Coffee Memorial Celebrates One Year of Blood Reserve

Coffee Memorial Blood Center, along with 32 blood centers across the United States, is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the nation’s first emergency blood reserve.

Local physician Dr. John Armitage, president and CEO of Coffee Memorial Blood Center, founded the Blood Emergency Readiness Corps in 2021 in partnership with six other community blood centers to keep the national blood supply stocked during large-scale emergencies when blood needs are high, such as a mass-casualty event or natural disaster.

BERC has grown to 33 blood centers in 41 states since its inception.

These centers have committed to reserving additional units of blood on a rotating, “on call” schedule. During a blood center’s on-call weeks, the additional blood units are held in reserve, ready to be shipped in response if a critical-need scenario should arise within the BERC network.

For additional information on the Blood Emergency Readiness Corps and its members, visit bloodemergencyreadinesscorps.org.