HARTFORD, Conn. -- Saint Francis Hospital, a Level 1 Trauma Center, and American Medical Response (AMR) are pleased to announce the launch of a new program allowing whole blood to be administered to a trauma patient while still at the scene of an emergency, or while in transport to the hospital. This is the first, ground-based emergency response program of its kind in New England. The program is a year in the making and will provide a potentially life-saving service to the residents of Hartford and its surrounding communities.
“We are proud to team up with AMR to provide this valuable service to our local community,” said Dr. Stephen Wolf, Chairman, Department of Emergency Medicine, Saint Francis Hospital. “In a medical emergency or trauma situation, every second matters. Research is now starting to show that administering warmed, whole blood at the time of the medical emergency can significantly improve survival and recovery rates for the patient.”
Whole blood must be stored in a cooled location, but it is optimal to administer the blood to the patient warmed. The latest warming technology—a compact, portable, battery operated blood warming system— is a key component to the program and will be utilized by local AMR paramedics in order to administer the whole blood units to patients. This is the same technology used by military operations globally.
Whole blood is made up of several components, including plasma, platelets, and packed red blood cells. Currently the separate components are carried and administered by some emergency responders, as standard practice for a patient in need of a blood transfusion is to follow the Mass Transfusion Protocol, which requires a 1:1:1 ratio of each component. Research, however, is beginning to point towards whole blood, which already contains the necessary clotting factors and platelets, as a preferred treatment for patients experiencing some type of severe blood loss.
“We use blood and blood products in the care of patients who require the next step in the fluid resuscitation process as we transport them to a higher level of care,” said Chris Chaplin, Regional Director, AMR Connecticut. “AMR is proud to join forces with Saint Francis Hospital and to make this meaningful investment in the equipment and training necessary to successfully launch this program. This is one more example of AMR’s dedication to providing the highest level of care to our patients.”
“Until now, this kind of treatment, whole blood and the equipment needed to administer it, was not available to our local emergency responders, but our collaboration has changed that,” said John Quinlavin, Emergency Services Manager, Saint Francis Hospital. “This launch is a depiction of a true collaboration including the efforts of our own, on site blood bank, our emergency service leaders and physicians, and AMR, and proves our shared mission to best serve our patients and community.”
About Saint Francis Hospital
Saint Francis Hospital has been an anchor institution in north central Connecticut since 1897. In 2015, Saint Francis became part of Trinity Health Of New England, a member of Trinity Health, one of the largest multi-institutional Catholic health care delivery systems in the nation. Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center is licensed for 617 beds, is a major teaching hospital and the largest Catholic hospital in New England. Other Saint Francis entities include the Comprehensive Women’s Health Center, the Connecticut Joint Replacement Institute, the Curtis D. Robinson Center for Health Equity, the Hoffman Heart and Vascular Institute of Connecticut, the Smilow Cancer Hospital Yale-New Haven at Saint Francis, and Trinity Health Of New England Medical Group. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @SaintFrancisCT
About American Medical Response (AMR)
American Medical Response, Inc., America’s leading provider of medical transportation, provides services in 40 states and the District of Columbia. More than 28,000 AMR paramedics, EMTs, RNs and other professionals work together to transport more than 4.8 million patients nationwide each year in critical, emergency and non-emergency situations. AMR also provides fire services through Rural Metro Fire Department,
www.ruralmetrofire.com. For more information about AMR, visit
www.amr.net and follow American Medical Response on Facebook @AMR_Social on Twitter and Instagram.
AMR is part of the Global Medical Response family of companies. Global Medical Response, Inc. is the industry-leading air, ground, specialty and residential fire services, and managed medical transportation organization. With more than 38,000 employees, GMR delivers compassionate, quality medical care, primarily in the areas of emergency and patient relocation services in the United States and around the world. For more information, visit
www.globalmedicalresponse.com.
