Northwestern Medicine's Mobile Stroke Unit brings hospital to stroke victims in DuPage County

DUPAGE COUNTY, Ill. (WLS) -- The Mobile Stroke Unit, a state-of-the-art ambulance, in DuPage County is dispatched across the western suburbs to care for patients at their homes or workplaces, saving lives.

"My husband came home for lunch and he noticed I was speaking strangely, like not seeming to make a lot of sense," said Karen Blinstrup, stroke survivor. "When he came home three or four hours later I was slumped over on the couch. So he called 911 immediately, and knew I was having a stroke."

The specialized ambulance from Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital was dispatched to her home.

"We're essentially bringing the hospital to the patient," said program manager Keely Buffo.

This truck is the only one of its kind in the state of Illinois. It covers an area of 150 square miles and serves 20 communities, or roughly 500,000 people.

"In a stroke you're losing about 2 million neurons per minute. So us treating patients roughly 30 minutes faster could be the difference between going home with no deficits at all, back to your baseline, or having to go to rehab and learning to walk or talk again," Buffo said.

Buffo said roughly half of stroke victims don't call 911. Fortunately, Blinstrup's husband did.

"I remember them saying, we're working very fast. We have a limited window here. We're working very fast. And I kept saying that's OK," she said.

She was given clot-busting medication and was conscious by the time she reached the hospital. Once she arrived, doctors removed a clot from her brain. A week and a half later she was on her way home, thankful for the crew who saved her life.

"How very grateful I am. How fortunate I feel, and how it's changed my whole perspective on giving to others because they did nothing but give to me," she said.