KALMAZOO, MI — Life EMS Ambulance will become the first ambulance service in West Michigan to carry blood products in the field when it launches a new transfusion program in early to mid-July.
The initiative, developed in cooperation with the Kalamazoo County Medical Control Authority, Beacon Healthcare and Bronson Healthcare Group, will allow paramedics to administer blood transfusions at emergency scenes and during transport. Life EMS will be just the fourth ambulance service in Michigan to offer this capability.
“Every minute matters when a patient is rapidly losing blood,” said John Pinkster, director of South Operations for Life EMS Ambulance. “This program is a new tool in the pre-hospital toolbox that will allow paramedics to begin a potentially life-saving intervention immediately, bridging a critical time gap between injury or illness onset until arrival at the hospital emergency department.”…