WESTFIELD, Ind. — A Westfield Fire Department blood drive on June 3 reunited the first patient treated through the department’s Mobile Blood Response program with the responders who helped get blood to him after a serious crash.
Drake Fuentes met with Tipton Fire Department Paramedic Allissa Flick and Westfield Firefighter/Paramedic Beau Leimbach, who were part of the response that brought blood to his side, The Times reported.
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“This is exactly why this program matters,” EMS Division Chief Patrick Hutchison said. “It connects the donor, the paramedics and the patient in a very real way. Blood donated by the community can become blood administered by paramedics when someone’s life depends on it.”
Westfield Fire Department launched Hamilton County’s first prehospital blood transfusion program in 2025, allowing trained paramedics to give plasma and red blood cells before patients reach the hospital.
Officials said the treatment can help patients with life-threatening blood loss from trauma, gastrointestinal bleeding, obstetrical emergencies and other medical conditions.
Westfield studied blood programs in Indiana and across the country, including the South Bend Fire Department, IMPD SWAT medics and the Vernon Township Fire Department. Hutchison said the department also worked with Dr. Lewis Jacobson of Ascension St. Vincent’s Level I Trauma Center while evaluating how to safely bring blood products into the field.
The blood drive also emphasized that blood carried on ambulances depends on community donors. Fuentes hoped to donate, but transfusion recipients must wait one year before giving blood, so he attended to support the program, thank the paramedics involved in his care and encourage others to donate.
“If it wasn’t for them, I don’t know what my life would be,” Fuentes said.
