Ohio County EMS to Carry Blood for Emergency Patients
Trending
WHEELING -- Providing blood at the scene of an emergency can save the life of a patient who might otherwise die before they get to the hospital.
Ohio County Emergency Medical Services ambulances soon will be carrying "pre-hospital blood" -- a packet of red blood cells -- for paramedics to administer to a patient prior to transport to a hospital.
Anthony McDaniel, vice president of Ohio County Professional EMS International Association of Firefighters Local 5405, informed county commissioners about the efforts to get "pre-hospital blood" on county ambulances during a recent meeting.
"There is an agency in Pennsylvania close to us (Allegheny Health Network) that is carrying blood, but there is nobody close to us in Ohio and nobody close to us in West Virginia," he said. "The closest may be the Monongalia County EMS in Morgantown and the Harrison County EMS in Clarksburg."
McDaniel said he and the other paramedics have been working behind the scenes to get the program ready. Former Ohio County EMA Director Lou Vargo began the project, with new director Tony Campbell continuing the effort.
"We want everyone to know that Ohio County EMS will be carrying hospital blood, and it will be available to everyone in the region," McDaniel said. "The state wants us to make that available to anyone in the state who might need it. It does save lives.
"I can think of two calls in the last month, if we would have had blood on the trucks we would have administered it to those patients."
Campbell expects the pre-hospital blood could be riding on the county's two ambulances by mid-September. The county is presently completing the required paperwork from Vitalant, which supplies blood to area hospitals.
"We've had many, many accidents where we could have used blood to save a patient," Campbell said. "Where we live, there is a large number of elderly people. A lot of times they have trouble with intestinal bleeding and lose a significant amount of blood."
He noted a recent vehicle incident on Interstate 70 near the Pennsylvania line resulted in victims needing blood on the scene, and an Allegheny Health Network ambulance was called to provide blood.
Later, hospital workers told the paramedics that giving the patient blood likely helped that person survive, Campbell added. After this, emergency responders in Ohio County began to push for having blood available on the ambulances.
"Several times we have needed blood so a patient would survive," Campbell said. "A couple didn't survive, and that may be part of the reason."
Each ambulance will have on hand not a unit of whole blood but one package of red blood cells, he explained. Whole blood could be supplied in the future.
"It will have to be changed out every 10 days," he said. "We don't want to waste blood, whether it is red blood cells or whole blood."
The type of blood in the package will be O-, the "universal donor" blood that can largely be administered to anyone without issue.
Campbell noted paramedics are trained to recognize if the patient has an allergic reaction to the blood given to them and how they should respond.
"It's a good program, and it's being used across the country," he continued. "West Virginia is now getting on board. We will be one of the first in West Virginia (to carry pre-hospital blood)."
Campbell added that the Ohio County EMA is developing a good relationship with Vitalant, which supplies blood throughout the area.
"They have regulations we will follow, and so does the state and we will follow that protocol as well," he said. "We will try to be as safe as we can be."