A pedestrian and a motorcyclist suffered significant injuries in a crash on Route 1 in North Attleborough that was reported just after 5 p.m. Tuesday near Stop & Shop, according to public safety officials. Both were eventually taken to Rhode Island hospitals, one by ambulance and the other by medical helicopter, as rescue crews scrambled to stabilize injuries severe enough to summon a specialized regional blood unit to the scene.
The crash, first reported by WJAR, also marked what officials described as the first field blood transfusion carried out by a new regional medical unit based at the Mansfield Fire Department, according to The Sun Chronicle. The first police officers on scene began administering care before firefighters arrived and took over treatment, per WJAR. The North Attleborough Fire Department shift commander then requested Mansfield's whole-blood unit because of the severity of the injuries, and officials said the response marked what is believed to be the unit's first whole-blood administration since the program began.
How the Blood Truck Works
Mansfield's Regional Field Transfusion Unit, nicknamed the Blood Truck, gives rescue workers the ability to deliver whole blood directly to critically injured patients before they ever reach a hospital, the Sun Chronicle's earlier coverage of the program's launch explains. The unit is staffed by specially trained firefighter/paramedics who can administer whole blood to patients in the field, according to WJAR. It responds out of the Mansfield fire station and is intended to support surrounding communities, per the same Sun Chronicle report.
Mansfield is the third service in Massachusetts to offer this kind of field transfusion program, the Sun Chronicle reported when the unit launched. As coverage expands south toward the Rhode Island border, the unit is expected to work closely with the Canton Fire Department — described as the first department in the state to implement the capability — along with Boston Medical Center Trauma Services, the outlet noted.
A Young but Active Program
The Mansfield Fire Department's medical director said the unit had gone out 125 times and transfused 42 patients, though the timeframe for those totals was not specified, according to WHDH. That station also reported that Mansfield is one of three Massachusetts fire departments to receive a blood truck with help from a grant funded by local politicians.
Mansfield's program joins a small but growing list of Massachusetts prehospital blood initiatives. Canton Fire Department, in collaboration with Boston Medical Center, launched what it called the first pilot program in state history for administering whole blood before hospital arrival back in March, with participation from 25 surrounding municipalities, according to JEMS. That department said it became the first in the state to actually administer a whole-blood transfusion in a prehospital setting when crews helped save a car crash victim in Braintree during the early morning hours of June 29, per JEMS.
Elsewhere in the state, Worcester EMS launched its own prehospital blood program on Sept. 1 after Massachusetts' Office of Emergency Medical Services approved it in July to carry and administer blood products inside ambulances, according to EMS1. That program, operated by UMass Memorial Health and serving Worcester and Shrewsbury, carries blood on designated supervisory response vehicles rather than every ambulance, and EMS1 described it as the only service of its kind in Central Massachusetts.
