Celebrating a historic National Rural Health Day in North Carolina
Dr. Michael Waldrum
When ECU Health was created in 2022, its brand represented a promise to bridge world-class clinical care and academic excellence in service to the vision of building the national model for rural health care. That moment marked the beginning of a new chapter not only in our organization’s history, but in the trajectory of rural health care and education in North Carolina.
Fast forward to today, the third Thursday of November – otherwise known as National Rural Health Day – and we are celebrating unprecedented investment in the future of rural health care by breaking ground on the Brody School of Medicine’s Center for Medical Education Building, a state-of-the-art seven-story, 195,000 square foot facility that will modernize the environment in which we train and prepare the next generation of physicians serving our largely rural state upon its opening in 2027.
The Center for Medical Education Building will usher in a new era for the Brody School of Medicine, East Carolina University and ECU Health. The construction of this building, connected to the existing Brody School of Medicine Medical Sciences Building, will support enrollment growth from 86 to more than 120 medical students in each class, all of whom will receive high-quality medical education in a rural environment where their learned skills are most needed.
Today, National Rural Health Day, is a day to recognize the team members at ECU Health and the Brody School of Medicine; because, ultimately, the historic investment in the Center for Medical Education Building is a testament to the value rural health care and medical education has on the future of North Carolina’s overall well-being.
This moment was made possible thanks to our state, university and health leaders, all of whom recognized that our value is best personified by the 14,000-plus team members who each play an important role in our rural academic health care mission. Whether in the exam room, classroom, conference room or out in the community, ECU Health and Brody School of Medicine team members work tirelessly in service to rural citizens deserving of a healthier tomorrow. To them, we all owe a tremendous debt of gratitude.
As I close this message, I want to reflect on my first National Rural Health Day message, which was penned in 2022 at the very beginning of our journey as ECU Health. In it, I said, “No one knows what the future may hold, but here in eastern North Carolina, I know that we will solve the challenges we face and we will ultimately realize our vision to become a national model for rural health care.”
This National Rural Health Day, I’m proud to say we’ve taken our next big step forward in realizing that vision on behalf of the state, and we have the shovels to prove it.
Mike Waldrum, MD, MSc, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, ECU Health
Dean, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University
Voices of Rural Health Care
Rural health care is who we are and what we do. We’re proud to serve eastern North Carolina and its people, from Wilson to the Outer Banks and Roanoke Rapids to Kenansville and everywhere in between. It takes an incredible team to care for the region we call home. We asked team members to reflect on what it means to provide rural health care. These are just a few of our 14,000 team members committed each day to providing high-quality health care to our neighbors, friends and family — hear from them below.
Dr. Leonard Stallings
Emergency Medicine Physician
It is a great privilege and very noble to provide rural health care to our population. To me, this means caring for a community in a medical setting while also building relationships with a neighbor who knows you outside of work. The relationships and ties among the rural community are often some of the strongest I’ve seen and only serve to enhance the care we provide.
Jennifer Lewis
Cancer Center Outreach Coordinator
To me, rural health care means taking care of home. Growing up in rural southern Beaufort County, we all had rural route home addresses; therefore, I naturally equivocate “rural” to my roots; to my home. Through providing cancer awareness education and early detection opportunities to the rural communities ECU Health serves, to me, it means I am caring for our roots, for the people we all hold dearest from childhood who helped shape us into who we are today.
Dr. Mott Blair
Family Medicine Physician
Growing up in rural eastern North Carolina, my dream was to practice family medicine and return to my home town. Attending, then-East Carolina School of Medicine and residency in Greenville afterwards gave me the skills to serve my community. It is an honor to care for the people in my community including my friends, neighbors and elders. Everyday, I get to witness the immense impact that one individual can make in the lives of individuals and the community as a whole.
Kathryn Jarvis
Executive Director of Patient Care Services at Maynard Children’s Hospital
As a leader within Maynard Children’s Hospital, providing rural health care holds a profound significance for me. It means ensuring that every child, regardless of their location, has access to high-quality medical care. Rural communities face unique challenges such as limited access to specialized services, longer travel distances, and fewer health care providers. By providing rural health care, we are bridging these gaps, bringing compassionate, comprehensive care closer to patients and families who might otherwise struggle to access it. Ultimately, providing rural health care is a promise to standby every child and family, no matter where they live.
Dr. Zeel Shah
Family Medicine Physician
I think practicing medicine in rural health care embodies the fundamental principles of medicine — compassion, accessibility, and giving back to the community. It represents the art of medicine in its most authentic form by blending clinical expertise with creativity, adaptability, and deep human connection.
Dr. Jim Jaralene Porquez
Family Medicine Physician
Working as a health care provider in rural areas is highly rewarding. It offers the opportunity to make a significant impact and become an integral part of a compassionate community.
Dr. Leigh Patterson
ECU Health Medical Center Chief of Services for Emergency Medicine
One of the most important things to me is that rural health care should never be “good enough.” To me, rural health care should be everything and more than any other group of people would expect to receive. We are aiming for more than just providing access to care in rural communities; instead, we strive to provide high quality care that is consistent and compassionate. We want you to be able to be healthy and well no matter where you live and we want to bring it to you.
Jay Briley
ECU Health Medical Center President
To me, rural health care is about more than just delivering care. Rural health care is about passionate people dedicating themselves to solving complex challenges that are unique to the rural communities we live in. At ECU Health, our team members are on the forefront of not only building a model for exceptional rural health care here in North Carolina, but building a model that can work in rural communities across the country.
Brian Floyd
ECU Health Chief Operating Officer
Approximately 1-in-3 North Carolinians live in rural communities, which are quite different from urban areas. Health care is made more challenging by the unique conditions that affect social determinants, geography distances and access to resources. I love being a part of an organization that is entirely rural, and has embraced the many complexities that affect these outcomes. ECU Health is using its impact for education, research, health care services and economic stimulus to these communities to improve the health and well-being where it is needed and that makes my life and work more meaningful.
Dr. Jason Higginson
ECU Health Chief Health Officer and Brody Executive Dean
Often forgotten in the United States are our rural communities, where much of our food and natural resources are cultivated. Rural regions are essential to our strength as a nation but overlooked. These communities are often not densely populated and are long distances from large health care facilities where specialized care exists. Rural health in the ECU Health formulation means bringing state of the art medicine to rural areas by creatively overcoming the challenges of distance and low population density. I could not be more proud of the mission-driven work we’re doing as a rural academic health care organization.
Dr. Jonathan Kornegay
Physician
Providing rural health care encompasses taking care of complex patients and families in underserved areas, frequently with limited resources. I have been able to personally see the positive impacts our group and hospital have made in our area, as we work to meet our community’s health needs. I am very proud of what we’ve accomplished at ECU Health Duplin and look forward to continuing to navigate rural health care in eastern North Carolina. Though it presents challenges, it’s been extremely rewarding — both professionally and personally — to be a part of.
Taniqua Taylor
Nursing Assistant
I think providing rural health care means us as a community coming together, supporting and taking care of each other. ECU Health’s top priority is quality care for all patients and when we figure out a way to heal and help one another, our community becomes closer.
