Facing an unsteady blood supply, Blood Assurance has joined a national partnership to ensure preparedness for emergency situations in which blood needs are high.
The Blood Emergency Readiness Corps is composed of several blood centers from across the nation that have committed to collecting extra blood units on a rotating, on-call schedule.
The extra blood products will be held in reserve for critical-need scenarios like a mass shooting or natural disaster.
The nation’s blood centers have faced widespread blood shortages since 2020, creating a strained national safety net for mass traumas and other high casualty disasters, notes J.B Gaskins, president and CEO of Blood Assurance.
As the area’s sole blood supplier, Blood Assurance joins BERC to be proactive in its emergency planning.
“When faced with a mass-need event, blood centers across the country have relied on patchwork pleas for additional blood resources,” Gaskins explains. “States that had extra blood on hand might send units, but there was nothing a blood center could count on other than undefined goodwill. With BERC, partner blood centers will know exactly how much emergency blood is available and where it will come from.”
Blood Assurance will be collecting extra blood products as part of its on-call schedule.
If no emergency situation arises, the blood products will be returned to Blood Assurance’s general inventory to be used for local blood needs.
Whole blood and double red cell donors can schedule an appointment at bloodassurance.org/schedule or by calling 800 962-0628 or texting BAGIVE to 999777.
Plasma and platelet donors can call their local centers to schedule. Walk-ins will be accepted.
To be eligible to donate blood, one must be at least 17 years old (16 years old with parental consent), weigh 110 pounds or more and be in good health.
Donors are asked to drink plenty of non-caffeinated fluids and eat a meal that’s rich in iron before donating.
Source: Blood Assurance