Community paramedics provide home transfusions

When cancer patients can’t get to treatment, it comes to them

Story by Sherri Gallant

Back in 2015, staff at the Transfusion Medicine Lab in Calgary brainstormed with colleagues at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, looking for a way to help cancer patients who needed red blood cell or platelet transfusions.

Some patients had trouble getting to the hospital to receive a transfusion — they either couldn’t drive themselves or had no one to take them. Transfusions are sometimes prescribed for people undergoing cancer treatment to strengthen them and boost their ability to fight the disease.

With these needs in mind, Mobile Integrated Health (MIH) was approached to see if community paramedics (CPP) might be able to provide in-home transfusions — and an award-winning program came to life. For Calgary Zone patients, being able to get transfusions at home significantly improved their quality of life and comfort.

And the program is growing. This past summer, in-home transfusions performed by community paramedics came to Medicine Hat and Lethbridge in the South Zone.

“I want to highlight the work my colleagues have done, and get the word out to clinical staff to contact the program to see if their patients are eligible for in-home transfusions,” says Bailey Blake, MLT II-South Zone transfusion safety officer with Alberta Precision Laboratories (APL) at Chinook Regional Hospital.

Members of the Lutz family in Medicine Hat say the program has made a huge difference for them.

“My parents are 92 and 87 living in their own home,” says Peggy Lutz. “I have recently moved in to offer as much help and care that I can. Until recently my dad (Felix) was in great shape. He suffered a slight stroke in December, 2020, and his health has been declining. We were spending our time bi-weekly at Day Medical in the hospital for blood infusions and then it became weekly.

“COVID-19 restrictions and his weakened state have made getting him back and forth a challenge. Community paramedics has been our blessing. They have been administering dad’s weekly blood infusions for a month now and we are so grateful for them,” she adds.

“Not only does this service decrease his exposure to COVID, it allows him to relax in the comfort of his chair. He is improving in so many ways!”

For Landen Mauch, a community paramedic in Medicine Hat, helping patients in their own homes feels like a privilege.

“The ability to ease the pressure, even if it is just the slightest, that these patients face daily with their conditions is such a valuable tool,” Mauch says. “I am elated that we can support these individuals by offering such vital treatment in the comfort of their homes.”

In Lethbridge, community paramedic team lead Nikki Herian recalls how valuable the program has proven for one patient.

“She had been receiving fairly regular transfusion in hospital,” Herian says. “A few weeks ago she unfortunately came down with a very painful health condition making travel to the hospital for transfusion very difficult and very painful. Her treatment was delayed due to this until her oncologist realized MIH could help to safely and comfortably deliver the transfusions right in her home.”

“This program provides the same quality and safety we adhere to in hospital transfusions, but in a home setting, taking away some logistical burdens patients and their families face,” says Blake. “Patients and their families are the centre of everything we do and every decision we make.”

Lutz adds: “The community paramedics we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know have been nothing less than caring, knowledgeable, professional, respectful and kind. As the sole caregiver for my parents, knowing they are in such good care is a huge relief.”