Carroll County Whole Blood Program in Service
 
By CCVESA Liaison
May 9, 2025
 

From CCDFEMS:

Carroll County Department of Fire and EMS Launches Life-Saving Prehospital Low Titer O+ (LTO+) Whole Blood Program

Westminster, MD – May 9th, 2025 – The Carroll County Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services (CCDFEMS) proudly announces the official launch of its prehospital Low-Titer O Positive (LTO+) Whole Blood Program. With this milestone, Carroll County becomes the 5th prehospital EMS agency in Maryland, and the 270th agency nationwide, to implement the lifesaving use of LTO+ Whole Blood in the prehospital setting.

As part of Carroll County's deployment, CCDFEMS EMS chase units, EMS101 (Manchester), EMS102 (Taneytown), and EMS103 (Winfield) will each be equipped with 1 unit of LTO+ Whole Blood, along with the specialized equipment required for safe and effective administration.
The LTO+ Whole Blood units are supplied by Inova Healthcare Services division of Blood Donor Services and are replaced every 14-days. Units that are not administered in the prehospital setting will return to Inova so that they can be further utilized in the hospital setting, thus ensuring no precious blood products go to waste.

The Whole Blood units will be housed in portable Delta ICE 2L® smart coolers, which provide continuous temperature monitoring to ensure the integrity of the blood supply. Additionally, each EMS chase vehicle will carry a LifeFlow® rapid fluid infusion device, capable of delivering a unit of blood in under two minutes, and a QinFlow® fluid warmer to safely warm the blood prior transfusion—an essential step in mitigating the effects of hemorrhagic shock.