CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — The Crawfordsville Fire Department is the first rural emergency medical services in the Midwest to administer whole blood in the field.

Crews at its main fire station said Tuesday that they began carrying a pint of O-positive blood nearly a week ago.

The agency’s medical director, Varun Konelu, said Crawfordsville responds to calls in the rural areas of Montgomery County. “The two major ones in this area would be motor vehicle collisions and then falls. We have a lot of people that are on roofs, and they’ll fall off the roofs.”

Crawfordsville partnered with Ascension St. Vincent and Versiti Blood Center of Indiana to run the program on a pilot basis.

Deputy Fire Chief Paul Miller said other rural agencies are also interested in carrying whole blood. “Its going to save lives, plain and simple.”

The average transport time from Montgomery County to a trauma hospital in Indianapolis is from 45 minutes to 90 minutes depending on where county crews respond. Providing a blood transfusion will increase the chance a patient survives the trip to the hospital.

The blood will be kept cool until emergency medical personnel go into the field to administer it. That’s where it will be warmed up before being given to the patient.

“Traditionally since the ’70s, EMS has only given fluids, normal saline, and it dilutes it. Now, we have the ability to create clots and deliver oxygen,” Miller said.

Since EMS workers are on hand for every special weapons and tactics team callout in Montgomery County, the blood also could help save the lives of police, medics or civilians who are hurt responding to incidents.