Updated June 19, 2024
A beam adorned with signatures from ECU Health team members, behavioral health care teams, leadership and the Thomas Construction team was raised into place at the site of the upcoming behavioral health hospital in Greenville.
The beam raising served as a backdrop for an event showcasing the construction progress of the new 144-bed behavioral health hospital, a partnership between ECU Health and Acadia Healthcare, slated to open in summer 2025. ECU Health and Thomas Construction team members paused their important work to witness the historic milestone.
Glenn Simpson, service line administrator for behavioral health at ECU Health, said this event was another historic step, celebrating about 15 years of work to bring a behavioral health hospital into the ECU Health system to serve eastern North Carolina.
“Today is only the beginning of so much excitement around this facility,” Simpson said. “We couldn’t be more excited to be partnered with Acadia Healthcare and working with Thomas Construction to build this facility. This is all allowing us to offer outpatient services, specialty services that we cannot provide today and we’ll be able to treat a population of children and adolescents who used to have to drive over 70 miles for inpatient treatment.”
Mary Branch-Ellis, a registered nurse with the behavioral health team at ECU Health Medical Center, has been with the system for 41 years. She said she was working at the former Pitt County Memorial Hospital years ago when the behavioral health unit first opened in the 1980s.
She said seeing the facility come together is something she will never forget and she’s glad eastern North Carolinians in need of the services will have everything under one roof.
“It’s just wonderful to be a part of this as someone who is invested in this work in eastern North Carolina,” Branch-Ellis said. “I’ve worked so many years in mental health and been an advocate for patients and now we’re seeing this state-of-the-art facility being built and it’s a wonderful experience to see these beds – which we need – opening up. I’m excited to see it coming to Greenville and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
ECU Health team members sign beam slated for upcoming behavioral health hospital
Recently, ECU Health team members had the opportunity to leave their mark on the upcoming state-of-the-art, 144-bed behavioral health hospital in Greenville, slated to open in 2025.
The Thomas Construction team brought a beam, which is slated to be installed in the hospital’s gymnasium, to ECU Health Medical Center for team members to sign. More than 100 team members signed the beam and many signatures will be visible in the gymnasium even after construction is complete.
Amy Albritton, a recreational therapy assistant in Behavioral Health Services, has been with the system for more than 25 years. She said it’s special for her to see the plans for the new hospital come together after her years on the unit.
“I think being able to see the beam and sign it helps make it a little more real,” Albritton said. “It’s been talked about for a while now but having this here that we can touch, it’s a really exciting time. I’m just glad to be a part of it.”
Glenn Simpson, service line administrator for behavioral health at ECU Health, said engaging team members in the lead up to the hospital opening is a great opportunity for education and building excitement.
“With building a brand-new hospital, it’s special to give our team members the opportunity to be part of the history of that by signing one of the beams,” Simpson said. “When they’re finished with the gymnasium part of the structure, they’ll be hoisting the beam into the framework. This is great for team members to sign the beam and know that their name will forever be a part of that hospital.”
Renderings of the upcoming hospital were also on display during the beam signing to allow team members to see the plans again. The beam was in the hospital for about a week before being returned to the construction site.
To learn more about new behavioral health hospital, please visit: ENCBehavioralHealth.org
Resources
GREENVILLE, N.C. – The Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) 39th Annual Celebration Broadcast, which celebrates the thousands of children in eastern North Carolina who have received treatment at James and Connie Maynard Children’s Hospital at ECU Health Medical Center this past year, raised $1,258,511 Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals’ longtime television partner, WITN, which produces the fundraiser, shared the stories of complex illnesses, traumatic injuries and the quality medical care Miracle Children received from Maynard Children’s Hospital.
“Caring individuals, community groups, businesses and others show how much they care about children by providing generous contributions to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals,” said Elise Ironmonger, director of programs, ECU Health Foundation. “In eastern North Carolina, this generosity enables the Maynard Children’s Hospital to see beyond obvious treatment and save more lives. The care and high-quality treatment received here will continue into the future through this year’s amazing donors.”
