By GvilleTX Newsroom
Whitesboro Fire Department says it has been approved for North Central Texas Trauma Regional Advisory Council grant funding to start a prehospital whole-blood program, a move intended to help crews treat severe bleeding before a patient reaches a hospital. For Gainesville-area readers, the project sits inside the same regional trauma system that covers Cooke County, according to NCTTRAC.
The department announced the approval in a public Facebook post and said the program would give its crews another lifesaving tool for people with life-threatening blood loss before hospital arrival. NCTTRAC says its pilot supports licensed EMS providers that give whole blood in the field to patients losing dangerous amounts of blood because of trauma, maternal hemorrhage or other serious medical conditions.
Whole-blood programs are meant to begin resuscitation where the patient is found, rather than waiting until arrival at an acute-care hospital, according to NCTTRAC. The council says approved providers receive prehospital transfusion equipment after they complete program requirements. It says DSHS-licensed EMS agencies inside Trauma Service Area E may apply to become prehospital whole-blood transfusion providers.
NCTTRAC describes itself as the administrative body for regional trauma and emergency health care system development and oversight in Trauma Service Area E. Its about page lists both Cooke and Grayson counties in that region, tying the Whitesboro project to the emergency-care structure that also serves Gainesville and the rest of Cooke County.
In FY25 financial materials, NCTTRAC described EMS/RAC contract spending as money for patient care in the grantee's trauma service area, including supplies, operating costs, training, equipment and communication systems.
The grant follows a buildout of Whitesboro's EMS operations. The fire department says it became a Texas Department of State Health Services-licensed MICU EMS provider in October 2022, after EMS had been provided by a third party. Whitesboro's operations page says the department staffs two MICU ambulances around the clock with full-time EMTs and paramedics.
The department says its EMS district covers nearly a third of western Grayson County, including the Collinsville, Gordonville, Sadler, Sherwood Shores, Southmayd and Whitesboro fire districts. Its EMS page says two new Dodge ambulances entered service in October 2023 and that the department now has three licensed ambulances and a reserve unit.
The Whitesboro approval comes as Texas is setting up broader support for prehospital blood. House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 1 for the 2026-27 state budget includes $10 million in fiscal 2026 for DSHS to establish a whole-blood pilot program supporting EMS agencies that give whole blood in the field. The rider directs DSHS, working with Regional Advisory Councils, to define the statewide program's structure and funding distribution.
The same state budget language requires DSHS to make a public status report by Nov. 1, 2026, listing funded entities, award amounts, areas served, implementation challenges and reported outcomes.
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