“I can help connect the patients who are at the community hospitals to the larger services provided by the medical center and also recognize that a system benefits us all.”
To truly tell the story of ECU Health, you must look beyond the buildings and medical technologies. We are defined by people. We are a united team of incredible people providing incredible care – every day. We are the People of ECU Health.
Meet Dr. Leonard A. Stallings, MD, FACEP, the emergency department medical director at ECU Health Bertie and Chowan hospitals. The Chicago native, who has a passion for helping rural communities, arrived in Greenville in 2011 for his emergency medicine and internal medicine residency. He knew little of eastern North Carolina before spending six years completing his combined residency in addition to a critical care medicine fellowship.
Role and Responsibility
Now, with more than a decade of service under his belt, Dr. Stallings describes himself as someone who wears many hats and supports the system in many roles. “What I do for ECU Health primarily is to serve as the chair of emergency medicine for ECU Health Bertie and ECU Health Chowan Hospitals. I work clinically as an emergency physician and also provide leadership to the department,” Dr. Stallings said. “I also serve as vice chief of staff at ECU Health Chowan Hospital. In addition, I serve as a hospitalist at multiple hospitals across the system and as an intensivist at the medical center as well.”
System Support
He credits his time spent in Greenville as playing a big role in his overall development in the medical field. “I started my first job here as a resident. Greenville has a plethora of medical services and it is the largest medical center for all of eastern North Carolina,” Dr. Stallings said.
Dr. Stallings also appreciates the structure and support the health system offers to the hospitals that comprise it. “I realized initially as a resident receiving transfers and taking care of people from the smaller communities is that there was a relative dearth of advanced subspecialty health care in the region,” Dr. Stallings said. “The two hospitals I primarily staff in the system are critical access hospitals, so we have limited services. One of the greatest things about my connections to Greenville is I can help connect the patients who are at the community hospitals to the larger services provided by the medical center and also recognize that a system benefits us all.”
Evolution of ECU Health
Dr. Stallings’ own experience and expertise has continued to grow in his time with the health system, as has the system itself. “When we went from Pitt County Memorial to Vidant Health, it helped with an identity because during that time each individual hospital identified as their own hospital. It helped create an identity that all the community hospitals and patients started to recognize more than their own individual hospital,” Dr. Stallings said. “In terms of ECU Health, we’ve always had teaching in the regional hospitals but I don’t think that the community at large was aware of how integrated the medical school and the health system really are – it’s a system working toward better health care for all of eastern North Carolina.”
Recognizing Black History Month
As we recognize Black History Month, Dr. Stallings shared his thoughts about what this month means to him.
“Black History Month is an opportunity for people to take a moment to share in the trials, tribulations and triumphs of African-Americans in this country and to think about the contributions that have occurred.
This month allows people to take a step back and consider what African-Americans in this country have been through –where we come from and where we’re trying to go.”