People in Fairfield County, Connecticut, who are being transported by American Medical Response ambulances can now receive blood transfusions on their way to the hospital.
Medical professionals say it can increase survival rates for people involved in traumas with major blood loss.
Dominick Mauro is a paramedic with AMR of Fairfield County.
“When you begin to lose blood, you’re not able to feed your organs with oxygen,” Mauro said. “That can cause a shutdown; it causes something we call shock. Packed red blood cells and whole blood give your body the ability to carry oxygen again. What it does is stave off shock. We fix it, we reverse it in the field. It will bring about a better outcome as we move forward with that patient. It stops organs from shutting down, it stops blood pressure from lowering.”
Nearly half of patients with massive bleeding die before they reach a hospital. Studies show patients who receive blood within the first 15 minutes of an emergency have significantly higher chances of survival.
“We use O negative, which is the universal donor,” Mauro said. “If we’re using blood, it's in a life-or-death situation. It’s not something we plan on doing often. If we are going to use blood, someone is in mortal danger of losing their life. So, the way we look at it in EMS is life over limb. Someone is going to perish without this blood.”
Trauma remains a leading cause of preventable death in the United States.
