Facing an increasingly unsteady blood supply, MEDIC Regional Blood Center has helped found Blood Emergency Readiness Corps (BERC), a first-in-the-nation partnership to prepare Tennessee for emergency situations where blood needs are high. The partnership is composed of 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 any critical-need scenario, like a mass shooting or natural disaster. As the state’s primary blood supplier, MEDIC Regional Blood Center founded BERC to be proactive in its emergency planning, rather than rely on an increasingly unstable back-up supply plan.