Beverly Hills residents can walk through UCLA Health's Mobile Stroke Unit at Fire Station 1 on Monday, Oct. 26. The city's Health and Human Relations Commission will first host a presentation on the program at City Hall.
The commission's meeting agenda lists the stroke unit presentation as new business. Kayla Kilani, nurse manager of the Mobile Stroke Unit at UCLA Health, will lead the presentation before the commission recesses to Fire Station 1 at 445 N. Rexford Drive for an approximately 15-minute public viewing of the vehicle.
The public is invited to attend. That portion of the meeting will not be televised or recorded because the station lacks recording equipment, according to the agenda.
The Mobile Stroke Unit is a specially equipped ambulance carrying a CT scanner, lab-testing equipment, emergency medications and a telehealth link to a vascular neurologist. Beverly Hills Fire Department is one of several local agencies that partner with UCLA Health on the program, which responds to 911 stroke calls across Los Angeles County, according to the city's Mobile Stroke Unit page.
The unit is staffed with a physician, registered nurse, CT technician and firefighter paramedic.
UCLA Health launched the program in 2017, making it the first mobile stroke unit in the western United States, according to UCLA Health's stroke unit page. The unit rotates among participating fire departments six days a week, bringing patients to 15 designated stroke centers across the county.
"Working together seamlessly ensures that we can get to patients as quickly as possible, deliver advanced stroke care on scene and truly make a difference in outcomes," Kilani said in a UCLA Health publication describing the program's partnership with local fire departments.
Studies show the mobile stroke unit treats patients on average 30 minutes faster in Los Angeles County compared to standard ambulance response, according to UCLA Health's stroke unit page. A 2021 New England Journal of Medicine study found that treatment in a mobile stroke ambulance led to better patient outcomes both immediately and three months later.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn and UCLA Health unveiled two additional mobile stroke units in 2025, bringing the county's fleet to three. The expansion was funded by $12 million in philanthropic donations. One new unit serves the San Fernando Valley; the other joined the existing rotation across the county.
The Oct. 26 meeting begins at City Hall, Room 280A. Residents who cannot attend in person can call 310-288-2288 to listen and comment, email [email protected], or watch the City Hall portion live at beverlyhills.org/live. Public comments on the stroke unit viewing will be taken before the commission moves to the fire station.
