Versiti Blood Research Institute
Since starting his career as a firefighter EMT in 1995, Captain Bryan Shaw has seen it all—and he was prepared, courtesy of William Shatner. "Kinda goofy, I guess, but I grew up watching Rescue 911. Something about that made me fall in love with Firefighting and EMS."
But it wasn't until his early teens that he felt the pull to this line of work. "When I was 14, I was able to ride the ambulance with Boone County EMS for a week, which just strengthened my desire." Eventually, Shaw's career path led him to the Crawfordsville Fire Department (CFD), where he's now the Captain of EMS. While Crawfordsville is small by metropolitan standards, Shaw has dealt with his share of crises in his small town. "It's literally doing nothing—until the world is falling apart around you."
During those "world is falling apart" moments, like car accidents, health crises, and gunshot wounds, one thing became clear—Crawfordsville EMS needed blood. "We've always known patients needed blood…but we just didn't have that capability," Shaw explained. Depending on the emergency location, the transport time could be up to 75 minutes away from the nearest trauma center, so administering blood on-scene could mean the difference between life and death.
© 2025 Jonathan Porter. All rights reserved.
