(Radio Iowa) – The Des Moines Fire Department says medics recently were able to give a blood transfusion to the patient before transport to the hospital for the first time under a pilot program. Lieutenant Dan Davis says medics gave blood to a security guard who had been stabbed at the Polk County’s Life Services Center.
“It was recognized right away that this person was critical. They were able to jump on it right away, and they knew well ahead of the time the patient got in the back of the squad that they were ready to go with the blood,” Davis says. He says the blood help keep the security guard alive until he could get to the hospital.
“He was really starting to go downhill and when it gave him the blood, it kind of leveled him off until he could get to the hospital and have the trauma surgeons take a look at him and start working on him,” he says. Davis says this was a case where the pilot program that has blood in the ambulances paid off. “I believe he ended up getting 30 or more units of blood during the whole process. I’m not sure that he would have survived without it,” Davis says.
The Des Moines and West Des Moines Fire Departments started the pilot program back in November of last year to carry blood for transfusions. It was adapted from a process used by the military to treat wounded soldiers in the field to stabilize them. The goal is to eventually extend the program statewide.
