Ornge 'Blood on Board' program expands to London, Ont.
Ornge, Ontario’s provider of air ambulance and critical care transport services, and London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) announced Wednesday the expansion of the Blood on Board program to the Forest City.
“This is a big step forward for trauma and injured patients within the London region with the expansion of our Blood on Board program to the London base,” explained Ornge Associate Medical Officer Dr. Michael Peddle.
He added, “It's our third base to come online within our organization. And what it means is, we're now able to bring blood to the trauma and injured patients in the field or when we're picking up patients from smaller hospitals to be able to deliver blood during transport.”
Ornge paramedics will have blood on the aircraft, allowing crews to launch without delay, and bringing blood products with them to communities by air and shortening administration time to patients in need.
“Some of the patients we encounter in small rural communities, oftentimes if we think that they need blood and they need blood before we can bring them to London to get blood...to the receiving hospital. We have to go to a smaller hospital to acquire blood to transfuse on route to the major center hospital like Hamilton or Toronto or London,” explained Andrew Hamilton, a critical care paramedic.
The blood will be supplied by LHSC, from the hospital’s blood bank according to John French, corporate executive for diagnostics at LHSC.
Ornge expanded its 'Blood on Board' program to London, Ont. on April 24, 2024. (Marek Sutherland/CTV News London)
“We will replace the blood every three days so we continually supply the blood and then the blood is returned to us. If it's unused, we would then use it [for] patients [at] our facility,” he explained. “So the blood does not go to waste.”
The collaboration between Ornge and LHSC launched on April 24 and has already been used to treat patients.
“We have used it twice already in the first week that we've been up and running for patients in our system that are local to London. Which is a really big like even just in one week, we've already used it twice,” Peddle said.
Ontario’s first Blood on Board program – a partnership between Ornge and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto – launched in 2021. Ornge previously expanded the Blood on Board program to Thunder Bay in April 2023 to enhance access to care for rural and remote patients.
More than 250 units of blood have been administered to over 120 patients since the launch of the program.
Hemorrhage is a leading cause of death in traumatically injured patients. Research shows that early blood transfusion can improve patient outcomes.
As warm weather approaches and ‘trauma season’ nears, Ornge and LHSC encourage anyone who is able to consider visiting a Canadian Blood Service donation centre to donate.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'The root cause': Canada outlines national action plan to fight auto theft
The federal government is launching what it calls its 'national action plan' to combat auto thefts, which will include stronger penalties for thieves, and increased information sharing between police agencies, government officials and border enforcement.
What is BORG drinking, and why is it a dangerous trend? An expert explains
If you've been to a party lately and haven't seen someone drinking a BORG, you're likely not partying with college students.
The world's best airline is paying staff a bonus of 8 months' salary
Singapore Airlines will reward its employees with a bonus worth nearly eight months of salary, a person familiar with the matter told CNN on Friday.
Michael Cohen says he stole from Trump's company as defence presses key hush money trial witness
Michael Cohen testified Monday that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from his ex-boss Donald Trump’s company, an admission defence lawyers hope to use to undermine Cohen’s credibility.
Red Lobster probes 'endless shrimp' losses after bankruptcy filing
U.S.-based restaurant chain Red Lobster has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Florida court after securing $100 million in financing commitments from its existing lenders, the company said on Sunday.
'Next man up': Canucks coach, teammates bracing for Game 7 without Brock Boeser
Questions about how the team is going to handle the absence of star winger Brock Boeser from a do-or-die game seven dominated pre-game interviews with the Vancouver Canucks coach and players Monday morning.
Katy Perry sings goodbye to 'American Idol'
Katy Perry said her goodbyes on 'American Idol' after seven seasons. On Sunday night’s live 'idol' season finale, a medley of Perry's hit songs were performed, including 'Teenage Dream,' 'Dark Horse' and 'California Gurls.'
U.S. Supreme Court rejects appeal from former Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by a Canadian-born former Guantanamo detainee who was seeking to wipe away his war crimes convictions, including for killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan.
Woman, 35, in critical condition after her truck collided with a Via Rail train near Montreal
A 35-year-old woman is in critical condition after the pick-up truck she was driving was struck by a Via Rail passenger train Monday morning in Quebec's Monteregie region.