LOVELAND, Colo. — UCHealth and Thompson Valley Emergency Medical Services (EMS) have begun using new technology to deliver life-saving blood transfusions to patients before they get to the hospital.
UCHealth is one of the first hospital systems in Colorado to deliver whole blood transfusions during pre-hospital care. The new technology marks a major shift in emergency services.
A special cooler keeps the blood at its optimal temperature throughout the day. Paramedics even get phone notifications updating them on the blood's condition.
EMS supervisors are dispatched with whole blood to patients who may require an immediate transfusion.
Prior to this change, EMS crews could not carry whole blood to a scene because taking it from the temperature-controlled hospital was too risky. If the blood left its ideal temperature range, it would no longer be safe to use and would be wasted.
Paramedics would use IV fluids to treat patients with significant blood loss until they reached a hospital, where they would then receive a transfusion.
Whole blood is what flows through our veins. It contains all parts of blood, including red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and plasma.
"Whole blood has a lot of really positive properties that fit with the mission of our ambulances and our emergency services system that allow it to be the superior product for administration in the field," said Dr. Tyler Vaughn, the EMS director at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies.
Whole blood returns clotting properties to patients who have lost a significant amount of blood. This helps stabilize a patient as they travel to the hospital. The closer whole blood is administered to the time of injuries, the higher the chances of survival.
"Before, [emergency services] was based off of speed and hope and some life-saving procedures that we are able to perform en route to the hospital. But those were pretty limited in comparison to be able to provide actual blood product," said Aaron Applegate, captain of emergency medical services at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies.
Earlier this year, UCHealth launched a similar program with the Colorado Springs Fire Department. In the program's first 100 days, 30 lives were saved.
"This program is going to allow patients that would never have been able to make it to our hospital to survive," said Dr. Vaughn.
In the future, UCHealth hopes this program becomes common practice at all of its hospitals.
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