Celebrate Save a Life and STOP THE BLEED DAY: Host a Blood Drive during EMS Week
As an EMS clinician, it probably won’t come as a surprise to you that blood shortages aren’t uncommon. Availability of blood varies depending on location, time of year, weather, illness trends and other factors, and many areas around the country experience emergency blood shortages at times. Which makes EMS Week—to be held May 18 to 24 this year—a good time to consider holding a blood drive that will add to your local supply or could be used by your agency.
In October 2022, Tidewater EMS Council (TEMS) in Chesapeake, Virginia, launched its Whole Blood Initiative program, enabling prehospital transfusion of low-titer, O-positive whole blood by EMS to some patients with severe bleeding. As part of its contractual obligation with its blood-supply partner, The Blood Connection, TEMS agreed to hold quarterly blood drives in the community, explains David Long, Executive Director of Tidewater EMS Council, who oversees the events. “I think everybody recognizes that if you don’t put something back in for what you’re taking out, there’s going to be a point of no return, right?” To date, five of the council’s 58 EMS agencies have transfused a total of 265 units.
When planning a drive, Long starts by looking at the jurisdictions where blood is needed by EMS to help patients and asking residents in those areas to participate. “But when these blood drives are conducted, typically the folks donating—probably 70% or higher—are coming from the public safety community,” he explains. “My focus is getting this to the community level to get the citizens to be the primary donors.”
Driving Donors to Your Drive
To do this, the council sets an aggressive goal—250 units per quarter from the blood drive; they’re currently at around 50—and works hard to get the word out about the event through various social media platforms, at a local health expo, and by tapping influencers. “We’ve engaged local news media to share our drives as well and we develop flyers with a registration QR code that we spread throughout the community where the blood drive is going to be hosted,” says Long, adding that during the past three years they’ve continued to develop their pool of regular donors. “Past donors automatically get an email notification that we’re conducting another blood drive and that we’d love to see them come back,” he continues. “And then, working with The Blood Connection, we do incentives, like if you come, you’ll get an e-gift that you’ll be able to exchange for merchandise.”
Similarly, EMS Captain Bryan Shaw of Crawfordsville Fire Department, in Crawfordsville, Indiana, has begun offering a new incentive to those who donate blood at one of their three annual drives. “Challenge coins have become huge and it’s a memorable thing people can hold onto,” says Captain Shaw, whose department launched their prehospital blood transfusion program in February 2024. “I think that’s a good way to get people in: ‘Come in and we’ll give you a challenge coin for being a hero.’”
Tidewater EMS Council also encourages healthy competition between jurisdictions to see who can get the most donations and recognizes the jurisdiction who did the best for the year. “I’m trying to get to where we do a blood drive monthly,” Long says. “So I’m reaching out to other businesses; I just secured a hotel. TEMS recently secured the Moxy Hotel in Virgina Beach where they'll do a ‘vampire-style’ blood drive in October. This will reduce the burden on public safety to give blood and try to get citizens in their communities engaged in this process.” Donors can either register (and complete the donor-screening questionnaire) online in advance or walk in, and the council has made it simple for people to make a financial donation online. TEMS sponsored blood drives are currently scheduled for May 15, May 19 (EMS Week), August 14, October 30 and November 20, 2025.
If your organization already has a prehospital blood transfusion program in place, Long says it can be especially compelling to share a story of a life saved or another meaningful outcome that resulted from EMS having access to blood. “One thing we’re missing for our program is that one use case that we’re able to advertise to really compel people to donate,” he says, stressing that it takes time to create a donor base that will sustain a blood program. “People then really see the impact, there's really good community support and you start to see really good donation pools.”
To learn more about prehospital blood transfusion programs, visit ems.gov.