STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We're going to talk about a leading cause of death for trauma patients, meaning people, for example, who are in car crashes or gunshot victims. That leading cause of death is blood loss. Historically, these patients have had to wait to reach the hospital for blood transfusions. But what if first responders brought the blood to them? Chris Polansky from Connecticut Public Radio has the story of a growing practice in emergency medicine.
CHRIS POLANSKY, BYLINE: Paramedic Tia Olson is standing beside her emergency vehicle parked outside St. Francis Hospital in Hartford. She's demonstrating a blood warmer involved in prehospital blood transfusion.
TIA OLSON: So this end here gets plugged in here.
POLANSKY: Olson's a field supervisor with the ambulance company AMR Hartford, and it's only in the last few years this technology has been available to her and her colleagues. She says it's made a huge difference for patients experiencing severe blood loss.
OLSON: So you give it, and within a minute to two minutes, like, they wake back up. Their vitals start stabilizing. You see the color return to their skin.
POLANSKY: AMR is one of a growing number of ambulance services around the country administering type O blood in the field, which works for patients of all blood types. In the Hartford area, they're under the supervision of Dr. John Pettini, the EMS medical director for St. Francis Hospital.
JOHN PETTINI: It's probably the biggest game changer in trauma in prehospital care ever.
POLANSKY: Patini says prehospital blood transfusion was pioneered by the military, who found the practice greatly improved survival rates for those injured in war zones.
PETTINI: They called it Jesus juice because it seemed to raise the dead. You know, you give it, and it's just dramatic.
POLANSKY: In recent years, more and more civilian ambulance services around the U.S. have begun employing the practice. According to the Office of EMS at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA, roughly 300 of the nation's 15,000 EMS agencies have prehospital blood programs. That's up from only a few dozen a couple years ago. NHTSA leadership says they're looking to grow that number rapidly.
JONATHAN MORRISON: If I had a magic wand, I would be looking to make this available to any EMT agency that's interested.
POLANSKY: That's NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison. His agency recently awarded $50 million for ambulance services across the country to stand up or expand prehospital blood programs. The money's going everywhere from rural Oregon to Tampa, Florida. Morrison cites a figure from the American College of Emergency Physicians, who say administering prehospital blood can lead to a 37% reduction in mortality. Pettini, the EMS chief, says giving prehospital blood makes sense in both rural and urban settings, even when the hospital's not too far away.
PETTINI: If we spend a couple more minutes on scene, that means that the blood's going in, and it's actually better for the patient. The minutes matter. It decreases mortality. For every minute transfusion's not started in severe hemorrhagic shock, mortality increases.
POLANSKY: Miles Garrison has first-hand experience administering blood. He's another paramedic field supervisor with AMR Hartford. Garrison says he's seen a real difference in patient outcomes since the blood became available.
MILES GARRISON: I think it's a game changer for trauma, especially here in the city. If we can get the blood in as fast as we can, administer it to them, it gives them more time to stay alive, to get to the hospital.
POLANSKY: The technology isn't without its limitations. Blood has to be kept cooled at the right temperature, but warmed before it's given to a patient. And it expires, so there has to be a ready supply. Though only 2% of EMS agencies in the U.S. have prehospital blood programs now, that number is expected to grow as more health care leaders learn how many lives can be saved.
For NPR News, I'm Chris Polansky in Hartford, Connecticut.
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