BOSTON -- A stroke is a brain attack -- when the flow of blood to the brain suddenly stops. It is the leading cause of disability and can take your life.

Telestroke Center Learn more about the center How common is a stroke? What causes a stroke?

NewsCenter 5's Rhonda Mann said that quick treatment and experienced diagnosis are the keys to recovery. Now doctors at one Boston Hospital have found a way to transport their knowledge to any emergency room at any time.

Each summer, 100,000 people know the beauty that is Martha's Vineyard. You can relax near the cool waters or take a stroke off your game. But if you have a stroke on the island, you could be at risk -- especially when it comes to the latest treatments.

"Patients are arriving at smaller community hospitals who are candidates for this clot buster therapy and they're not getting it because those hospitals don't have the resources needed to provide the treatment," Massachusetts General Hospital Dr. Lee Schwamm said.

Schwamm is changing that. He's the head of the stroke program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. They see 500 stroke patients a year -- compared to just 25 a year on the Vineyard.

Schwamm has developed a new tele-stroke program that can bring the experience of stroke experts to hospitals anywhere in the world.

That experience was used to help 70-year-old Violet Waters, who had a stroke on the Vineyard. Doctors had just three hours from the onset of symptoms to figure out if she should have had TPA -- the drug that can stop a stroke in its tracks.

"The medicine we give dissolves blood clots, so if you had the type of stroke that was caused by bleeding in the brain and not by the blockage of a blood vessel by a blood clot, this drug could kill you," Martha's Vineyard Hospital Dr. Gerald Yukevich said.

Through the tele-exam, doctors determined Waters was a perfect candidate for TPA.

"It's almost like being in the room," Yukevich said. "I can examine someone very interactively with the help of a physician or a nurse on the other end and I can make a determination of the stroke severity and the type of stroke by looking at the patient and at the brain image."

The program is also a training tool of sorts. With each case, doctors on the Vineyard learn more about what to look for..

"It's great to have people from Mass General literally walking us through the exam so we can get these people to a tertiary center as quickly as possible," Yukevich said.

Jordan hospital also has the program and plans to bring it to a number of other Bay State community hospitals are in the works. It comes with a $20,000 price tag, but experts here believe that's a small price to pay to have the best stroke doctors in the world available at your bedside no matter where you are.