Whole blood now available from Native Air’s Snyder base

The service, a subsidiary of Air Methods, said that the move will allow its onboard paramedics to “provide additional lifesaving care when every minute counts”.

The whole blood will replace the packed red blood cells and plasma previously carried onboard, allowing paramedics to deliver “red and white blood cells, platelets, and plasma in one unit”. This has the advantage of offering better clotting factors, as well as being quicker to administer.

“When transfusion is required for patients with a traumatic injury involving hemorrhage, whole blood is the gold standard,” said Jason Guynes, Flight Paramedic at Native Air. “Positive outcomes are greater when the patient receives all of the blood components, including clotting factors, at the same time rather than in their separate parts.”