Mobile Stroke Unit Arriving in ER Next Week.

There are only 13 of these units in the country and this is the only one in Upstate NY.

In partnership with the University of Rochester Medical Center, a new service will soon arrive, the Mobile Stroke Unit.  This specialty ambulance brings all of the hospital care to the patient when a 911 call for stroke comes in.  There is a link at the end of this note explaining the unit. 

Since East Rochester uses AMR for 911 service, it will be the only municipality in the area besides the City of Rochester to receive services from this unit through the 911 system until we expand our coverage sometime in 2019.  This means that ER residents will receive something pretty special.  

There are only 13 of these units in the country and this is the only one in Upstate NY.  The rig is staffed by our EMT and Paramedic, along with a Critical Care Nurse and CT technologist; we will be performing CAT scans on the ambulance and treating stroke patients with "clot-busting" drugs in the field, with UR doctors guiding us with telemedicine units.  The doctor will be able to see and talk to the patient in the back of the ambulance. 

The MSU will be dispatched whenever we receive a call to 911 for a stroke.  This will be in addition to the regular paramedic ambulance that responds.  If the patient is not having a stroke, then the regular ambulance will continue care.  If the patient is having a stroke, then the MSU team will transport the patient to the hospital of his/her choice; it is not exclusively transporting to Strong.  There are currently no additional charges for the MSU, it is currently financed through donor funding.  The rig will be in service next week.

The unit will also be available for community education.