The team is in a normal preparation and training mode. About AK-1Alaska-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team (AK-1 DMAT) is a Federally sponsored, local, response team to disasters. This Alaskan team is made up of doctors, nurses, physician assistants (PA), paramedics, EMT's, and non-medical support personnel. Team members have been deployed to the 9-11 World Trade Center Tradgedy in New York City, The Kosovo Refugee Inprocessing, and Hurricane Katrina and others. We have also provided support during non-disaster situations including, the Anchorage 2000 Millennium celebrations, the Portland Nike Games, Special Olympics World Winter Games in Anchoraage and the 2006 winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.
AK-1 was first organized in 1997. On April 30, 2000 Alaska-1 DMAT became a Level 1 team. AK-1 was one of only two teams in the system that maintains cold weather response capabilities. When deployed, this team will bring health care professionals and support staff to assist in devastated areas. The team was assigned Level 1 status from the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) office of Emergency Preparedness (NDMS). With the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, and the reorganization of the NDMS under the Federal Emergency Management Agency, AK-1 part of the Department of Homeland Security. On January 1st 2007 The NDMS was reassigned to back to the Department of Health and Human Service, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response.
NDMS was established to provide medical assistance to Americans in the event of a natural or man made disaster and give stateside support for injured men and women of the U.S. Military. The United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Defense, FEMA and the U.S. Veterans Administration have been given the responsibility to establish and grow the NDMS. The DHHS is the responsible agency for coordinating and affecting the federal public heath respone to a disaster. There are over 70 DMAT, and specialty teams in the system. NDMS is comprised of Disaster Medical Teams (NDMS), Disaster Mortuary Teams (DMORT), National Veterinary Response Teams (NVRT) and several specialty teams.
When activated, DMAT's are deployed to assist local emergency responders in providing medical care. Once on site, teams are equipped to be self-reliant for 72 hours and insure the safety and health of all team members while providing clinical care as needed. Treatment areas, power generation, radio communications, and personnel shelters can be established and maintained for up to two-weeks. Recent changes to the system now allow for the deployment of smaller 5 person "strike" teams that can be rapidly activated and deployed to areas of need.
The Alaska 1 DMAT web site is a work in progress. In order to provide a rapid release of the website there is still editing to be done. Please be patient corrections and updates are being made regularly.
Please provide any input, suggestions', corrections or other information concerning the web site to feedback@ak1dmat.com Thanks. |
