The importance of having a ready supply of blood during emergency medical response was just one of a number of topics covered during a gathering of medical first responders in Scottsbluff last week.
Regional West Health Services and AirLink hosted the Nebraska Association of Air Medical Services 2024 Safety Symposium Thursday at the Hampton Inn, with presentations on a number of best practices.
Troy Dean, AirLink Assistant Medical Director and Regional West Emergency Department Medical Director, said while component blood products are important to medical care, emergencies are somewhat different. “When we talk about giving blood at the scene, we’re talking about packed red cells or just giving the red cells. We’ve advanced in medicine and learned that whole blood is a superior product and people are losing blood in its entirety, so giving them blood back is a benefit,” said Dean, “And that’s something that we’ve recently started at Regional West and Airlink is carrying her blood out to the scene now. We’re also using it in the hospital in those initial, moments of resuscitation, to help save lives.”
Symposium Chair and AirLink Chief Flight Nurse Tracy Meyer told KNEB News a good supply of donated blood is vital for improved outcomes in an emergency, something donors and potential donors need to be aware of.
“I think that’s the piece that we can do a little bit better about, is giving those people that are donating some feedback. They might not know exactly where that blood goes, but I don’t think they really understand how impactful their donation is. The 15 minutes in that chair is huge, and it matters,” Meyer said.
With a shelf life of about 21 days for donated blood, having a large pool of donors is vital for hospitals and trauma centers such as Regional West.
Several dozen donors gave during a five-hour West Nebraska Blood Center blood drive at the event, and all of those donations will remain local.
