CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A new emergency tool is helping save lives in Clayton County.
The pre-hospital blood transfusion program means firefighters and paramedics in the field can now take blood transfusions right to the scene of an emergency.
Channel 2’s Steve Gehlbach was in Clayton County to learn more about the outcomes the county is seeing with the program in operation.
“It’s working, just releasing a report on the first 90 days in use,” Fire Chief Tim Sweat told Gehlbach. “Now when called out, first responders can call for blood, get it to the victim on the scene, before they’re even loaded onto the ambulance.”
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The Clayton County Fire & Emergency Services whole blood program started in October.
“We’ll have two units of blood in each of our two coolers,” Sweat told Channel 2 Action News.
After the first 90 days, Sweat said the program is working, giving life-saving treatment to patients before they even arrive at an emergency room.
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“The numbers are about what we anticipated, between motor vehicle collisions, gunshot victims, medical instances that require the use of whole blood,” Sweat explained.
During the first three months of the program, Clayton County first responders used a total of 28 units of blood in 21 different cases.
Of those 21 patients, 17 survived and still had a pulse when they got to the ER.
That’s a more than 80% survival rate thanks to the pre-hospital blood transfusions.
Sweat said five of those 17 patients would have died without the blood program.
“We track these patients so we know for sure, hands down, five of those individuals would more than likely not be with us today,” Sweat said.
The department will keep tracking the numbers. Officials said they are expecting to treat around 100 patients in a year and seeing a majority of them on the north side of Clayton County.
“This is a game-changer for us and there’s no doubt in our minds that it has, and will continue to, save lives in this community,” Sweat said.
In order to fuel the program, Clayton County partnered with a local supplier to get the blood they need.
“The county partnered with Southern Regional Medical Center that is supplying the units of blood,” Sweat said.
They always need Type-O blood, relying on those in the community to donate through local American Red Cross blood drives.
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