Trauma patients with life-threatening bleeding on Hillsborough County roads could receive whole blood transfusions minutes after a 911 call under a drone program Tampa General Hospital wants to launch this fall.
The proposal matters for Lutz and Land O' Lakes residents served by Hillsborough County Fire Rescue. Neighboring Pasco County Fire Rescue already runs a prehospital blood program with TGH, and the new Hillsborough drone system is designed as a pilot with plans to expand its coverage area based on early results.
TGH announced Aug. 3 what it calls the nation's first EMS-driven drone delivery system for prehospital whole blood. Two drones would be stationed at Hillsborough County Fire Rescue stations, ready to fly blood to crash and stabbing scenes in under three minutes on average across a combined 70-square-mile area.
The Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to vote on the proposal Wednesday, Sept. 2. If approved, the system could go online in October.
How the Drone Dispatch and Delivery Process Would Work
When dispatchers identify a 911 call involving life-threatening bleeding, firefighters heading to the scene can simultaneously request a drone carrying whole blood. Hillsborough County Fire Rescue would operate the aircraft.
"Paramedics in the field, they know a patient needs blood, but they've got to get them packed up, put in the back of an ambulance, drive with lights and sirens, get them to the hospital, hand off, then we have to recognize they need blood, then get the blood at the hospital and get it into the patient," Dr. David Wein of TGH told WFLA.
With the drones, blood could reach a patient within five minutes of dispatch. Without them, Wein said, it can take 10 to 15 minutes before a patient even arrives at the hospital.
The two stations chosen are Fire Station 9 in the Faulkenburg/Sabal Park area and Station 37 in Riverview. According to TGH's announcement, those stations serve the parts of the county with the highest volume of penetrating trauma and hemorrhagic injuries.
Unlike the separated blood components hospitals stock, whole blood contains red blood cells, plasma and platelets in a single unit. That lets first responders begin a transfusion at the scene.
Pasco County Fire Rescue said on X on July 2 that its own prehospital blood program with TGH Aeromed is already operational, crediting Auri Miller of TGH Aeromed for helping launch it. That gives Land O' Lakes residents on the Pasco side a preview of what the Hillsborough expansion could look like.
National Blood Shortage Adds Urgency to the Program's Launch
The drone proposal arrives as the American Red Cross has declared a national blood supply crisis for only the second time in its history. The Red Cross said the national blood supply fell nearly 25% in June, and type O positive blood has dropped to less than a one-day supply.
OneBlood, the nonprofit that supplies blood to Florida hospitals including TGH, said it is especially short on O positive and O negative donations. Pat Michaels, OneBlood's director of media and public relations, said the organization is working to ensure no hospital has to cancel surgeries because of shortages.
Residents who want to donate can visit oneblood.org or call 1-888-936-6283 to schedule an appointment.