This year, an anonymous donor offered to match every donation up to $100,000. The family has a passion for children in eastern North Carolina and wants to ensure every child has the best chance possible to get better. They are grateful for all of the hard work, dedication and compassion that the team provides at Maynard Children’s Hospital and hopes their contribution provided an extra incentive for people to open their hearts and donate.
The theme of this year’s Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals campaign was “Change Kids’ Health, Change the Future,” which shows how important donations are in helping shape a healthier tomorrow for patients served at Maynard Children’s Hospital. Major contributors to the yearly event, held June 1-2 to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, featured contributions from long-time supporters from across eastern North Carolina including Speedway, part of 7-Eleven, Inc., Jersey Mike’s Subs, Log a Load for Kids and Walmart/Sam’s Clubs.
The Celebration Broadcast featured guests and sponsors who have contributed during the past year, as well as callers who pledged their support.
Earlier this year, the Music for Miracles Radiothon on Inner Banks Media Stations raised $109,703 during the 27th year of their special event, bringing their total raised to more than $3.9 million. The Inner Banks Media radio stations include: 107.9 WNCT; Talk 96.3 and 103.7; Oldies 94.1 and 102.7; and 94.3 The Game.
The largest donor to this year’s campaign came from a long-time corporate partner of CMN Hospitals, Speedway, part of 7-Eleven, Inc., which raised $260,310 in their ninth year of partnership with Maynard Children’s Hospital. The largest fundraising event for our local Children’s Miracle Network program was held by Jersey Mike’s Subs during their annual Month and Day of Giving. Collectively, the 17 participating stores in eastern North Carolina raised $148,196.
Long time CMN supporter, Log a Load for Kids, held their 27th annual sporting clays shoot on May 3-4 and raised $80,000. These funds came from sponsorships, including title sponsors, Colony Tire and Pinnacle Trailer Sales, and had over 600 participants.
Other major donors and their gifts included Walmart/Sam’s Clubs with $155,392; Panda Express with $41,567; Ace Hardware with $33,350; Extra Life with $29,334; Dance Arts Theater with $19,965 and Publix with $15,666.
Other campaign contributors were Dairy Queen with $14,273; Barbour Hendrick Honda Greenville and The Electric Cooperatives of Eastern NC both with $10,000; REMAX with $6,375; Ollie’s with $6,283; American Builders; Pepsi/Minges Bottling Group; Eastern Radiologists, Inc.; and Central Heating and Air Conditioning each contributed $5,000.
Additional gifts were from: Phi Mu Chapter of ECU with $4,791; Baynor with $4,000; Miller and Friends Lemonade Stand with $3,157; Grady White Boats with $3,000; Care-O-World Enrichment Learning Center with $2,231; Oasis Shrine Temple and brothers, Arun and Ajay Ajmera each with $1,500; Action Advertising, Equipment Plus, Ricci Law Firm; Builder’s Discount Center, Harris, Creech, Ward and Blackerby, PA, Stallings Plumbing, Heating and AC and Coldwell Banker’s Sea Coast each gave $1,000.
The local CMN Hospitals fundraising program is staffed and supported by the ECU Health Foundation, the non-profit charitable corporation that serves as the custodian for all financial gifts and bequests to ECU Health. The ECU Health Foundation oversees allocation of all donated funds.
Health care providers of East Carolina University’s Healthier Lives initiative in the Brody School of Medicine continue to use the program to address health care needs for children in rural eastern North Carolina counties and are finding pathways to expand access to care at schools in Duplin County and beyond.
The Healthier Lives at School & Beyond Telemedicine Program originally launched in 2018 to deliver interdisciplinary services virtually to rural school children, staff and faculty during the school day. In response to COVID-19, the program continued to address health care needs for children and expanded access while students were learning remotely.
