Mobile County EMS Launches Blood On Board Program

Mobile County EMS has announced it is deploying Blood on Board, a prehospital program to perform lifesaving blood transfusions in the field. Three Mobile County EMS response vehicles staffed by highly trained paramedics will carry packed red blood cells and plasma to give Mobile-area patients access to a level of prehospital care available in only a small number of ground EMS systems nationwide. The new capability is particularly significant in Mobile County, where ambulances cover more than 1,000 square miles across urban, suburban and rural communities. Mobile County EMS is one of approximately 300 ambulance services in the U.S. equipped to provide prehospital blood transfusions and is currently the only ground EMS provider along the Gulf Coast between New Orleans and Fort Walton Beach offering this capability. The program will equip ambulances with specialized blood storage coolers, rapid infusion systems and blood warming technology. The treatment is intended for patients suffering from traumatic injuries, severe blood loss and other critical medical emergencies for which rapid transfusion can improve survival outcomes.