Title:
Consider and take action on a resolution authorizing an agreement between the City of League City and Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center (Fire Chief)
Background:
Approval of this resolution will authorize the Fire Department to provide whole blood to any patients that League City EMS Division responds to that are suffering from traumatic injuries and/or severe blood loss.
Hemorrhagic shock accounts for 40% of preventable deaths due to trauma each year. Administering blood products in the pre-hospital setting gives patients the ability to increase their chances of survival, after suffering from catastrophic incidents and illnesses. Whole blood contains all components necessary to assist in patient stabilization, improving their level of shock, and decreasing hospital mortality.
In FY 23, we had approximately 42 trauma and medical patients who could have benefitted from receiving whole blood, with just over 62% of those patients being transported to HCA Clear Lake. EMS will make the initial purchase of a unit of blood from the blood bank. If the patient who receives the unit of blood is transported to HCA Clear Lake, a level 1 Trauma center, they would provide us with a new unit of blood in return. This would prevent us from incurring an additional cost and ensure another unit of blood is readily available for another patient. If the unit of blood is administered to a patient who is transported to another facility other than HCA Clear Lake that does not have whole blood readily available, we would need to purchase a replacement unit from the blood bank.
EMS estimates that 38% of possible patients will be transported to facilities other than HCA Clear Lake. A new unit of blood would potentially need to be purchased 16 times (estimated), with a total cost being near $6,400.00. The cost of blood would be purchased using the EMS Medical Supplies line item 2950000-51850. To incur the cost, we would remove several medications that are no longer available...
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