LIFELINE among first to join country’s first emergency blood reserve

JACKSON, Tenn. — A local blood center has developed a new partnership in an effort to save lives nationwide.

LIFELINE Blood Services announced its plans on Tuesday of joining the nation’s first emergency blood reserve.

“We’ve figured out a way to adapt and be innovative to make sure that there’s enough blood on hand in case of a mass shooting, a natural disaster, any kind of trauma that is going to use a whole lot of blood,” said Caitlin Roach, Marketing Manager for LIFELINE.

LIFELINE is a founding partner in the Blood Emergency Readiness Corps, or BERC.

It’s a response to COVID-19, after the virus led to a significant decrease in blood donations across the country.

“Our old way of doing things, which usually, if we didn’t have enough, we could beg, borrow, steal, get it from other blood centers. And now that’s just not possible,” Roach said.

In response, a group of blood centers will partner to store excess blood donations in case of an emergency.

“Every three weeks we’ll set aside a certain number of units. They’ll just stay in the center in the fridge, and if we don’t use them, they’ll go back into our regular inventory,” Roach said. “But if a BERC call is activated, they will be shipped off wherever they need to go throughout the country.”

Roach says it allows the center to help others across the country while also helping patients here.

“It does not by any means lessen the need for blood. It does not have anything to do with your general day-to-day blood usage, but it’s just knowing that if something awful happens, that we’re going to have that safety net,” Roach said.

Roach would also like to remind you, the perfect time to donate blood is now, during their annual Battle of the Badges blood drive.

LIFELINE Blood Services is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

You can learn more about donating blood by calling (731) 427-4431 or at lifelinebloodserv.org.

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