'Game changer': Elyria tactical medics can now give blood transfusions

Elyria has become one of the first cities in the state with medics who are qualified to carry blood and to give transfusions in the field to those who have sustained traumatic injuries. The city has entered into an agreement with University Hospitals that allows Elyria's tactical medics to pick up O-negative blood, the universal donor type, ahead of any raids or actions by the Elyria Police Special Response team, or SRT, and bring it with them to the scene. "Our five (tactical medics), they do all the things that a regular Elyria fire medic does as far as giving drugs, intravenous fluids, stopping bleeding and now to add the ability to give blood in the field," Elyria Fire Chief Joe Pronesti said. "That is a game changer." For several years, five medics from Elyria fire have worked with the police department's SRT, which is Elyria's equivalent of a SWAT, or special weapons and tactics, unit. The medics have undergone state tactical emergency medical services training, and one of them accompany the SRT every time it is dispatched to provide medical care as needed. Pronesti, Elyria police and the city administration began working on the concept after Pronesti said UH reached out to suggest it. Elyria Police Chief James Welsh said that Dr. Jordan Singer, who specializes in emergency medicine for UH, has been instrumental in the process. The city and the hospital system agreed to split the costs of the equipment to run the program. This equipment includes a specially designed cooler to securely carry the blood that will be kept at the UH Elyria Medical Center when not in use. "I think this is a very positive thing," Safety Service Director Chris Pyanowski said. "Our tactical medics are top notch, they are well trained and they volunteer for this, they ask to do this work. They are always trying to do more to provide better care, so I think this is great." Pronesti said that the tactical medics will complete their training to use the new equipment today, and by the end of this week there would be universal blood available every time the SRT is deployed. "It is really saying something that we have been able to work with University Hospitals to get these five gentlemen trained to do that," Pronesti said. "It is a benefit to the police officers, it gives them a little bit of comfort knowing that they will have a medic there who is going to go all out if the worst happens and they, or a civilian or even the bad guy is injured." Welsh said that having trained tactical medics accompany the SRT in the field has been critical to its success, and he was happy that they had gained a new tool to help them save lives. "Anything that they can bring to the table as far as the tactical medic side of our operations is a benefit to the officers on the scene," Welsh said. "In the event that there is a shooting or some other incident where officers, a suspect or anyone on a scene need blood, this could potentially save lives." Pronesti said that the ability to begin blood transfusions in the field rather than at the hospital is a relatively recent development in the world of emergency medicine, with only a few paramedic agencies in the state equipped to do so, he said. Elyria's SRT is only the second police SWAT team in the state to have the capability. "In the future, I see paramedics being able to do this across the country," he said. Most ambulances in the country do not carry blood and so do not give what are called prehospital blood transfusions, or PHBTs. Cleveland EMS became the first city ambulance service in the state to carry O-negative blood in ambulances when it partnered with MetroHealth starting in June. In a release at the time, MetroHealth said that the availability of the blood could reduce mortality rates by up to 75 percent in the cases where it was most needed. Studies from the National Institute of Health have shown that widespread implementation of PHBTs would save thousands of lives per year. But, implementation is limited by the rarity of O negative blood, which only seven percent of the people have, and the difficulty of maintaining blood at the proper temperature outside of a hospital. The tactical medics who are members of the SRT are Elyria firefighter Chah Arcaba, Capt. Rick Fuehrer, Capt. Jody Dorsey, Lt. Nic Bezbatchenko and Lt. Michael Eichenlaub. They are all certified to carry a firearm when they are on tactical medic duty to keep them safe while staying as close as possible to the SRT officers, Arcaba said. "We have been in the stack with the team and been right on the front lines," Arcaba said Monday. "A big part of tactical EMS is stopping the bleeding, stopping hemorrhaging as quickly as possible. So within the first few minutes of the wounding of a SWAT operator to definitive care is what we specialize in. We need to get a tourniquet applied and the hemorrhaging stopped as soon as possible, so we need to be as close to the operators as we can be." Arcaba said that the ability to give blood in addition to stopping the bleeding would be critical to future patients, and if the program is successful it could serve as a model for other SWAT teams in the area or even paramedics in general. "Really this is a pilot program for paramedics in general to start giving prehospital blood in general," he said. "When you are shot and you are bleeding, blood is what you need, right? That is definitely going to save your life." Pronesti said that the most important things to the success of the city's tactical medics was the years of training that they put in and their ability to work cooperatively with EPD. "I'm so proud of the fact that we have so much teamwork and collaboration with Elyria police," Pronesti said. "There is no posturing or pushing boundaries or anything like that. The relationship is the best I have ever seen, and I am proud of that." Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.