General News
There is new technology that can help save lives of trauma victims before they make it to the hospital.
But not many ambulances have it on board. There's an EMS director in Cumberland County that does carry it.
Cumberland County has something that 99 percent of ambulances do not have across the country. If you're in a traumatic accident and you need blood, Cumberland County EMS can now bring it to you.
In a traumatic accident, quickly getting help to victims could be the difference between life and death. If a victim is losing blood, it needs to be replaced as quickly as possible.
"The logistics has always been very difficult for EMS," said Cumberland County EMS Director David Grovdahl. "But with the advent of low titer, o-positive whole blood, we have some new technology. We can store it, we can put it on the ambulances and we can get it to trauma patients and medical patients very, very quickly."
Soldiers from the 75th Ranger Regiment developed the technology. The special cooler helps stabilize type-o positive blood to help save lives on the battlefield.
The coolers are only being used by a small number of hospitals across the country.
"Cumberland County EMS is one of 14 programs across North Carolina that currently has whole blood in their pre- hospital ambulances," Grovdahl said.
Cumberland County EMS responds to about 20 trauma incidents a month. Multiply that by 12 and you see having blood at accident scene has already saved multiple lives.
"This is a game changer," Grovdahl said. "So whole blood brings back all of those pieces and parts that the human body is losing in trauma. The red blood cells, the white blood cells, the plasma, the platelets, all those things that the patient needs."
Right now, the whole blood is in two of the quick response vehicles. But it won't be long until they have it in two more.
Cape Fear Valley Health encourages people to give whole blood, especially type o-positive.
All of the blood that's collected by the hospital stays in their healthcare system.
