WAYNESBORO, Va. (WHSV) – A new program from the Central Shenandoah Emergency Medical Services Council aims to make it easier for patients to access blood.
Daniel Linkins of the Central Shenandoah EMS Council said the project has been in the works for about two years and officially launched on June 18.
“One of our responsibilities as a region is to develop methods to improve performance, look at trauma care, review our systems and develop plans to improve the care we provide to our patients,” Linkins said.
There is no designated trauma center in the Central Shenandoah Health District, so patients must be transported to UVA or Roanoke.
One challenge for whole blood programs is blood wastage.
“It has a short lifespan, is very expensive and has to be kept at a certain temperature all the time. So many programs lose over 40% simply through wasted blood,” Linkins said.
Linkins said no blood has been wasted in the region during her care.
“We have an agreement with INOVA Health Services, who have their own blood bank. They provide us with the blood. It stays in our wards for two weeks. We track the temperature and monitor everything while it’s in our refrigerators. After those two weeks are up, we send it back and they can fractionate it and use the blood in their trauma center,” Linkins said.
Steven Ward, executive director of the Waynesboro First Aid Crew, said they decide whether they need to transport blood depending on the type of call.
“To administer the blood, our paramedics have special coolers that are kept at optimal temperatures. We log those temperatures daily, track everything and route it to the pump to administer the product,” Ward said.
Ward said this is another resource available to the community.
“We never know what mission awaits us, where we will be and of course where a patient will end up. We rely on our helicopter transport units and these are also dependent on the weather,” said Ward.
While the program began on June 18, training began earlier.
“We introduced the training probably two months before the live deployment and everyone learned on their own,” said Taylor Mathis, captain of the Waynesboro First Aid Crew.
Ward said this is Waynesboro’s first time participating in a program like this, so preparation is key.
“There’s always a learning curve with anything new. Our paramedics practice setting it up, assembling it, and getting to the point where they’re going to be doing the blood delivery with the training equipment, so to speak. So the blood is used like in the training scenario and we just hook it up and we’re good to go,” Ward said.
Waynesboro First Aid Crew is one of two locations in the region, with plans to open two more locations.
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