Credit Maggie Nelson/KUCB
When someone who s injured or sick needs blood, medical providers can clot the blood or increase blood pressure to buy some time before they can get a patient to the hospital.
But when it comes down to it, LifeMed flight paramedic and Unalaska/Dutch Harbor base chief Angela Niemi says no amount of saline solution or clotting medication will save someone who needs a transfusion. You ll watch a person just kind of bleed out and die in front of you, Neimi said. And there s nothing you can do.
That s why providers in rural Alaska have been pushing to store blood supplies closer to the communities they serve. But getting blood from the blood bank in Anchorage is complicated by strict storage and transportation requirements, limited infrastructure and an overall shortage of blood donations.
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