Louisiana blood banks helping South Texas hospitals after tragic school shooting

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Blood banks in Louisiana stepped up to fill a vital need after Tuesday’s tragic shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

The national Blood Emergency Readiness Corps, or BERC, is a coalition of blood banks from around the country. On Wednesday, the group dispatched some much-needed blood to the hospitals around the Uvalde area.

“It’s a group of about 40 individual community blood centers throughout the country that have pledged to support other areas in the country when emergencies happen,” Dr. Tim Peterson said.

The Blood Center in New Orleans was one of the partners to contribute.

“When something like this happens, you need blood on the shelf right now,” Dr. Tim Peterson said.

In light of the ongoing blood shortage, BERC managed to create a plan in case of a national emergency.

Each week, blood banks within the group take turns to set aside blood donations to be used in case of an emergency. If it goes unused at the end of the week then it goes to the bank’s regular supply.

But with blood supplies already running low, blood centers are asking you to consider donating now instead of waiting for the next tragedy.

“That little bit of time you take to donate could save someone’s life,” Peterson said.

This is the 4th time since September 2021 that the BERC Network has been called up to provide blood during a national emergency.

The blood from BERC Network of blood banks is being sent to South Texas Blood and Tissue, the steward of the local blood supply in that part of Texas.

For more information on how you can donate, click here.

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