Council Bluffs-area fire captain wins board backing for letter supporting whole‑blood EMS pilot

Captain Daniel Morse of the Council Bluffs Fire Department asked the Pottawattamie County Board on Tuesday to authorize the chair to sign a letter of support for a regional Safe Streets and Roads supplemental planning and demonstration grant intended to expand access to whole‑blood for prehospital trauma care.

Morse told the board the program would pay for equipment and training and estimated that whole‑blood availability in EMS could increase chances of survival for trauma patients by about 25 percent. "When we give whole blood in a traumatic injury like that, we increase chances of survival by 25%," Morse said. He described operational costs and logistics: blood product must be rotated frequently, replacement carries a cost, and specialty coolers can run from roughly $6,000 to $21,000.

Morse said Omaha has run a whole‑blood program and that a regional, coordinated effort could extend access across municipal and mutual‑aid boundaries. He said the grant would provide seed funding with program funding beginning in 2027 and the aim of having blood product available in the community by 2028.

Board members confirmed the county was being asked only to provide a letter of support, not direct funding. Supervisor Miller moved and Supervisor Wickman seconded a motion to authorize the chair to sign the letter; the board approved the motion by voice vote.

The board and presenters also discussed mutual‑aid implications for volunteer departments and the need for coordination with hospital supply hubs that store and exchange blood products.