National Blood Emergency Readiness Corps". Welcome to San Bernardino County. 2023-07-27. Retrieved 2024-06-20.
31. "MEDIC joins nation's first emergency blood reserve". Oak Ridger. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
32. Rader, Tom (26 May 2022). "Miller Keystone sends pints of blood to Texas after deadly school shooting". WFMZ.com. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
33. "Mississippi Blood Services joins mass transfusion program". WJTV. 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
34. "Northern California Community Blood Bank joins First Emergency Blood Reserve". Del Norte Triplicate. 30 December 2021. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
35. Branham, Dana. "Oklahoma Blood Institute joining 5-state coalition to shore up emergency blood reserves". The Oklahoman. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
36. "Blood donations needed after Texas school shooting, Illinois blood banks say". Shaw Local. 25 May 2022. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
37. Burrell, Morgan (2021-09-11). "South Texas Blood and Tissue Center joins first-of-its-kind emergency blood reserve". WOAI. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
38. "Stanford Blood Center Joins The Blood Emergency Readiness Corps". Stanford Blood Center. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
39. "SunCoast Blood Centers joins Blood Emergency Readiness Corps to help respond to mass casualty events". wtsp.com. December 1, 2021. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
40. Francis, Kendal (2021-12-12). "The Blood Center joins nation's first emergency blood reserve". WDSU. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
41. "The Blood Connection joins Blood Emergency Readiness Corps". GREENVILLE JOURNAL. 2021-12-06. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
42. "The Community Blood Center responds to emergency blood reserve activation". Merrill Foto News. 2021-12-13. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
43. "Vitalant | Blood Transfusion Affiliations". vitalantHealth.org. Retrieved 2024-06-20.
44. "We Are Blood joins nation's first emergency blood reserve to combat blood shortage". KXAN Austin. 2021-09-10. Retrieved 2022-03-19.
45. staff, New Era (21 December 2021). "West Ky Blood Center joins first national emergency blood network". Kentucky New Era. Retrieved 2022-05-30.

External links

• Blood Emergency Readiness Corps (BERC)