WASHINGTON — Pioneers of DC Fire and EMS’s Whole Blood Program received some worthy recognition Friday at Engine 30 on D.C.'s Northeast side.
The Whole Blood Program launched April 2 and allows certain DC Fire & EMS supervisors to conduct blood transfusions in the field to someone experiencing extreme trauma. Right now, five supervisors carry whole blood and can be at any call in the city within 10 minutes.
“We are one of the trendsetters in the nation right now as far as one of the biggest urban fire and EMS departments that is conducting prehospital blood transfusion," said Dr. David Vitberg, the asisstant medical director with DC Fire & EMS.
April 10 was the first time responders performed an emergency transfusion in the field, saving a gunshot victim's life.
"We have patients on the brink of death," said Lt. Holly O'Byrne with DC Fire & EMS, who serves as the Whole Blood Program's Coordinator. "From being unconscious or unresponsive to sitting up and talking to us."
So far, tDC Fire & EMS have given 30 patients, including one minor, 31 units of blood; 86% of those patients survived.
“[It] might seem like a low number -- it’s not 100" O'Byrne said. "These are patients who are suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, multiple stab wounds, severe medical illnesses where they’ve lost copious amounts of blood."
Vitberg claims these emergency transfusions prevent additional treatment at the scene where someone is experiencing blood loss.
"Whole Blood is clearly saving people in the District," he said. There’s no doubt about it, our data shows that. A lot of times when people are struggling to breathe, because they’re suffering from hemorrhagic shock, we find that once we start transfusing them, they actually start breathing easier and we don’t have to go down the route of putting in a breathing tube or giving them other medications to support their blood pressure."
DC Fire & EMS said they do analysis on every single transfusion and meticulously gather data from every call.
“It’s hard to analyze a program with just five or six transfusion events, but now that we have 30 and easily over 100 data points on each of those 30 episodes of transfusion, we’re poised to start a detailed analysis of the program and understand how Washington, D.C. might contribute to the science of prehospital blood transfusion," Vitberg said.
DC Fire & EMS said on top of the lives it's saving, the Whole Blood Program is helping lift the spirits of first responders like paramedics and firefighters and helping with burnout, because they know they have a better chance at saving a life on any given call.
“Whole Blood is saving EMS, because people are excited about being part of EMS because of this new tool and seeing the incredibly positive effect that it’s having on patients that we serve," Vitberg said.
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