It took 45 minutes for firefighters to get a 35-year-old man out of a “heavily damaged” car following a car crash on Saturday, officials said. The man’s injuries were extensive, with low blood pressure, shock and internal bleeding.
Quickly, firefighters and paramedics decided to try a new lifesaving method starting at the crash site: whole blood transfusion.
The method had never been done in Massachusetts before, according to the Canton Fire Department. However, in March, the Canton Fire Department and 25 other cities and towns in Massachusetts worked with Boston Medical Center to launch the first pilot program in Massachusetts history for administering whole blood before a patient reaches the hospital, the press release stated.
On Saturday, the fire department put it into action.