Emergency services expand prehospital blood transfusion programs

Emergency medical services in Buckingham County, Virginia, and Grand County, Utah, have expanded or implemented prehospital whole-blood programs to treat life-threatening bleeding.

In Buckingham County, the Department of Emergency Services has fully deployed its blood program. All three first-out ambulances are now equipped with two units of whole blood each, providing a total of six units across the county. The rollout included the addition of units to Station 3 in Arvonia and Station 2 in Glenmore, following the initial launch at Station 1 in Dillwyn. Officials noted the program has already been utilized on two separate occasions.

In Grand County, Utah, EMS paramedics successfully performed their first field blood transfusion on July 19 during the transport of a motor vehicle crash victim. The patient was in hemorrhagic shock, and paramedics administered a unit of plasma in the ambulance. Grand County is among a small percentage of EMS agencies nationwide—approximately 400—that carry blood products, a resource intended to reduce preventable trauma deaths by up to 50 percent.