New blood transfusion program helping save lives across DC

WASHINGTON - In April, Mayor Bowser and D.C. Fire and EMS announced a Whole Blood Program, which would give patients who need them blood transfusions in the field.

In the first nine months of this new program, the survival rate for patients that need blood and aren’t in cardiac arrest has skyrocketed.

Sunday night, D.C. paramedics gave their 200th unit of blood via transfusion to a patient in the field.

Prior to this program, D.C. Fire and EMS medical director Dr. David Vitberg says the survival rate for someone who was seriously bleeding out and was not in cardiac arrest was about 30%.

Now that this new program is underway, that survival rate is now 94%.

"The difference that blood transfusions are making now in the District of Columbia is nothing short of miraculous," Vitberg said.

One of those survivors is Anthony Chappelle, who lives in Southeast D.C.

He was shot on June 19th and told FOX 5 he was dying.  Then, the paramedic hooked him up for a transfusion, and he said he felt the life come back to him.

"It’s a blessing and I think they need to enforce this everywhere, because a lot of lives can be saved like mine was saved," Chappelle said, "I would not be alive. I know that for a fact. Yeah. I know that for a fact."

Vitberg says more and more studies have shown that the quicker you replenish blood into patients who are losing it following a traumatic event drastically improves their ability to survive.

Blood transfusions in the field are a relatively new phenomenon across the country.

Fairfax, Arlington and Loudoun County have programs, and Montgomery County just added one.

There’s a lot that goes into these programs: highly specialized storage, coordination between D.C. agencies, positioning blood so it can be administered, making sure there’s no wasted blood and it doesn’t expire, data collection and the training and expertise for paramedics who administer the blood after shootings, stabbings, car crashes, other medical events that can lead to rapid blood loss.

"I’ve always liked to think of DC Fire and EMS as part of our healthcare system. We shouldn’t just do the EMS part and then get them to the hospital, we should think about how we can intelligently combine our efforts, and then provide seamless care for our patients," Dr. Vitberg said.

Dr. Vitberg says no waste is important since blood supply is not infinite.

"I have been practicing medicine for about 25 years. I’d imagine this is what it felt like when penicillin was invented. In all seriousness this has been an absolute game changer in terms of being able to get very, very mortally wounded patients in the field, to a trauma center, and have them still be alive when they arrive at the trauma center," Vitberg said.

Dr. Vitberg says each bag of blood costs about $500 and the transfusion costs about $1,000 in total, but it’s a price well worth paying.