What Will We Be Discussing?
The AHS Stroke Ambulance has a portable CT scanner, portable lab equipment, and videoconferencing to enable diagnosis of stroke in the pre-hospital environment and exclude other diagnoses with enough certainty to administer rtPA. The geography of Alberta provides a new opportunity to evaluate the use of the Stroke Ambulance in providing brain-saving therapy and care to patients from rural areas and within the zone that might otherwise have been treated much later or not at all.
The primary goal of the program is to evaluate the safety, feasibility, cost effectiveness and cost benefit of giving early rtPA treatment (during transport) to a group of patients who would otherwise encounter a delay in the administration of thrombolytic treatment for ischemic stroke due to prolonged transfer times from outlying areas to the University of Alberta Hospital (UAH) in Edmonton, Alberta.
This webcast is an overview of the project and will explain the “why” (rationale for approval), the how (concept/design/stakeholder engagement/etc.), and the finished stroke ambulance, including its unique features.
Who will be Speaking?
Mike Plato is an Associate Executive Director with Alberta Health Services (AHS) EMS. He began his EMS career in rural Alberta 28 years ago and has worked in a variety of rural, urban and metro operational and leadership roles. He is currently responsible for contract oversight of all providers in Alberta, the AHS EMS provincial Logistics & Support program and the provincial AHS EMS fleet.
Poster (PDF): Click to download
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