Only 350 EMS Agencies Can Do This — And Lives Are Being Lost

Описание: Only 350 EMS agencies in the U.S. can provide prehospital blood — but nearly 10,000 should.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Daniel Irizarry, a former EMT turned physician and special operations medical leader, to break down why prehospital blood transfusion saves lives — and why so many EMS systems still struggle to implement it.

Dr. Irizarry explains:

Why mortality increases ~2% for every minute a patient is without blood

Why equipment is the easy part — and systems are the hard part

The biggest barriers for rural vs urban EMS agencies

Why training must go beyond “how to spike the bag”

How EMS education and schoolhouses are the real leverage point for system-wide change

This conversation goes beyond trauma care. Prehospital blood matters for:

Hemorrhagic shock

GI bleeds

Maternal hemorrhage

Surgical complications

If you’re an EMS leader, paramedic, medical director, or educator, this episode will challenge how you think about advanced care, training, and system design.

📌 Key takeaway:
You don’t copy another agency’s blood program.
You build a system that actually works in your environment.

🔗 Resources Mentioned

• Blood to Go (TechMed Solutions)
➡️ https://tacmedsolutions.com/BloodToGo — Official page for the Blood to Go™ prehospital blood program, designed to help EMS agencies implement blood transfusion capabilities in the field.

• Prehospital Blood Transfusion Coalition
➡️ https://prehospitaltransfusion.org/ — The national coalition focused on expanding access to prehospital blood transfusion and advancing guidelines, advocacy, and clinical practice.

• SPARC Academy (Selective Prehospital Advanced Resuscitative Care)
➡️ https://www.sparcacademy.org/ — Nonprofit organization providing education and training to improve prehospital trauma survival and advanced hemorrhage control.