Support voiced for interlocal agreement to bring prehospital whole blood into El Paso EMS

During public comment on the consent agenda, Wanda Helgeson (executive director, organization named in the transcript) urged council to support consent item 3, an interlocal agreement enabling El Paso Fire Department medics to carry and administer prehospital whole blood in coordination with University Medical Center. Helgeson said prehospital transfusion can be lifesaving in severe hemorrhage and cited trauma statistics (hemorrhage accounts for up to 40% of trauma deaths for ages 1–44 and many trauma deaths occur in the prehospital phase).

She described the agreement’s operational benefit: rotating unused blood back to the medical center to avoid waste and ensuring timely availability for hospitalized patients, and she tied the program to improved regional preparedness following the August 3, 2019 mass casualty event in El Paso. The comment supported the consent agenda item that was later approved as part of the consent package.