State Medical Assistance Team

•The SMAT-1 is a rapid medical statewide response team capable of a 4 to 6 hour response time when activated and is capable of responding to assist the citizens of North Carolina in a crisis situation. An SMAT-1 response would me augmented with personnel and additional response equipment from the Winston-Salem based Special Operations Response Team. SMAT-1 is prepared to respond to events ranging from an austere medical setup for a hurricane response to setting up a large scale decontamination area as a result of a terrorist event involving weapons of mass destruction.

SMAT-1 can respond locally, regionally, statewide, or out of state (under the EMAC agreement) to assist overwhelmed emergency services agencies working in disaster conditions.

SMAT-1 also has the capability of assisting an overwhelmed hospital by providing a "parking lot decontamination area," personnel for an overwhelmed emergency department, or to set up a medical surge capacity holding area to receive patients for a hospital that has reached its capacity.

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SMAT-1 /SORT capabilities include:

- Specialized rapid decontamination and medical care of victims exposed to both chemical industrial products and weapons of mass destruction agents. (Biological, Chemical, Radiological)

- Rapid strike-team medical assistance

SMAT-1 / SORT can provide three 4 to 5 person medical strike teams capable of deploying with a drivable or flyable cache to function without resupply for 72 hours. The primary focus of these strike teams teams would be shelter medical management.

- Rapid response 50-bed field medical unit. SMAT-1/ SORT can provide a rapidly deployed field medical unit to support up to 50 patients complete with it's own sheltering, power, lights, medical supplies, etc. also designed for 72 hour operations without re-supply.

- Management of a 150+ bed alternate care facility (special medical needs)

•- Management of the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile (NPS) receiving site.

•- Establishment of a Mass Drug Distribution / Immunization site

- Establishment of “austere” Field Medical Stations (300+ patients – a day - 24 hr/day operation

- Assist other SMAT Teams (II's III's, special medical needs, decon, etc)

– Self sustained for 72 hours / 7-14 day mission duration

- Move patients for air-lift transport at designated airport hub

- Provide heat/cold related rehab services to other emergency service agencies (urban search and rescue teams, firefighters, etc.

- Tactical Medical assistance to local law enforcement

-•• On-site responder rehabilitation

•- On site Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM)

•- Preventative Medicine Assessments

•- Mass Fatality Assistance

- Hospital decontamination assistance

- Partner with an SMAT II team on mission requiring assistance

The SMAT-1 can respond with a scalable team size of 12 to 54 members including: Physicians, PA’s, Nurses, Paramedics, Firefighters, Law Enforcement, Veterinarians, Medical/Hazmat/ and support personnel all trained in working in the austere environment. The team also has the capability of breaking into 2 separate strike teams.

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(above left) SMAT-1's decontamination area setup along side an SMAT II's field hospital.

North Carolina State Medical Assistance Teams (SMAT) website - click HERE

Special Operations Response Team, SORT, and the SORT logo are Registered Trademarks ™