LEESBURG, Va. — A horrible crash that killed a Loudoun County mom and critically injured three children and their grandma is offering lessons that may save lives.
"The blood we had on scene was exhausted. So we needed to think of another operation," said Loudoun County Fire and Rescue Medical Director John Morgan, MD.
It happened on September 8, 2017. A food truck with bad brakes ran a stop sign near Leesburg and slammed broadside into a family station wagon.
Erin Kaplan, a mother of three died at the scene. But the kids and their grandmother were all trapped, critically injured, and in desperate need of blood.
Firefighters called two nearby hospitals and raced donor blood to the crash scene. It took more than three hours to extricate the family. The blood may have saved their lives. "It made a huge difference for one of the kids that was most critically injured. I'm confident that it saved his life," said Morgan.
Now Loudoun and Fairfax Fire, the Inova Health System and Blood Donor Services, and the Northern Virginia EMS Council have launched a first-in-the- nation formal program their calling "Field Available Component Transfusion Response" or FACT*R.
It will ensure the next time emergency workers need massive amounts of blood out in the field, it will be ready, and they can race it to the scene.
"Maybe a structural building collapse, or a severe accident where folks are trapped. Or maybe a wilderness operation in an inaccessible place. Active shooter," said Dr. Morgan, listing the scenarios in which the blood might help.
It's a way of taking the assets of a trauma center out where it's needed.
The blood centers are now ready to quickly pack up and send out five units of plasma, five units of packed blood cells and six units of platelets -- that's enough blood and blood products to replace a victim's entire blood supply.
It's a reminder of why it's important for all of us to donate blood.