Since the fall of 2020, the program has used an ECU Transit bus to visit schools in Duplin, Jones and Sampson (Clinton City Schools) counties to provide high-quality health appointments. The retrofitted motorcoach has been used to provide screenings for 303 students, with additional visits planned for existing program partnerships and newly established ones.
The initiative was recognized recently by the Mid-Atlantic Telehealth Resource Center with the Breaking Barriers Through Telehealth Award in the category for small, rural and safety net organizations. During the 2024 Rural Health Symposium, a presentation on Healthier Lives – On the Road Again: Rolling to Reduce School Suspension – was awarded first place in innovations panel.
Experiential learning
Delivering care in the community is also delivering learning opportunities for ECU students. Third- and fourth-year medical students and medical residents participate in clinic days, gaining hands-on experience providing health care to rural populations.
Recent Brody graduate Dr. Melenis Lopez said the Healthier Lives clinics demonstrate that service is truly ECU’s mission. During a school clinic in the fall, Lopez applied pediatric learning experience as a care provider. She collected patient history and assisted in making plans for children that could be passed on to the school.
“Providing care in a place that is convenient to the community can be lifesaving,” Lopez said. “Offering physicals can uncover developmental delays and health problems. Children can’t stay in school without these physicals and proof of vaccinations, so I’m happy we were able to be there for the kids.”
Lopez and her ECU cohort guided elementary students and their families through clinic stations to take vitals, check vision and hearing, and perform physical exams. Students could meet with mental health and nutritional professionals for additional screening when needed.
Lopez used her ability to speak Spanish to help the children feel comfortable and ease the burden on families who may not understand the forms or instructions from the care provider.
Rural health care
Dr. Krissy Simeonsson, associate professor for pediatrics and public health and the medical director for the program, is proud that Healthier Lives is giving ECU students the opportunity to experience health care in a rural setting.
“Students can see that they can help,” Simeonsson said. “Most students and residents we’ve had have that ‘aha’ moment and can see themselves in primary care. They realize they can succeed out here.”
Jill Jennings, ECU’s Healthier Lives program manager, said the hybrid approach of on-site clinics and telehealth makes it easier for the medical providers to communicate with parents in person and more readily make referrals for any nutrition or behavioral health follow-up virtual care.
A $1.2 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration funded the first four years of the program. Funding now comes primarily from Anonymous Trust, a private North Carolina foundation, and has been provided by the Harold H. Bate Foundation, the ECU Health Foundation, and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Office of Rural Health.
“There are many opportunities for institutions such as ECU to leverage their resources to address community needs,” said Debbie Aiken, executive director of Anonymous Trust. “This initiative is a wonderful example of ECU recognizing health care disparities, and in partnership with a local school district, serving children who might otherwise not receive the care that they deserve.”
Aiken witnessed a program clinic in action at Rose Hill-Magnolia Elementary School in Duplin County. ECU medical students and residents, health sciences undergraduate and graduate students, Healthier Lives team members and partners from the school system and Duplin Health Department screened 47 students who otherwise would have been suspended for not having a health assessment completed by a medical provider.
“These partnerships should be happening across the state,” Aiken said. “Seeing it helps you truly understand the disparities in our rural communities. If more school systems understood that this is available, they would want to participate.”
Community engagement
Dr. Jenelle Brison ’24 said Healthier Lives provided an opportunity for community engagement for medical students. Brison encouraged fellow Brody students to participate.
“It’s so nice to interact with the little kids,” Brison said. “Events like this help break down barriers and offer unique training for students.”
While Brison ultimately hopes to focus on obstetrics and women’s health, she was at ease helping children with vision screenings and demonstrating a blood pressure cuff before taking vitals.
Dr. Bolu Aluko ’24, a Tiana Nicole Williams Scholar at Brody, was drawn to the opportunity for community engagement provided by Healthier Lives.
“Coming into the community is incredibly enriching,” Bolu said. “Every med student should do this. It’s a fantastic way to serve and practice our clinical training.”
