we make
FIRST
possible

we make
FIRST
possible

Strokes can happen anytime, anywhere. Canada’s first Stroke Ambulance will expand our capacity to save the lives of stroke patients.

 

Your support is critical to keeping the University of Alberta Hospital the go-to centre for stroke care in northern Alberta, the Territories, eastern British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

Stroke Ambulance

Canada’s First Stroke Ambulance, funded solely by the generous donors of the University Hospital Foundation, is the first Stroke Ambulance in the world to serve rural populations. With your support, we can begin servicing large urban centres and save more lives.

The goal of the Stroke Ambulance is to reduce time between stroke onset and treatment, and give more Albertans the chance to survive and live without life-changing deficits. How? By sending the Stroke Ambulance to the patient, instead of waiting for the patient to get to the stroke centre.

Our Stroke Ambulance is the first in the world to provide stroke patient care beyond the limits of a major urban centre. Initially, Stroke Ambulance focused on rural patients and those sites not offering advanced levels of stroke care. With your support, we will be able to extend the service and begin responding to the stroke 911 calls within the City of Edmonton.

Reducing the high cost of stroke patient care

Currently, stroke patient care costs $80,000 to $110,000 per year, depending on the degree of disability. Multiplied by 300, the number of patients expected to be served by the stroke ambulance every year, the total annual cost for stroke patient care – for just those Albertans who suffer a stroke in one year - rises to $24-33 million.

Transformational impact of community support

The University Hospital Foundation has raised more than $60 million to advance brain care through its Brain Centre Campaign. Your support will help serve patients with debilitating brain conditions in Edmonton, Central and Northern Alberta.

"The Stroke Ambulance is a tremendous example of the transformational impact the community can have on healthcare."

Jim Brown
Brain Centre Campaign Co-Chair

Researching impact

The Stroke Ambulance is in Phase 4 of a three year pilot project that will look at:

9

Collecting even more data for proof of concept;

9

Optimizing service areas with reduced access;

9

Supporting ongoing operations and additional deployments for another 18 months; and

9

Extending the service to 911 calls for stroke in Edmonton;

Stroke Patient, Lorna Friess, 41, of South Cooking Lake Alberta, says that having a Stroke Ambulance would have made her recovery dramatically different.

University Hospital Foundation

Phone: 780-407-7007
Fax: 780-407-6603
uhfoundation@albertahealthservices.ca

Charitable Registration Number: 88900-3240 RR0001