Superior Ambulance Service and Education Institute in Grove City will become the first in the region to establish a prehospital blood administration program, it announced Friday, Dec. 19, on its Facebook page.

The ambulance service said it was approved for the program Thursday by the Emergency Medical Management Cooperative West Regional Medical Advisory Committee, but it does not yet have a launch date.

The ambulance service, which covers parts of Butler, Lawrence, Mercer and Venango counties, said it is the first ground EMS agency to establish the program in northwestern Pennsylvania.

“Severe bleeding is the primary cause of preventable fatalities in trauma patients, and time is critical,” it said. “For every minute of delay in administering blood, the risk of death increases by 11%.”

The ambulance service estimates the program could save up to 37% of trauma patients with severe bleeding. Operating in a mostly rural area with Interstates 79 and 80, many of the calls the ambulance service responds too are trauma-based, it said.

Attempts to reach Chief Doug Dick for comment were unsuccessful.