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Mutual aid delivery of whole blood helps save Okla. worker

Elk City and Oklahoma City first responders utilized whole blood to save a worker pinned underneath a bulldozer

By Bill Carey
EMS1

ELK CITY, Okla. — Whole blood was an integral part of the coordinated rescue of a man trapped underneath a bulldozer in Roger Mills County.

Elk City Fire and EMS personnel were dispatched to a call on Jan. 22 for an individual trapped underneath a 20-ton bulldozer at a construction site, KOKH reported.

Airbags and other equipment were used to rescue the worker. As he was being transported to OU Hospital, it was determined he was in immediate need of blood.

An Elk City firefighter/paramedic contacted the Oklahoma City Fire Department to meet them during transport with whole blood.

“It is definitely lifesaving. Elk City did wonderful, and the other EMS agencies prior to that getting the patient out did a great job getting to it,” Oklahoma City Fire Department Battalion Chief Battalion Chief Carl Cobb told KOCO. “They just had limited needs, and we have the ability to provide the blood, that benefit, to the patient.”

RELATED: IAEMSC calls on EMS systems to adopt prehospital blood transfusion programs

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