Norfolk County commissioners used their Nov. 5 meeting to spotlight a Canton-based program that places whole blood on certain ambulances and at a Canton station to keep seriously bleeding patients alive on the way to level‑1 trauma centers. Commissioners and Canton officials said county funding will help purchase compatible tubing and an additional blood‑warmer unit.

The EMS medical director, introduced during the presentation, described the program as a partnership with Boston Medical Center that operates a satellite blood bank in Canton and stores two units of whole blood at the station. According to the director, the goal is to create a clinical 'bridge' from the scene of injury to an operating room, particularly in cases where bypassing nearer community hospitals to reach a trauma center improves outcomes. The director said unused blood is returned and reprocessed at Boston Medical Center and that the county cache is dispatched regularly.

Canton representatives described the immediate need as replacement tubing required after vendor discontinuation of parts used with the previous warmers. A Canton speaker said the county’s contribution would buy a third blood‑warmer unit and that Canton expected a partial private donation toward the remainder of the cost. A county commissioner said a motion to approve the funding had been made previously and that the check was "supposedly en route." Commissioners paused business to take a photo with presenters and recessed briefly.

Commissioners asked questions about operational details: the EMS medical director said selected paramedics receive specialized training to perform transfusions and that the program uses low‑titer O positive blood (described in the meeting as chosen because of prevalence and lower antibody risk), rather than carrying all blood types. He said staff monitor risks and use the product under clinical protocols. The director also described plans to site additional caches to improve intercept points along corridors including I‑95, I‑495 and Route 128.

Representatives and county staff thanked commissioners for financial support and said the program had already produced cases where transfusions in the field were credited with saving lives and enabling limb reimplantation in at least one cited incident. The presenters described the program as new to the Northeast and said it had been challenging to secure local funding.

The presentation concluded with expressions of appreciation from Canton leaders and a brief recess for a photo; commissioners resumed the remainder of their agenda after the break. The meeting transcript notes the program’s usage and case examples as presented to the board; county or hospital records should be consulted for independent verification of case counts and outcomes.