Photo: Daria Kadovik/Cronkite NewsThe Barrow Emergency Stroke Treatment Unit, which cost about $1 million, is dispatched when Phoenix Fire has a possible stroke victim.

PHOENIX – Stroke victims who have only minutes to get treatment before their brains are permanently damaged are getting help faster through the eyes of cameras on a mobile stroke van, doctors at Barrow Neurological Institute said.

“The fact is, we know time is brain,” said Gabriel Gabriel, a registered nurse who oversees the unit. Guidelines say treatment within 60 minutes of a stroke are the best chance of recovery, and on-the-scene treatment in the mobile stroke unit leads to shorter hospital stays of one or two days, Gabriel said. Continue reading →

Daria Kadovik, a Cronkite News photographer, shoots visuals and writes stories about topics such as a patient who went through an experimental procedure for flesh-eating bacteria and doctors who were matched with residency programs.