Minsk agreements, regime of silence and relative quiet at the front line are only theoretical concepts. The aftertaste of holidays are still in the air, but war has not paused even for a second. Explossions and shellind are constant at the front line, despite the fact that the breaks are a little bit longer.
Injured paratrooper Jacob Y. Moore accompany his colleague to a hospital. Kandahar, Afghanistan
Holidays is a peacefull time of a year. However, gunshots and explosions can be heard here and there at the front line. But imagine the situation: Ukrainian defender sit in the dugout with a colleague. Suddenly, one of them turn head in confusion, his face is pale like a sheet of paper, and settles down. His lips are blue. The wounded is troubled in fuss. This is a typical reaction of sympato-adrenaline system. His blood is filled with crazy cocktail of adrenaline and other chemicals. This is how body responds to an emergency damage. Dark blood stain on a uniform steadily increases. A hidden wound exposes itself. Only then you can understand that you deal with the blood loss.
Afghanistan. Medical helicopter evacuates american marine, who was injured during the expsolion
Well, if the wound is small, it can be tamponed. In some cases one can use medical tourniquet or, in extreme cases, plug it with a thumb. And what can you do, if a large vessel is damaged, or if an artery is damaged and hot red blood sprinkle around? If the trunk vein is damaged blood slowly pulsate and flow out. Celox, turnstiles, tourniquets are good things to use in such situations. However, even if the bleeding is stopped, the worst things are just ahead.
Suburbs of DAP. Volunteers and military save life of Vitaliy. Soon he will become a patient of The Bioengineering Rehabilitation for Wounded Project
Veins and arteries of an average person seventy kilograms of weight contain about five liters of blood. If a major vessel is damaged, time to save life counts in second. If you stop the bleeding, the body can mobilize and temporarily compensate the loss of a third part of blood. However, consequences will be severe. Among them are shock, violation of chemistry and physics of blood, severe lesions of internal organs etc. A brain will also suffer. Due to pressure drop and critical hypoxia an identity of the person can suffer from irreparable damage, even if life is saved. Loss of half amount of a blood causes shock. That is why blood loss usually means quick and inevitable death.
The US military train to impose harnesses or tourniquets, and stop bleeding on this dummy. Injured person bleeds in the same way
The sad statistics shows, that, despite the serious injury that is fatal itself, a blood loss and its consequences are major causes of death on a battlefield. Even if patient is still bleeding, the first thing needed is to compensate the loss of blood. Blood, blood components, its substitutes and various chemical cocktails, which are well known by paramedics and transfusiologists, are used in cases of a blood loss.
If medical helicopter is far away, tourniquets and special hemostatic bandages become handy. The main objective is to stop a blood loss, and quickly compensate it at first chance
The first goal of injections is a minimal stabilization of vital parameters without returning wounded to conciousness. If everything went well comes turn of surgeons. Golden hour countdown started. Just during a closest hour on an operating table a consequences of blood loss can be minimized. During this time on the damaged vessels can be imposed ligations or they can be sewed if needed, to save life. Along with surgeons into reanimating process are involved intensivists. They struggle with shock, increase critically-low blood pressure, compensate pathological changes of the blood and stabilization of vital parameters.
For the limbs, and severe body injuries US military doctors use tourniquets and hemostatic bandages in case of bleeding of any kind. And Ukrainian military doctors have rubber harnesses
Blood storage and transportation requires special conditions, that are preserved in the hospital several dozen kilometers away from the front line. There is no chance to deliver the wounded there on time, when his further life counts in minutes due to injury. There is no way to catch a ride there.
Air ambulance of US Armed Forces are units of highest priority of supply. For Ukraine it is an unaffordable luxury
Usually doctors at the front line stop bleeding, minimally stabilize the state of wounded, and transport him to the nearest hospital at a first chance. In cases like this blood transfusion or delivery of blood to the front line are off the table. This means loss of precious time. And it is a very serious problem.
Standard of frontline medicine of Ukraine is to stabilize the state of the wounded minimally and deliver him to the nearest hospital. Immediate blood infusions will improve chances of survival critically
However there is a solution. Transfusiologist Rostyslav Zauralskiy, who devoted his professional life to a blood loss question, has initiated and supports long-term volunteer The Bloodmobile Project.
None of us have seen so much blood during whole life as Rostyslav Zauralskiy transfused
Nowadays there is only one bloodmobile. It is a minibus, transformed into a special van for transportation of blood and blood components, and slightly adapted for off-road front line. More than 40,000 km current blodmobile driven along the front line, and saved many lives. However, it gradually ruins with a time.
Sad but obvious statistics
We believe that this initiative deserves for a comprehensive support and should develop further. We plan to buy one more van and necessary equipment for blood and blood components to create proper conditions of transportation, and equip at least one more bloodmobile. While fund raise is in progress, we organize technical work are negotiate creation of an extensive system of blood storage. The principle of work is very simple. When defender of Ukraine is injured and an urgent need for blood transfusion occurs, the bloodmobile picks necessary blood components at one of a nearest hospital, and rushes to save lives. We plan to start with one bloodmobile, and later equip more.
First one and yet the only
There is no chance for the project without funding. To equip the bloodmobile we can only at the expense of peoples donations within The Bloodmobile Project. Right now someone transfers money, someone provide us with a necessary equipment, but the project is still far from finish. Every donated dollar is a great chance for defenders of Ukraine to be snatched from the jaws of death. Join the project to save life.
