Emergency Services - EMS Division

Smithfield EMS is part of a county-wide, comprehensive system of emergency medical and rescue resources that serves to provide timely and effective care to victims of sudden illness and injury. An integral part of this system is to preserve and enhance the quality of life for the residents and visitors of Smithfield and Johnston County by providing timely, superior, cost effective pre-hospital medical care and transportation and collaborative public safety preparedness and operations, including comprehensive rescue responses and support, and public education. Our objective is to provide superior pre-hospital emergency medical care to the citizens and visitors in an expedient and skillful manner, through maintaining a high level of readiness, top technological equipment and education.

Our primary EMS/Rescue district is 81 square miles and is centered in Johnston County. This response area encompasses all of the City Limits and some County area. Within this primary district, we cover area in the Wilson’s Mills, Cleveland, 50-210, Four Oaks, Brogden, Pine Level, Selma, and Smithfield fire districts. The Johnston County Airport is also in this primary response area. Through mutual aid agreements with the other county EMS departments we also respond to neighboring districts as needed.

Smithfield EMS is staffed 24 hours a day and 7 days a week with various combinations of Paid and Volunteer staff personnel meeting the State minimum requirements of 1 Paramedic and 1 EMT per crew. Our Volunteer staff is divided into three different categories; The Nights and Weekends Volunteer, the Floating Volunteer, and the Daytime Volunteer.

The Nights and Weekends Volunteer is assigned to one of six teams. These teams pull the same night each week from 6 pm - 6 am, there is no assigned Saturday night crew. These teams rotate Weekend duty every sixth Saturday for 24 hours (6 am - 6am) and then the following Sunday 12 hours (6 am - 6 pm). These volunteers average 72 hours per month of duty at the station while normally working a Monday through Friday job. The Daytime Volunteer pulls 12 hours per week during the daytime hours, normally Monday through Friday. These volunteers average 60 hours per month of duty at the station while working some form of shift work at their job. All of these Volunteers are required to stay at the station during their tour of duty. This decreases the time it takes for the ambulance to leave the station after a call is received, usually 2-3 minutes.

Non-Emergency Services & Public Education

CPR and First Aid Training - Smithfield EMS believes that early initiation of CPR and First Aid by citizens is very vital to saving lives. Many of our staff are certified CPR and First Aid instructors and have taught classes to citizens and Town employees.

Public Education and Awareness - Teaching the public how to access the 911 Emergency System and what to do in an emergency are important guides. We offer presentations to any group, schools, daycares, or civic groups.

Activities Stand-Bys - Smithfield EMS provides an Ambulance and crew for special events within our response district. This varies from football games, baseball tournaments, boxing events, to public and private gatherings or events. Some restrictions apply depending on the need of a dedicated crew in relation to a charge for this service.

TRAINING AND CERTIFICATIONS

Initial certifications for the EMT, EMT-I, and EMT-P are offered through Johnston Community College Continuing Education Department as a state certificate program.

The EMT certification requires 169 hours of classroom, 24 hours of ambulance time, 12 hours of emergency room time, and successful completion of the state written and practical exams. This program concentrates its studies in Basic Life Support of maintaining the patient's airway, breathing, and circulation (ABC's), use of automated external defibrillators (AED), controlling patient's bleeding and shock, and treatment of minor injuries and fractures.

The EMT-I certification requires 161 hours of classroom, 50 hours of ambulance time, 50 hours of emergency room time, and successful completion of the state written and practical exams. This program concentrates its studies in the beginning stages of Advanced Life Support.  This includes Intravenous (IV) administrations, semi-automatic defibrillation, advanced airway management, and some pre-hospital medication administrations.

The EMT-P certification requires 596 hours of classroom, 300 hours of ambulance time, 200 hours of emergency room time, and successful completion of the state written and practical exams. This program concentrates its studies on all levels of Pre-hospital care.

Other Required Certifications

CPR and AED certifications are to be maintained by all EMT, EMT-I, and EMT-P personnel.

Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support is required for all EMT-I and EMT-P personnel.

Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) are required for all EMT-P personnel.

All EMT, EMT-I, and EMT-P personnel are required to maintain 24 hours of continuing education each year to maintain their state certifications. For state association membership, benefits, and pension all personnel are required to maintain a total of 36 hours of meetings and drills. All continuing education is delivered through Johnston Community College. 

MEDICAL OVERSIGHT

Medical Oversight is required for Pre-hospital emergency medical personnel to provide Advanced Life Support (ALS) care. Medical oversight is performed through a licensed Physician whereas ALS personnel work under this Physician's medical license. Each individual ALS personnel must be approved and maintain this approval, by this Physician before they are allow to practice ALS treatment under his license. This Physician is titled as the County EMS Medical Director and is governed by the State EMS Medical Director.  In Johnston County our Medical Director is Dr. Frank Conn. The selection of the Johnston County Medical Director is by the County Board of Commissioners. The Medical Director accomplishes this oversight through state required patient care protocols, rules, and regulations.

Johnston County is the only other authority between our service and state EMS Laws. By law, Johnston County is our governing authority in meeting these state laws. As with the Medical Director, Johnston County accomplishes this governing through state approved Policies and Regulations.

EMS Station

The EMS Station is located at 109 South Fourth Street in downtown Smithfield. Our station is split into an Administration Section and Operations Section. The Administration Section was built in 1995 and houses the administration offices, day area, kitchen and dining, laundry room, as well as 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms/showers. The Operations Building was extensively renovated in 2006 and houses the ambulances, supplies, and equipment. The Operations Building was originally part of the old Electrical department building before it was moved into the new Operations Center and dates back to 1960-1970.