Dallas Fire-Rescue launched a pilot program to equip its ambulances with whole blood supplies.
The initiative, the first of its kind in the city, will provide transfusions to victims of gunfire, stabbings, car crashes, and other traumatic injuries before they reach the hospital.
The department is rolling out the program at its Pleasant Grove station, where ambulances are requipped with coolers capable of storing up to six units of blood.
The program comes after a year and a half of preparation and collaboration with organizations like the American Red Cross and Parkland Hospital. The department is moving slowly with the project to make sure it makes no mistakes and proves itself to be a “good steward” of the blood supplies entrusted to it.
The initiative builds on the success of Frisco EMS, which became the first department in the area to carry blood in 2018. Last year alone, Frisco EMS performed 20 life-saving transfusions in the field. Dallas hopes for similar success.
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