Dallas Fire-Rescue’s mobile blood transfusion program has expanded across the city and is credited with saving an estimated 75 lives since launching in early 2025, including helping treat a Dallas ISD officer who was shot in North Dallas in August.
Officer Justin Jones was shot Aug. 6 by someone he was trying to help at a North Dallas shopping center. A Dallas Fire-Rescue crew happened to be nearby and responded to help Jones, who was bleeding from his right leg.
“They rushed to help this downed officer while the gunman was still – he hadn’t been neutralized,” DFR Chief Justin Ball said.
After a Dallas ISD officer applied a tourniquet, Jones received a two-unit blood transfusion in the parking lot before he ever arrived at Parkland.
The response was highlighted Wednesday as Dallas city leaders recognized the work of DFR’s blood transfusion program.
“This is what innovation looks like – when the stakes could not be higher,” Kimberly Bizor Tolbert said.
The program began in early 2025 in partnership with Parkland and the American Red Cross. Blood units are stored in remotely monitored, military-grade coolers, with each holding two units of blood.
“2 units of blood can save a life,” EMS supervisor Jack Barr said.
When NBC 5 spoke with Barr in August 2025, months after the pilot program began with just two coolers, he described the care crews took with the blood supply.
“We take care of it like, well, like it’s precious,” Barr said.
By this summer, the program had expanded to seven mobile coolers across Dallas. One of those coolers was close enough to Jones on Aug. 6 to allow crews to begin the blood transfusion at the shooting scene rather than waiting until he reached the hospital.
City officials said the program is working, with an estimated 75 lives saved since its launch about a year and a half ago.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication.
