By EMS1 Staff
NEW YORK — New York’s new, state-of-the-art ambulance is equipped to provide stroke victims with the quick care they need.
CBS New York reported that the million-dollar mobile stroke treatment unit is equipped with the necessary tools to not only diagnose a stroke, but to administer clot-busting drugs as quickly as possible.
“Every minute that we delay stroke care in a person having a stroke costs that person two million brain cells,” NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center Dr. Michael Lerario said. “So the faster we treat a patient, the better they’re going to do in terms of outcomes and not having disability following their stroke.”
The ambulance crew includes a stroke neurologist, and there is also an onboard CT scanner to determine what kind of stroke the patient has. With that knowledge, the crew can administer the clot-busting drug, TPA.
“We’re about 40 minutes faster than standard care, bringing the patient to the emergency room with a standard ambulance,” Dr. Lerario said. “So that 40 minutes is a lot of brain that we’re saving, and hopefully a lot of disability saving the patient.”
The ambulance is not on duty around the clock, but the goal is to prove that it saves lives so that more units will be put into service.
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