30/07/2025
This is why we are doggedly pursuing the ability for ground EMS to carry blood products. Behind every case is a patient and a medic.
Meet Angela. She is the first recipient of a prehospital blood transfusion administered by a 9-1-1 ground agency in New Castle, Indiana. She works for the County, driving the truck that puts out construction barriers. She looked down for a split second to hang up her CB mike, swerved, overcorrected, and rolled her truck. She was ejected, and the truck rolled over her. Her injury list is pages long.
Meet Justin. He is a and was one of the first to respond to the scene. It was one of the worst accidents he had seen. His agency had been carrying blood on the supervisor truck for over a month, but had not used it (blood on a rotation schedule). Admittedly, he was nervous about being the first ground medic in the state to do it. After a quick assessment, he knew Angela needed the blood transfusion to buy time until MEDEVAC could arrive from 20 minutes away. He started the transfusion (teamwork to do bleeding control and airway management), and her vitals began to stabilize. When hovered over the LZ, they realized the construction site where Angela was injured had just laid down several tons of fresh gravel, so they had to find an alternate LZ. The ground ambulance packaged her up and took her to the aircraft a few miles away. Angela got more blood products during her flight and more upon arrival at the trauma center.
This moment in time of providing prehospital blood took months of coordination and figuring out a way to get to "yes".
I rarely get to connect in person with the agency and patient, but this time it all worked out perfectly. As Angela hugged me, she said, "I am alive and I know I shouldn't be. Thank you." 😭
*Photo and story used with permission of the patient and New Castle-Henry County EMS.*
AABB Delta Development Team, Inc LifeFlow QinFlow Versiti Blood Center of Indiana Prehospital Blood Transfusion Coalition