Whole-blood program fully deployed

Buckingham County’s prehospital whole-blood program is now fully operational, with all three first-out ambulances equipped to provide whole blood to patients experiencing life-threatening bleeding.

The Buckingham County Department of Emergency Services announced that its final two units of whole blood were placed into service at Station 3 in Arvonia last week, completing the rollout of the program.

Station 2 in Glenmore received its two units three weeks earlier, according to Department of Emergency Services Director and Chief Cody Davis.

With this deployment, each of Buckingham’s three first-out ambulances now carries two units of whole blood, giving emergency personnel access to six units throughout the county.

“The most recent update is the expansion of our blood program to our third and final station,” Davis said, adding that this means the program is “fully deployed.”

The initiative was initially launched in July, when two units were placed in service at Station 1 in Dillwyn. The department had originally considered placing only two units in the county, but officials expanded the program so blood would be available on all three front-line ambulances.

The expanded availability has already been put to use.

“We have utilized our blood product on two separate occasions already,” Davis said.

Davis said having six units distributed among the county’s three staffed ambulances provides emergency crews with quicker access to blood when treating patients with severe blood loss.

“With this amount of blood product on hand and at the ready in Buckingham now, we are very well prepared to be able to administer this life-saving intervention in a short amount of time to patients in need,” Davis said.

The distribution also gives crews greater flexibility when multiple patients require treatment.

“Not only are we able to administer the blood quickly, due to its strategic availability, but we are also prepared to be able to administer to multiple patients at the same time, if needed,” Davis said.

This positions the county to respond to multiple needs simultaneously.

“Lastly, having this amount of blood product on hand means that we likely have more blood immediately available for another call, even after we have administered it on an earlier call for service,” Davis said.

The department’s whole-blood program uses Type O blood, which can be administered in emergency situations to patients whose blood type may not yet be known.

The program was developed through partnerships with Chesterfield County Fire and EMS, Virginia State Police MedFlight, Inova Health and the Old Dominion Emergency Medical Services Alliance (ODEMSA), as well as support from Buckingham County officials.

Davis emphasized the role of those partnerships in establishing the program.

“I want to stress the importance of the partnership we have with both Chesterfield Fire and EMS, Inova Health, and ODEMSA,” Davis said. “Those three agencies have been amazing to work with and are directly assisting in saving lives in Buckingham County.”

The program requires specialized equipment, training and procedures for storing, monitoring, transporting and administering blood in the field.

The department previously said it purchased specialized coolers, temperature monitors and blood warmers as part of the program. Blood supplies are replenished every two weeks through Chesterfield County.

The department also has procedures in place for situations in which an ambulance staffed only at the basic life support level is first to arrive at an emergency. In those situations, the BLS crew works to stabilize the patient while awaiting a paramedic-level crew that can administer the blood.

The completed rollout marks the culmination of months of planning and training by Buckingham County emergency personnel and its partner agencies.

The department said the ability to administer whole blood before a patient reaches a hospital is particularly important for trauma patients and others experiencing life-threatening blood loss.

In its announcement of the completed rollout, the department said the ability to provide whole blood in the field “significantly improves outcomes and reduces hospital stays.”