By Morgan McKenzie
Greeley Tribune
UCHealth and Thompson Valley Emergency Medical Services teamed up Tuesday morning to launch a pre-hospital whole blood program for patients in Weld and Larimer counties.
The cutting-edge program 鈥� one of the first piloted in Colorado 鈥� allows EMS workers to administer whole blood to a patient experiencing significant blood loss on the way to the hospital. Successful implementation will save lives and potentially prevent blood from going to waste with a partnership with UCHealth Garth Englund Blood Center .
Not every ambulance can be supplied with blood because it鈥檚 a 鈥渇inite resource,鈥� explained Mark Betterton , a director of EMS at UCHealth. UCHealth EMS runs 32 ambulances a day in Northern Colorado and covers most of Weld County . Thompson Valley EMS serves Loveland , Berthoud and surrounding areas.
Together, the program will cover 3,450 square miles and serve more than 550,000 people in Northern Colorado , according to a UCHealth news release.
Because equipping each ambulance with blood isn鈥檛 possible, UCHealth鈥檚 three on-duty mobile supervisors will carry two liters of whole blood in temperature-controlled medical transport coolers, which are vital to ensure bacteria doesn鈥檛 grow in the stored blood. They鈥檒l also carry a blood warmer device, which the blood must run through before entering a patient to avoid hypothermia, Betterton explained.
These supervisor paramedic response units will get dispatched to emergency calls that may require out-of-hospital transfusion. Cases where patients of any age may require whole blood can include trauma emergencies like falls or crashes to hemorrhagic situations like hemorrhaging in the digestive tract or childbirth-related bleeding.
The supervisor units supplied with the whole blood will then respond to a 鈥渞endezvous鈥� spot on the way to the hospital, jumping on board the ambulance transporting the patient, according to Betterton. The ambulance crew, an EMT and a paramedic, will retain care of the patient while the supervisor administers the out-of-hospital transfusions to the patient.
鈥淲e want to rendezvous on the way to the hospital,鈥� Betterton said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to delay on a scene. We want to continue to move toward the trauma center with the patient and administer the blood en route.鈥�
UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies paramedics demonstrate how whole-blood is administered to patients at the hospital in Loveland on Tuesday.( Jim Rydbom /Staff Photographer)
Whole blood contains all blood components: red blood cells, platelets and plasma. A patient鈥檚 survival rate could increase up to 60% when they receive pre-hospital whole blood, according to a study published in the Journal of American College of Surgeons . This is because survival rates rise the closer the transfusion is administered to the time of injury, the release said.
Replenishing the blood lost through whole blood before arriving at the destination leads to fewer effects from blood loss and less organ damage in addition to reducing the patient鈥檚 need for blood once in the hospital, accoridng to Dr. Tyler Vaughn , an emergency medicine physician at UCHealth and the medical director of UCHealth EMS.
The previous standard treatment during an ambulance ride would involve using crystalloid IV fluids on patients losing life-endangering amounts of blood, Betterton said. This option, however, can鈥檛 replenish blood loss, provide oxygen-carrying capacity or assist with clotting.
鈥淭his program is going to save lives,鈥� Vaughn said. 鈥淭he earlier we get blood to them, the less complicated their course tends to be. It will help us 鈥� save the patients that we wouldn鈥檛 previously have the opportunity to do prior to a program like this because they鈥檙e just too far away from the hospital.鈥�
Call for donors to maintain whole blood supply
The practice of using whole blood for dangerous blood loss dates back to World War I battlefields, according to UCHealth. Although it鈥檚 been around in military medicine for decades, Vaughn said the concept has only recently emerged in civilian EMS.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not that the tech is new,鈥� Betterton said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 having a blood source and having a partner with Garth England so that they can identify donors.鈥�
UCHealth Garth Englund Blood Center will supply all the blood for the program. Vaughn anticipates the program will lower the amount of blood wasted because supervisors can pick up the blood supply once a week, have it on board for seven days and return it back to the hospital before it expires if it鈥檚 not utilized during the rotation.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e hoping to demonstrate is that we actually reduce the amount of waste that there is as well as reduce the patient鈥檚 need for blood going forward,鈥� Vaughn said. 鈥淲e found that if we give blood transfusions to our patients on the ambulance, they will tend to need less transfusions in the hospital, they will tend to be in the hospital less, and they鈥檒l be less likely to die.鈥�
UCHealth launched a similar pre-hospital whole blood program with the Colorado Springs Fire Department earlier this year and had instantaneous success. In the first 100 days of the program, more than 30 lives were saved, the release said.
Life-saving whole-blood is transported into an ambulance during a demonstration at the UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies on Tuesday in Loveland .( Jim Rydbom /Staff Photographer)
According to Anna Johnson , the manager of the blood center, the program would not work without the volunteers who donate blood. The center needs all blood types and new donors to maintain blood supplies for the new program, as well as other hospital patients.
鈥淲e really can鈥檛 do this without them,鈥� Johnson said about donors. 鈥淎nd with the increased demand for blood products, we will need even more donors of all blood types to roll up their sleeves to help.鈥�
To schedule a blood donation at UCHealth Garth Englund Blood Center locations in Greeley, Loveland or Fort Collins, or an upcoming mobile clinic, call 970-495-8965 or go to .
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