LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It’s been 100 days since Louisville Metro EMS made history as the first in the state to give whole blood directly to patients during emergencies.

Nationally, only 1% of EMS agencies can offer this kind of critical care before patients even reach the hospital, said a study in Transfusion , the journal of the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies.

Losing too much blood is the number one cause of preventable death in trauma patients.

According to a study by the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma , every minute a trauma victim goes without a blood transfusion, their chance of survival drops by 2%.

Louisville EMS rolled out this program not only to help trauma patients, but anyone dealing with major bleeding, like complications from pregna

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