Life-Saving Program Will Provide Blood Transfusions Before Ambulance Gets To Hospital

A Milwaukee Fire Department ambulance at a rollover crash on S. 1st St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Need an emergency blood transfusion? A partnership of five area fire departments now aims to provide life-saving care before you even get to the hospital.

Emergency medical services (EMS) responders from five Milwaukee County fire departments can now provide blood transfusions in the field, before a victim of a traumatic injury arrives at a hospital. When someone is traumatically injured and losing a lot of blood, a timely transfusion can mean life or death.

“So many of these patients simply do not have time to make it to the hospital before receiving blood,” said Dr. Ben Weston, chief health policy advisor for Milwaukee County, during a press conference Tuesday.

The county’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) worked with the Greenfield, Milwaukee, North Shore, South Milwaukee and Wauwatosa fire departments to outfit ambulances and train personnel on the new system. Versiti Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Diagnostic Laboratories are providing the blood for the program. Milwaukee County’s EMS system joins a growing number across the coutry investing in field transfusion programs and technology. The Milwaukee County effort is the first in the state of Wisconsin. 

“This initiative is a testament to our commitment ot pioneering improvements in emergency care, empowering our first responders and, most importantly, saving lives within Milwaukee County,” said County Executive David Crowley.

It costs approximately $10,000 to outfit an ambulance with a field transfusion system, said Dan Pojar, county EMS Division Director, noting that the most significant logistical hurdle for the program was figuring out how to maintain the blood at a safe temperature. Each ambulance in the program carries two units of Type O+ blood and the goal is that none is wasted. Blood will be brought to hospitals for use there before it expires in the field.

Based on data for traumatic injuries in the county, it’s estimated that roughly 100 people a year will benefit from the field transfusion program, Pojar said. New research suggests that infield blood transfusions will greatly increase the survival rate for victims of traumatic blood loss.

Right now, EMS personnel are relying on regular IV fluid to treat traumatic blood loss in the field. But it’s not a real replacement for blood and only dilutes it, Weston said.

“This program will save lives,” Weston said.