Thursday, UR Medicine released its first Mobile Stroke Unit.

The “Emergency Room on Wheels” Unit is equipped with technology that can diagnose and treat a stroke immediately on scene.

The unit is staffed by a UR Medicine nurse, a CT technicians, and two AMR EMS paramedics trained in stroke care.

“Roughly one unit has been able to shown to be able to serve to about a million to a million and half people and we think this is just about the right size,” says Dr. Tarun Bhalla, neurosurgeon, URMC. “Obviously, we would like to have more but all of this is cost prohibitive at times.”

The unit is owned by the UR Medicine and will be operated by AMR. It is the only unit of its kind in Upstate New York.