MIAMI TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Miami Township Fire & EMS will hold a blood drive next month to resupply the blood products its medics carry into the field as part of a prehospital transfusion program that only a small fraction of U.S. fire and EMS agencies operate.
The drive, held in partnership with Hoxworth Blood Center, is set for Tuesday, Nov. 10, from 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. and again from 2 to 3:45 p.m. at the Leming House at Community Park, 5951 Buckwheat Road in Milford, the department said in a Facebook post. Appointments can be scheduled at hoxworth.org/groups/miamifire or by calling 513-451-0910, and donors will receive a Cincinnati Cyclones hat, according to the department.
Miami Township is among a small number of fire and EMS agencies nationwide equipped to carry blood products into the field. Hoxworth Blood Center, the University of Cincinnati-affiliated blood bank that supplies the department, says fewer than 1% of EMS agencies nationally — about 205 agencies — operate prehospital transfusion programs. Hoxworth is among 34 community blood centers nationally cleared to supply blood for such programs, working with Miami Township, Letts Community Volunteer Fire Department, Ripley Life Squad and nearly 20 regional air-ambulance crews, according to the blood center.
Under the program, paramedics carry universal-donor blood products — typically O-positive red cells and A plasma — that can be transfused into most patients regardless of their blood type, so crews don’t have to wait for lab results before treating severe bleeding, Hoxworth said. The blood center cites clinical research estimating that about 37% of trauma patients with severe bleeding could survive if they receive blood in the field, and that each minute of delay raises the risk of death by roughly 11%.
Jason Peng, Miami Township’s EMS director, has said the department’s 33-square-mile coverage area means transport times to a hospital frequently exceed 20 minutes, long enough that having blood on board can make the difference for a patient in hemorrhagic shock. “We’re using blood products and need to replenish our supply,” Peng has said of the department’s recurring blood drives.
Hoxworth’s chief medical officer, Dr. David Oh, has said the program allows first responders to deliver life-saving blood to trauma patients before they even reach the hospital.
The information contained in this story was obtained from Miami Township Fire & EMS and Hoxworth Blood Center.