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(Des Moines, IA) -- Des Moines emergency medical service providers can now perform blood transfusions while en route to the hospital.
“The sooner we can get blood to patients, the better chance they have of surviving a traumatic injury by the time they get to the hospital. We know how life-saving this is going to be. I’ve sat and watched patients bleed out,” said Lieutenant Dan Davis of the Des Moines Fire Department.
Officials say this could significantly boost survival chances for people with serious injuries before they even reach the ER.
This is the first program of its kind in Iowa. With much of the state being rural, officials say the initiative will allow crews to begin life-saving efforts even when patients are far from a hospital.
“And so what this program allows is for that time period to extend, capitalizing on that brief window of opportunity we have, and for us to actually have a chance to save that patient that, in the past, we wouldn’t have had a chance to save,” said Dr. Joseph Losh, Trauma Surgeon at MercyOne.
Des Moines and West Des Moines EMS providers have been training throughout the summer to administer blood transfusions using the new technology. Blood will be provided by LifeServe Blood Center.
The pre-hospital blood transfusion pilot program is a collaboration among MercyOne, UnityPoint Health, and LifeServe Blood Center.