There is a push underway to add lifesaving whole blood resuscitation emergency services in Teller County.
“We hope to have the program in place by the beginning of the summer,” said Teller County EMS Medical Director, Dr. Sean Keenan.
It is a program like the one started a year ago in Colorado Springs, where whole blood provided by UCHealth is carried by firefighters to give to patients who are losing blood fast at emergency scenes.
Watch How The CSFD Whole Blood Program Has Already Saved Lives
“We are coming up on one year into our program here in Colorado Springs, and we are saving approximately one life every 72 hours. So it's been a phenomenally successful program,” said UCHealth Emergency Physician and Colorado Springs Fire Department Co-Medical Director, Dr. Matthew Angelidis.
The Colorado Springs Fire Department was the first in the state to carry whole blood.
Giving blood en route to the hospital improves survival rates.
“If we can turn the course of their hemorrhagic shock in the field, they arrive healthier, more stable, and better condition for our trauma surgeons and ER docs,” said Dr. Angelidis.
“When you have a intervention that we know, if given earlier, can save lives, and we can provide it to a community sooner rather than later, like Teller County or some of the other rural or frontier counties in Colorado, we can have a profound effect,” said Dr. Keenan.
UCHealth and the Memorial Hospital blood bank support expanding the program into Teller County.
The challenge is coming up with funding because insurance does not currently cover the expense for patients.
To make it happen, a fundraising effort aided by the Memorial Hospital Foundation is underway.
“We're relying on community support, whether it be people going to blood drives or whether it be through philanthropic giving, to be able to set up these programs,” said Dr. Keenan.
Click here for more information on the program and the funding effort.
The goal of starting by the summer season is for Teller County locals and the many people who go there for recreation during the summer.
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