The technology isn’t new, but delivering it to patients in the field is.
Author: Sebastian Robertson (KING5)
Updated: 5:14 PM PDT June 6, 2021
DES MOINES, Wash. — Inside a marked Medic One SUV is a supply of blood that's kept in a cooler and ready to go anywhere in south King County.
“People who have worked in this industry for many, many years have had patients where they wish they had blood and were able to give it in the field,” said Rick Arnone, medical services officer for King County Medic One.
Arnone is the lead on the county's new field blood transfusion program. Medic One is an ambulance service that covers 600 square miles south of Seattle. The technology isn’t new, but delivering it to patients in the field is – a practice pioneered by the military that’s now working its way into the civilian world.