San Antonio is the first large metropolitan city in the nation to begin carrying whole blood inside ambulances and response trucks.
Patients suffering traumatic injuries and losing blood fast now have a much better chance of surviving. And local medics believe it's the biggest trauma response game changer in decades. The change allows medics to perform blood transfusions after trauma events, such as a shooting, stabbing or major crash, before the patient gets to the hospital.
"That's the whole blood right there. This is our temperature scan," said Lt. Josh Frandsen, a medic with the San Antonio Fire Department, while opening a small cooler with a bag of blood inside. On the top of it is paperwork to record temperatures every time the cooler is opened.