Dr. Val Smetka has recently been hired as Colleton County Fire-Rescue’s Assistant Medical Control Physician.  His responsibilities are to consult with Dr. Adam Mandel (CCFR’s primary Medical Control Physician) and to serve as the primary Medical Control Physician in Dr. Mandel’s absence.

Dr. Smetka was born in Czechoslovakia.  At age 5, he and his family moved to Canada.  He completed a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Physical Chemistry at the University of Toronto.  He began a PhD in Applied Physical Chemistry at the University of Toronto but decided to leave his studies there to pursue medical school.  He attended his first two years of medical school at the University of Eustatius in the Caribbean.  His last two years of medical school were at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.  His residency was conducted through a rural residency program which prepares physicians to serve in remote areas where they may be the only physician within hundreds of miles.  Part of his residency was completed in Anderson County, South Carolina.

Dr. Smetka is Board certified in Family Medicine and currently serves as the Chief of Medicine at Colleton Medical Center.  His responsibilities include being over the Emergency Department physicians and the Hospitalists.

Dr. Smetka states that when he is not working (which he says is very rare), he takes care of his two dogs (a weimaraner and a beagle) and also enjoys sailing.