By Doug Fitzgerald
The Gazette
TELLER COUNTY, Colo. — In some moments of trauma or crisis, blood is life.
Paramedics with Ute Pass Regional Health Service District are now bringing another pathway to life when things go terribly wrong.
Through a partnership with UCHealth, paramedics with the health service district are now carrying whole blood, enabling them to provide potentially life-saving transfusions to bleeding patients before they get to the hospital. The program launched on June 12.
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“Most people don’t know this but the number one reason for people to die under the age of 46 is hemorrhagic shock,” Dr. Matt Angelidis, emergency medicine physician at UCHealth and medical director for the Colorado Springs Fire Department said at a June 25 media event announcing the program. “About 40% of the people who bleed to death do so before they get to one of our hospitals.
“That 40% is why we’re here today. We know that putting blood in the hands of firefighters, paramedics and EMTs is the first step in saving those lives.”
The UPRHSD is one of three rural districts in Colorado to have access to whole blood. The others are in Clear Creek and Grand counties. The Ute Pass district goes roughly from Green Mountain Falls in the east, to Wilkerson Pass in the west and from Guffey in the south to southern Douglas County in the north.
“Less than 2% of all ground ambulances in the United States are carrying whole blood,” Dr. Sean Keenan, the EMS medical director in Teller County for UCHealth said. “To be able to give them a new tool … this is tremendously exciting and I think it’s really going to see some benefits for our community.”
The benefit of first responders using whole blood as a lifesaving tool was a lesson learned on the battlefield. Keenan saw the results firsthand from his time in the military.
“I had the opportunity to train and see the successes in the military and realized we could bring this into practice here in Colorado,” he said. “It was proved in the military and now on the non-military side that doing it faster is safe and super effective.”
The Colorado Springs Fire Department has preceded the Ute Pass district in providing whole blood with lifesaving results.
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“When our paramedics get there, they know — intuitively they know — that somebody’s bleeding to death,” Keenan said. “They just hadn’t (previously) had a tool to address it.
“We were able to capitalize on the success of Colorado Springs Fire Department and, with the support of UCHealth, we were able to get it into the hands of our folks here.”
It’s truly been a community effort making the program happen.
“Equipping Teller County EMS teams with the technology to safely store, transport, and administer whole blood has been made possible through generous community support,” UCHealth said in a press release.
The press release credits more than $80,000 in philanthropic gifts to the UCHealth Memorial Hospital Foundation for funding the first three years of the program, including the training, technology, and the initial blood supply needed for the whole blood program. In addition, the Teller County Emergency Medical Services Council contributed $20,000 toward the launch.
“Our very capable paramedics could give it (whole blood) safely and, more importantly, they could give it sooner,” Keenan said
One of those capable paramedics is Katie Leland, who is the education captain of the UPRHSD.
“We’ve done a ton of training,” she said. “I think our team is ready and we’re just very thankful for this opportunity.”
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