If someone gets into a bad car crash or has a serious fall that leads to hemorrhagic bleeding, first responders will typically administer IV fluids to stabilize the patient before transporting them to a hospital.
But increasingly, local emergency medical agencies are adopting an emerging alternative: whole blood.
Put simply, it’s the blood that flows through our bodies. With all of its components intact – red and white blood cells, platelets and plasma – it quickly helps stop bleeding, replaces blood and delivers oxygen to organs. A growing body of research suggests transfusing it early, on-scene may increase a trauma patient’s chance of survival.
Traumatic injury is the top cause of death in the U.S. for people between the ages of 1 and 44, and bleeding out is a significant factor, said Lou Laurina, the EMS Division Chief at Summit Fire & EMS in Summit County, Colo.
“So, if we're able to replace that whole blood, there's a significant chance to save their life,” he said.
One of the agency’s five ambulances started carrying whole blood on Christmas Eve. Laurina said it could make a big difference. The county, home to several of the state’s most popular ski resorts, sees a lot of trauma, he said, a byproduct of an active population and a heavily trafficked interstate highway cutting through the mountains.
“There are patients that we could potentially have saved lives if we had whole blood a long time ago,” said Laurina.
The agency pored over the last year of patient data and estimated there were dozens of scenarios a year when whole blood could have been administered in the county.
Red, White & Blue Fire in Breckenridge also started to carry whole blood alongside Summit Fire & EMS. The two agencies and the CommonSpirit St. Anthony Summit Hospital together received a grant from the National Safety Council to start the programs. The group is getting its supply of O-positive blood, which works for most people, from Texas.
Whole blood is not a new treatment. It was first administered to soldiers during World War I and has since been used by the military. Yet very few EMS agencies – just about 1% – are equipped to administer it. The cost of securing the blood and training staff, and the logistics of keeping it fresh are among the barriers.
Still, in the past few years, a surge of first responder organizations are exploring or turning to whole blood because of its efficacy. Summit Fire & EMS is one of fifteen agencies in Colorado that have started carrying whole blood since Colorado Springs was the first in the state to adopt it in 2024.
State officials in Idaho and Nevada said no EMS agencies there currently administered whole blood, but agencies in both states are actively researching it or are in the process of developing programs.
For Laurina, the next year will be about further training first responders and evaluating the data to assess whether whole blood is getting to patients who might benefit from it.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
