Thanks to mobile stroke unit, medical personnel can bring emergency treatment to patients in South Elgin area

Someone who suffers a stroke in South Elgin has access to prompter treatment thanks to access to mobile unit operated by Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital now available in the South Elgin & Countryside Fire Protection District.

“We started using the services of the mobile unit in mid-January,” South Elgin Fire Chief William Luchsinger said. “Already, four people have been treated in the field inside the unit, then transferred to Central DuPage Hospital for care.”

The mobile stroke unit brings the treatment to the patient, providing a direct connection with a neurologist who can determine if someone is experiencing a stroke, Luchsinger said. Crews can administer the medication immediately, drastically reducing the amount of brain damage done in a medical condition in which every second counts, he said.

In South Elgin, that means having an ambulance transport the stroke patient to a designated parking area at Stearns Road and Route 59 where the special unit will meet them. The location is at a Northwestern Medicine Immediate Care facility, which is not more than 15 minutes from any spot in the village, Luchsinger said.

In some cases, patients showing signs of a stroke will still be taken to Ascension St. Joseph Hospital or Advocate Sherman Hospital, both in Elgin, which are about 10 minutes away, he said.

More complex stroke cases are taken from South Elgin to Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, which is an advanced stroke center. That trip takes 30 minutes or more, Luchsinger said, so starting treatment at least 15 minutes earlier can mean better results for the patient.

“The earlier you treat the patient, the better the outcome,” said Dr. Harish Shownkeen, medical director of the Stroke and Neurointerventional Surgery Programs at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital. “Patients who get treated right away often go home from the hospital instead of to a nursing home or rehabilitation.”

Shownkeen learned about mobile stroke units in 2015 while vacationing in suburban Stuttgart, Germany, where he was once stationed as a U.S. Army physician. While visiting a friend and fellow physician, a mobile stroke unit was called to a nearby home, he said.

They watched the unit’s crew treat a patient, who was able to move his hands and legs just 15 minutes after the crew began treatment, he said.

Once home, Shownkeen learned similar units were operating in Houston and Cleveland so he pitched the idea to Central DuPage Hospital and got involved in raising the $1 million needed to get a mobile unit up and running.

Central DuPage Hospital launched the service in January 2017, said Keely Buffo, who manages the Mobile Stroke Unit. As of Jan. 30, the unit had responded to 2,796 calls, she said.

The unit was the first and remains the only one of its kind in Illinois, Buffo said. There are about 25 across the United States.

Its team, which includes a critical care nurse, CT technician, EMT technician driver and a critical care paramedic, is armed with a CT scanner, telemedicine connections and stroke-specific medications.

Shownkeen said it costs about $600,000 a year for the hospital to operate the service, including salaries.

The team does a CT scan, conducts a telemedicine assessment with a stroke neurologist and administers treatment. The patient is taken to Central DuPage, often being directly admitted and taken to an intensive care unit so they can bypass the emergency department, Shownkeen said.

The unit can be directly dispatched via 911 to to anywhere within the hospital’s Emergency Medical Services area, including Carol Stream, Bartlett, Glen Ellyn, Glenside, Hanover Park, Roselle, Warrenville, West Chicago, Wheaton and Winfield.

Fire protection districts and ambulance services in a secondary area can request the unit for patients who meet specific stroke criteria, Buffo said. Those places are South Elgin, Batavia, Big Rock, Elburn, Fermilab, Fox River/Countryside, Geneva, North Aurora, St. Charles and Sugar Grove.

Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in Illinois and the leading cause of serious long-term disability according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Shownkeen said he hopes the work being done by Central DuPage can set the example for others to follow.

“It’s very helpful to the community,” he said. “When treating someone with a stroke, every second counts. So this is making a big difference.”

Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.