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Our crews take four units of blood on all scene flights. If the gender of the patient is unknown or has been identified as female they take four units of O-Negative, if the patient has been identified at male they take four units of O-Positive. Our team also takes blood along for all GI-bleeds & AAA's. As for the pericardiocentesis, it is one of the many tools in their bag of tricks and they have preformed it in the field but it is for the most part a last ditch effort. Not sure how many times it has been performed during a normal year or how many times it has made a difference but it has made the difference in some cases.
Rex J. Alexander
LifeLine Helicopter
Safety Director & Pilot
I-65 at 21st Street
P.O. Box 1367
Indianapolis, IN 46206-1367
E-mail: ralexander3@clarian.org
Web site: http://www.clarian.org/lifeline
Safety, its an attitude you can live with!