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LIFE STAR helicopters now carry new tool for critical care

It's care the emergency department would typically provide, now available on the fly.

HARTFORD, Conn. — When a serious crash happens, sometimes a victim has been taken to the hospital by Hartford HealthCare’s LIFE STAR helicopter. 

However, LIFE STAR is more than just a transport service. Paramedics use speed and skill in the sky to provide critical care, which could mean the difference between life and death. Now, LIFE STAR is the first in the state to have fresh frozen plasma (FFP) on board the aircraft— a game changer when it comes to critical care.

"It can be motor vehicle accidents, motorcycle accidents, extreme falls, amputations, work-related injuries, etcetera,” said Hartford Hospital LIFE STAR flight nurse paramedic Adam Dawidczyk.

"Some of our quicker, less-involved might be like a heart attack or a stroke where we're just flying to pick them up and get them to a facility like Hartford Hospital as fast as possible so they can get the appropriate interventions," said Hartford Hospital LIFE STAR flight paramedic Brendon Colt. "There are other more complex ones where we might be picking them up in an ICU and continuing ICU level care to get them to a higher level ICU.” 

The work starts on the helipad at the hospital. As the doors close, plans for care are drawn up.

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"Going through our procedural checklists as to what medications we might provide for that patient, what type of procedures we may need to provide for that patient,” said Dawidczyk.

Also on the checklist is what kind of blood product a patient may need if he or she is losing a lot of it.

"Several years ago, I was involved with Brendon on a flight where someone had a dot accident, a chop saw bounced off the concrete, struck them right in the neck and he bled very heavily,” said Dawidczyk.

That's where the fresh frozen plasma, now aboard LIFE STAR, comes in.

"Back in 2015, LIFE STAR started carrying blood but we were only carrying what we call packed red cells so it's essentially just bags of just red blood cells,” said Colt.

"Fresh frozen plasma comes into play by creating or helping to create clots so as we are giving blood in some instances with that fresh frozen plasma, we can either slow that bleeding down or completely stop it all together,” said Dawidczyk.

It's care the emergency department would typically provide, now available on the fly.

"The plasma, the big thing that the plasma's gonna bring is keeping that patient or getting that patient more stable so they can get to the trauma center,” said Colt.

"By us being able to start that sooner, it can eliminate the amount of stress or what's required for that patient to have done here in the emergency department,” said Dawidczyk.

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Angelo Bavaro is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at abavaro@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook and X.

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