Eugene Springfield Fire to carry blood and plasma on ambulances

Eugene Springfield Fire is about to give Lane County ambulances a treatment option that Oregon EMS has not had before: blood and plasma for the sickest patients during transport. Starting July 8, the department will become the first EMS agency in Oregon to carry blood products on ambulances, a change aimed squarely at severe bleeding, crashes and other trauma cases where every minute counts.

The program is funded by an Oregon Hospital Preparedness Program grant and will begin with component blood and plasma. For a patient with major blood loss, that means crews may be able to start replacing what the body has lost before the ambulance reaches the emergency department, rather than relying only on clear IV fluids while racing to the hospital.

Federal EMS guidance defines prehospital blood transfusion as the delivery of whole blood or blood components to a patient who is bleeding severely, either at the scene or en route to definitive care. EMS.gov says severe bleeding is the leading cause of preventable death among trauma patients, including those hurt in motor-vehicle crashes. In the worst hemorrhage cases, the difference between oxygen delivery and organ failure can come down to how fast blood gets to the patient.

That timing matters in Lane County, where OHSU in Portland remains Oregon’s only academic Level 1 trauma center and where trauma-system planning stresses getting the right patient to the right place at the right time. OHSU trauma literature says initial blood products should ideally be delivered within 15 minutes of massive transfusion activation, which underscores why prehospital blood can be so important when a patient is losing blood rapidly.

Fire Chief Mike Caven said Eugene Springfield Fire’s scale makes the rollout especially significant for trauma care in the region. The department is Oregon’s largest public ambulance transport provider, and it has operated as a shared service of Eugene and Springfield under an intergovernmental agreement since July 1, 2010. Caven, who was selected chief in 2022, leads a system that already works under Lane County EMS protocols approved by the Lane County Medical Control Board.

For patients, the practical change is simple but potentially lifesaving: a 911 call for a catastrophic injury could now trigger a more advanced level of field treatment than Oregon ambulances have offered before. For a mangled crash victim on Interstate 5, a worker injured on a job site or a person with hidden internal bleeding, the first blood they receive may no longer have to wait until hospital handoff.