The Ventura County Fire Department is making a big addition to its emergency response efforts, which may save even more lives.
Ventura County Fire Department rescue ambulances are now carrying whole blood, so firefighter-paramedics can stabilize severely injured or ill patients before they get to a hospital.
Fire Department officials say after analyzing emergency calls during a seven-year period, they determined three to seven trauma patients a month might have benefitted from prehospital transfusions.
Paramedics had to undergo special training for the new program, and the public safety agency had to work to coordinate a steady blood supply. Fire Department officials say less than 2% of the EMS agencies in the nation have prehospital blood transfusion programs.
