--- title: "Mobile Stroke Unit | Sutter Health" description: "Mills-Peninsula Medical Center’s mobile stroke unit (MSU) team operates a specially equipped ambulance to diagnose and start treating stroke before you arrive at the emergency room." url: "https://www.sutterhealth.org/giving/giving-opportunities/neuroscience/mobile-stroke-unit" --- 1. [Home](https://www.sutterhealth.org/) / 2. [Giving](https://www.sutterhealth.org/giving) / 3. [Giving opportunities](https://www.sutterhealth.org/giving/giving-opportunities) / 4. [Neuroscience](https://www.sutterhealth.org/giving/giving-opportunities/neuroscience) / 5. Mobile Stroke Unit # Support fast, specialty stroke care   **Section menu** - [Neuroscience](https://www.sutterhealth.org/giving/giving-opportunities/neuroscience "Neuroscience") - [Forbes Norris MDA/ALS Research & Treatment Center](https://www.sutterhealth.org/giving/giving-opportunities/neuroscience/cure-als "Forbes Norris MDA/ALS Research & Treatment Center") - [Mobile Stroke Unit](https://www.sutterhealth.org/giving/giving-opportunities/neuroscience/mobile-stroke-unit "Mobile Stroke Unit") - [Ray Dolby Brain Health Center](https://www.sutterhealth.org/giving/giving-opportunities/neuroscience/ray-dolby-brain-health-center "Ray Dolby Brain Health Center") - [Neuroscience](https://www.sutterhealth.org/giving/giving-opportunities/neuroscience "Neuroscience") - [Forbes Norris MDA/ALS Research & Treatment Center](https://www.sutterhealth.org/giving/giving-opportunities/neuroscience/cure-als "Forbes Norris MDA/ALS Research & Treatment Center") - [Mobile Stroke Unit](https://www.sutterhealth.org/giving/giving-opportunities/neuroscience/mobile-stroke-unit "Mobile Stroke Unit") - [Ray Dolby Brain Health Center](https://www.sutterhealth.org/giving/giving-opportunities/neuroscience/ray-dolby-brain-health-center "Ray Dolby Brain Health Center") When treating stroke, every second counts. The San Mateo County Mobile Stroke Unit (MSU) provides innovative stroke care by evaluating and treating stroke patients as quickly as possible — even before they reach the hospital. The unit is a specially equipped ambulance that brings a CT scanner and a team of stroke specialists to patients quickly. This means patients receive treatment while en route to the emergency room.  The MSU is funded entirely through community donors and a Sutter Health matching grant. Your generosity is revolutionizing stroke care and saving lives.  **Read more about these incredible advances:** - [Bringing the emergency department to the patient](https://www.sutterhealth.org/patient-stories/bringing-the-emergency-department-to-the-patient-1042868317) - [Lucky landing: Mobile stroke unit treats traveler at SFO](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/lucky-landing-mobile-stroke-unit-treats-traveler-at-sfo/) - [On road to better stroke care: Study shows brain-saving results](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/better-faster-stoke-care/ "On Road to Better Stroke Care: Study Shows Brain-Saving Results") - [Racing against time, mobile stroke unit treats first patient](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/race-against-time-mobile-stroke-unit-treats-first-stroke-patient/ "Racing Against Time, Mobile Stroke Unit Treats First Patient") **Current research:** - [Sutter clinical trials for stroke](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research-search-results?facets=%5B%7B%22i%22%3A%22c_researchTopics.name%22%2C%22v%22%3A%5B%22Stroke%22%5D%7D%5D&verticalKey=clinical_trial) - [Controlled trial of mobile stroke units](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2103879?query=recirc_inIssue_bottom_article "Controlled Trial of Mobile Stroke Units") - [MSU and functional outcomes](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33528537/ "MSU and Functional Outcomes") ## Give to Mills-Peninsula Hospital Foundation  Invest in the Mobile Stroke Unit.  [Make a gift](https://www.sutterhealth.org/giving/give-now) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"MedicalOrganization","name":"Sutter Health","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/#medicalorganization","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org","logo":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/static/images/sutter-health-logo.svg","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"2200 River Plaza 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Center","thumbnailUrl":"https://cf-images.us-east-1.prod.boltdns.net/v1/static/817826402001/da889781-a17a-4a3c-a8e8-6040511a5728/d709e7cd-a754-415b-b202-2f5af506dbfd/1280x720/match/image.jpg","uploadDate":"2019-01-15T19:41:48.655Z","embedUrl":"https://players.brightcove.net/817826402001/79bcaa57-54d7-453c-9f1f-8ab3ef7b15de/index.html?videoId=5989734468001","description":"Mills-Peninsula Medical Center’s mobile stroke unit (MSU) is a specially-equipped and -staffed ambulance with an onboard CT scanner to diagnose and start treating stroke before the patient arrives at the emergency room.","duration":"PT3M33S","transcript":"[CLOCK TICKING]\nTOM DOOR: There's nothing more important in life than time.\nPeople that talk about, their bored, or the days\nare too long, they're wrong.\nEvery minute is precious.\nA few years ago, in my early 60s, I was at home.\nAnd I was not feeling particularly good.\nI was a little bit dizzy.\nI lost my balance and I couldn't walk.\nMy girlfriend, she went to one of the neighbors.\nThere's a husband and a wife, they're both paramedics.\nAnd I had a stroke.\nThey called 911 immediately.\nAnd I was taken to Mills-Peninsula Medical Center.\nThey did a brain scan and administered\ntPA, a blood thinner.\nAnd then, subsequently, I was taken\nto California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.\nI was extremely fortunate.\nI refer to it as the perfect storm.\nA lot of things could have gone wrong but they didn't.\nJOEY ENGLISH: Time is everything when you're\ntreating the stroke patient.\nWhen the patient arrives to the emergency room,\nwe are trying to go as fast as possible.\nStroke happens when there is a disruption of the blood\nsupply to an area of the brain.\nAbout 85% of the time, strokes are\ncaused by a blockage of a blood vessel.\nAbout two million nerve cells die per minute,\nwhen you have a blockage of a blood vessel.\nIt is extremely time sensitive.\nEven a 15 to 30 minute delay in delivering a clot dissolving\nmedication can dramatically impact the likelihood\nthat patient's going to recover well from their stroke.\n\nTom was very lucky with his stroke.\nHis care happened very quickly and efficiently.\nThe truth is most people don't receive that type of care.\nAnd that is why we came up with the concept of the Mobile\nStroke Unit.\nNOBL BARAZANGI: The current way that we\ntreat stroke patients is that 911 is called,\nor family or friends bring the patient into the emergency\nroom.\nBut there is this inherent delay of getting the patient\nto the emergency room.\nThe goal of the Mobile Stroke Unit\nis to provide faster and safer care.\nJOEY ENGLISH: The Mobile Stroke Unit\nis a specialized ambulance that has within it, a CT scanner.\nAnd in addition to that, it carries the expertise\nof a nurse and a physician who know how to evaluate and treat\nstroke.\nNOBL BARAZANGI: It brings the emergency room to the patient,\nto wherever the stroke patient is having their stroke.\nAnd so we're saving time by getting\nthe CAT scan in the field so that treatment\ncan be initiated faster.\nJOEY ENGLISH: The Mobile Stroke Unit\nis based at Sutter Health's Mills-Peninsula Medical Center,\nand will be dispatched throughout San Mateo\nCounty integrated with the San Mateo County first responders\nand the 911 response team.\nGREGORY GILBERT: By being one of the first mobile stroke\nunits in the country, we'll be on the forefront\nof knowing whether or not this new technology is\nthe way that we should be taking care of patients.\nJOEY ENGLISH: Everything fell into place for Tom.\nThat is how we want all of our stroke patients to be treated.\nWe think the Mobile Stroke Unit can have a dramatic impact\non stroke in this country.\nTOM DOOR: If this Mobile Stroke Unit\ncan save lives and continue to keep people\nin a meaningful way in the community\nand with their families, there's going\nto be a lot of people getting another chance, getting\nmore time.\nThis is going to be the future.\nI got a big do-over.\nAnd I'm making every minute count.\n[MUSIC PLAYING]"} ```