JAX Chamber: LifeSouth Community Blood Centers Joins Nation's First Emergency Blood Reserve

Jacksonville FL

13 January, 2022

1:42 PM

Description

Press release from the JAX Chamber: January 12, 2022   January 10, 2022 - Facing an increasingly unsteady blood supply, LifeSouth Community Blood Centers has helped found a first-in-the-nation partnership to prepare Florida for emergency situations where blood needs are high.    As part of the Blood Emergency Readiness Corps (BERC), LifeSouth joins blood centers across the country to an on-call rotation. If a large-scale crisis occurs, such as a shooting or natural disaster, during the time LifeSouth is on-call, they will send blood to that location to help the local blood center provide hospitals treating victims. BERC members helped during the recent school shooting in Michigan and the devastating tornadoes that struck the South and Midwest.   "COVID exposed the reality that our national blood supply is unstable when there is catastrophic need," said Kimberly Kinsell, CEO of LifeSouth Community Blood Centers. "In the face of disaster, BERC will provide a safety net securing the blood necessary for immediate transfusion. BERC provides Florida and our partner states a ready-to-go supply of blood allowing us to be proactive in our disaster response efforts."   The nation's blood centers have faced widespread blood shortages in recent months, creating a severely strained national safety net for mass traumas and other high casualty disasters. As one of the state's primary blood supplier, LifeSouth Blood Center helps BERC to be proactive in its emergency planning, rather than rely on an increasingly unstable back-up supply plan.   When faced with a mass-need event, Kinsell said, blood centers across the country have relied on patchwork pleas for additional blood resources. States that had extra blood on hand might send units, but there was nothing that 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.   LifeSouth will be collecting extra blood products as part of its on-call schedule. Drive coordinators and donors will be asked to step up to a higher calling of guardianship to cover possible coast to coast needs. If no emergency situation arises, the blood products will be returned to LifeSouth's general inventory, to be used for local blood needs. Participating centers will rotate inventory coverage, starting on a three-week cycle.   To donate blood, donors can make an appointment lifesouth.org   ###   About LifeSouth: LifeSouth is a non-profit community blood bank serving more than 125 hospitals in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. LifeSouth is committed to meeting the blood supply needs of hospitals and their patients by providing the highest quality blood components and services. The LifeSouth team is dedicated to making sure the blood is there when a patient is in need. To learn more, visit LifeSouth.org.   Media Contact:LifeSouth | Nan Kavanaugh 904.415.0051 | [email protected]   This press release was produced by the JAX Chamber. The views expressed here are the author's own.