Now on board local Aero Med flights is the new FDA-approved MEQU Blood and IV Fluid Warmer.
“It’s a compact transport blood warmer.”
Aaron Ziegler is Medical Director for Aero Med at Corewell Health and North Flight Aero Med. He describes the lightweight and portable design as the size and shape of a computer mouse, ideal for emergency blood transfusions during flight.
“Prior to this, if you can imagine, we’re putting refrigerated fluid directly into the veins of a patient that, if they become cool, have a worse outcome.”
Refrigerated blood kept inside the aircraft is run through the warmer directly into the patient. The warmers prevent hypothermia in a patient experiencing trauma. Ziegler says waiting until a patient’s arrival at a hospital can sometimes be too late.
“Most of the things that I would want to do for a traumatically injured patient in the ER, out team is able to do in the back of an aircraft on the side of the highway.”
Ziegler says the blood warmers will significantly improve the chances for life-saving outcomes for patients experiencing traumatic injuries.
