Prehospital blood program already saving lives across central Kentucky
JESSAMINE COUNTY, Ky. (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) – Four central Kentucky EMS agencies are already seeing life-saving results from a new prehospital blood transfusion program — and organizers hope to expand it statewide.
Through a partnership with the Kentucky Blood Center and UK Healthcare, the Lexington Fire Department and EMS agencies in Madison, Scott, and Jessamine counties are now equipped with blood and trained to transfuse it while en route to the hospital.
“If you’re bleeding out the time you need blood is as soon as possible, not later,” Jessamine County EMS Assistant Chief Floyd Miracle said.
Each agency keeps a cooler with one unit of universal donor blood in its supervisor vehicle. When a trauma or bleeding call comes in, blood is rushed to the scene. Unused units return to UK Hospital a week before expiration, ensuring nothing goes to waste.
Since the program launched last June, crews have administered prehospital blood in 79 cases across all four departments.
“We are just astonished at how much one unit of blood improves vital signs and improves patients’ outcome,” Miracle said.
The results have exceeded expectations.
“We have seen patients that we thought, historically in the past, that would not live, would have no chance of recovery or a meaningful outcome, walk out of the hospital,” Miracle said.
The initiative took more than five years to develop. Now, organizers are focused on bringing the program to other parts of Kentucky.
“We can’t operate in a silo, we want to lift everyone up and we’re here for support to help any EMS agency carry this product,” Miracle said.
“For us, very few things come up in healthcare and EMS, where we’re like, ‘This is a game changer, this is going to make a big difference for our patients,’ and this is one thing that is that, that we just know, we believe, makes a huge difference,” Miracle said.
A prehospital blood academy is in the works for this fall. If you are part of an EMS agency that would like to get involved, contact Jessamine County EMS at fmiracle@jessamineky.gov
The best way to help save a life is to donate blood. If you’re interested in donating, you can learn how to donate through the Kentucky Blood Center here.
