Stars air ambulance now has the ability to take blood to an emergency situation.

Blood on Board, a new transfusion initiative is up and running in Manitoba.

'We launched it about 18 months ago at one of our other bases as a trial and there was a lot of success there," explained Base director, Grant Therrien.  "We've had a chance to open it sporadically through our other bases and now finally Winnipeg has got their chance to do it."

He added Stars is the first Canadian provider to take on the program.

Meanwhile, the blood transporting strategy has provided emergency blood to accident victims four times in the last two weeks.

"The response has been great from all our partners," shared Therrien.  "It is going very well, we are seeing that it is already contributing to some lives saved.  We are very positive and optimistic for continuing on with the program and making a difference for Manitobans."

Therrien stated this program has been a multi-agency collaboration with Diagnostic Services of Manitoba, Canadian Blood Services and the WRHA.

He added this approach is simply an improvement to an existing system that supports high trained providers giving critical care.

Meanwhile, Therrien estimates the organization will utilize 30 units of blood this year.

With summertime having a historically high accident rate, he encourages Manitobans to donate blood to Canadian Blood Services.