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The New Orleans Emergency Medical Service is now using a procedure developed on the battlefield to help save lives in a city riddled by gun violence.
In an emergency, seconds count.
“My husband was shot during a home invasion, and he was hit four times," New Orleans resident Leslie Cooper said.
Cooper’s husband Joe, a talented tie-dye designer, was gunned down in the doorway of their St. Roch Avenue home in Gentilly last May. She says he was attacked by a man asking about a package that may have been delivered there.
Bullets struck him in the abdomen and legs.
“That is a lot of blood loss, a tremendous amount of blood loss, he also had a collapsed lung,” Cooper said.
New Orleans paramedics responded quickly to the shooting and gave Joe a unit of blood on the way to University Medical Center.
“The emergency room physician looked me in the eye and said this is the reason Joe arrived still alive, is that unit of blood he got in the ambulance," Cooper added.
As New Orleans EMS units drive the streets, they now carry an important tool on board.
MORE: https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/orleans/new-orleans-ems-adds-another-life-saving-tool-to-their-arsenal-blood/289-e6c47f71-4fc8-412a-b0d6-4f5dc3d96752