The helicopters in the Mercy Health – Life Flight fleet, including those that use the Bluffton Airport, will now stock and carry blood on board helicopters to give patients in need of lifesaving transfusions.

Mercy Health has invested in storage facilities at each of the four Life Flight locations to house and maintain blood right at the base. This new approach means that our flight crews will bring blood on every patient transport.

Life Flight is one of a few air ambulance programs that maintains blood storage at the bases located within rural communities for easy access. Each flight now carries O-negative blood units on board.

"For those with a critical injury or medical condition, blood can make the difference between life and death,” said Bill Krebs, DO, medical director, Mercy Health – Life Flight Network. 

“The ability to bring blood to the patient is a game-changing treatment for the patients in our region.”

Prior to this change, patients needing an emergent blood transfusion, would receive this life-saving treatment once arriving at the hospital. With the addition of blood at the bases and on all helicopters, patients will have the benefit of having early blood administration by the Life Flight critical care team.

In the first weeks of having the blood available, several patients were administered blood.

In addition to the Bluffton Airport, Life Flight maintains air bases at Fulton County Airport and Sandusky County Regional Airport, as well as Mobile ICU bases in Bowling Green and Wauseon.  

“Mercy Health – Life Flight invested in storage facilities at our bases to ensure that we continued to provide the highest quality of care to each of our patients, said Mike Conrad, director, Mercy Health – Life Flight. 

“As the market leader for Helicopter Air Ambulance service in the region, it is critical to have this lifesaving tool available to our teams and more importantly our patients.”

One of the country’s oldest air ambulance programs, Life Flight is proud to have served northwestern Ohio and southeastern Michigan since 1979. Today, its crews transport more than 2,800 patients a year and respond to more than 350 trauma scenes. 

Life Flight is grateful to the Mercy Health Foundation donors for providing the funds to make this critical life-saving blood available when it is needed most.

The fleet is composed of three Leonardo A109E helicopters and two AirBus AS365 Dauphin helicopters. Life Flight also operates a ground fleet of three mobile ICU vehicles. 

Mercy Health - Life Flight is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems, CAMTS.