Officials at Stony Brook Medicine are using their Mobile Stroke Unit to help relieve the burden on hospitals from COVID-19 while enabling patients to get the urgent care they need when suffering from a stroke.

The Mobile Stroke Units are available seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., which is the window of time when most stroke calls are received.

The specially equipped ambulances are strategically based at exits 57 and 68 on the LIE, and will take calls within 10 miles of their base, which should ensure response times of 20 minutes or less.
The unit was founded by a team led by Stony Brook Medicine's Dr. David Fiorella.

The units enable stroke patients to be triaged and treated in the field, wherever the patient is located. Each state-of-the-art mobile stroke unit is essentially a "mobile stroke emergency room," which includes an in-ambulance care team consisting of a critical care nurse, paramedic, EMT and CT technologist, also known as a CT scan technologist.

The units have a telemedicine system that enables Stony Brook emergency physicians and neurologists to see and examine the patient via audio/visual conferencing.