Whole blood transfusion saves rider after ATV crash in Walpole

The victim was transported to a Boston hospital in a medical helicopter.

The Canton Fire Department performed a whole blood transfusion following an ATV crash in Walpole on Friday night, officials say.

The Walpole Fire Department requested mutual aid from Canton’s Field Transfusion Paramedic Program just before 8 p.m., according to a statement from the Canton Fire Department.

Walpole’s fire department was responding to a report of an ATV crash, which trapped a rider who was bleeding profusely, in a densely wooded area, authorities say.

The 20-year-old man was extricated by Walpole responders and taken to a landing zone at a local baseball field. Canton firefighter paramedics then arrived in minutes and administered O-negative blood to the victim.

The department reported that the man’s vital signs then became stronger and he was able to speak with paramedics before being loaded into a medical helicopter and flown to a Boston hospital.

The Canton Fire Department became the first agency in Massachusetts to administer a whole blood transfusion before the patient reached a hospital on June 29, following a motor vehicle crash in Braintree, Canton Fire Chief Wendell Robery said in the statement.

“Programs like this further illustrate the good work of our inter-agency teams, regardless of borders,” Robery said of the program, which includes participation from 25 municipalities surrounding Canton. “This allows paramedics to better stabilize patients to get them to a hospital in better condition when literally seconds count.”