Dr. Brijesh Mehta has worked with city and county-based emergency medical services (EMS) teams since 2016 to assess and expedite treatments for acute stroke victims before they reach the hospital. The education he and his Memorial-based team provide empowers first responders to assist stroke sufferers in the field and offers valuable information that helps neuro teams prepare to treat patients once the ambulance arrives.

“We can improve the likelihood of good outcomes and reverse the effects of stroke if we can administer treatment in less than an hour,” said Dr. Mehta, medical director of the Comprehensive Stroke Program and neurointerventional surgery at the Memorial Neuroscience Institute. “By optimizing the systems of care, we have brought our response time to 30 minutes or less and we can have patients in the cath lab within the hour.”

Dr. Mehta says the follow-up data supports the positive impact of the innovative approach. Patients have less stroke-induced paralysis and permanent disability, with some regaining their strength and walking out of hospitals on their own just days later.