Through an interpreter, the family of one student said they had received a call from the school that their son would not be able to return to class because he had not had a physical or proof of vaccinations. They had just moved from Mexico to Warsaw, North Carolina. Without the availability of a Healthier Lives clinic at the school, they would not have had access to a health screening for their son in time to meet the state-mandated deadline.
The family sat with an interpreter and was provided a nutritional referral and a connection to a primary care clinic in Warsaw to establish a medical home. “We’re grateful to know he’s healthy,” his mother said through the interpreter.
“You have to meet people where they are,” Simeonsson said. “A lot of families trust the school. When you see the families getting help for their children, you know the program is living up to expectations.”
GREENVILLE, N.C. – The Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) Celebration Broadcast honors past telethon traditions by celebrating selected miracle stories of children who represent the thousands of children in eastern North Carolina who have received treatment at James and Connie Maynard Children’s Hospital at ECU Health Medical Center this past year. This year, the CMN Celebration Broadcast will be held on Saturday, June 1, from 7-8 p.m. and Sunday, June 2, from 6-9 a.m. and 7-11 p.m. airing on longtime partner, WITN. Examples of how CMN donations are used will be featured throughout the event as well to show the impact philanthropic gifts truly make.
“We are so grateful to all those who support our Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals program all throughout the year,” said Elise Ironmonger, director of programs, ECU Health Foundation. “The generosity of our donors enables Maynard Children’s Hospital, located in Greenville and serving 29 counties, to provide life-saving care to the thousands of children who are treated each year. We look forward to being able to showcase the amazing care provided every day at Maynard Children’s Hospital during this weekend’s telethon and to have an opportunity to thank our amazing donors.”
This year’s Miracle Children and Teen include:
- Jadon Green, 1 year old, Greene County
- Leonardo Velasquez-Bartolon, 2 years old, Wayne County
- Layah Collins, 6 years old, Jones County
- Wiley Sloan, 14 years old, Wake County
The 2024 broadcast will highlight examples of the amazing care offered every day at Maynard Children’s Hospital while celebrating the miracles made possible by the life-saving care generous donations help provide. Thanks to the generosity of eastern North Carolina, thousands of children receive the specialized medical care they need, bringing them and their families the gift of hope and healing. Because of this support, the team at Maynard Children’s Hospital can ensure patients receive the best care possible.
The local Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals fundraising program is staffed and supported by the ECU Health Foundation, the non-profit charitable corporation that serves as the custodian for all financial gifts and bequests to ECU Health. The ECU Health Foundation oversees allocation of all donated funds. To donate, please call 1-800-673-5437 or visit givetocmn.com.
ECU Health welcomed more than 50 exhibitors and 100 guests to the 12th annual Mental Health Expo designed to connect community members with important resources on mental health and substance use.
The expo, held at Eastern AHEC in Greenville, was a free event for individuals, family members, caregivers and providers. Three featured presentations from experts covered various mental health and addiction topics.
Duania Roberts with the behavioral health team at ECU Health Medical Center gave a presentation titled “Balanced Being” which tackled stress reduction techniques. James Lally, a certified holistic Registered Nurse at ECU Health Medical Center, spoke on understanding the nervous system to better understand yourself.
Dr. David Ryan, an obstetrician-gynecologist with ECU Health as well as a clinical assistant professor of Addiction Medicine at Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, presented on “Turning the Tides of Addiction.” There, he spoke on reducing stigma around addiction and understanding it as a disease. He said it’s also crucial to be familiar with and break down stigmas associated with life-saving medications for addiction treatment.
He said events like the Mental Health Expo help communities understand what is happening around them when it comes to mental health and substance use.
“There has been a lot of shame and a lot of discomfort talking about mental health,” Dr. Ryan said. “I think the fact that we’re able to have these conversations at an event like this helps us reduce the stigma and bring these issues to the surface.”
Glenn Simpson, service line administrator for behavioral health at ECU Health said getting exhibitors to come together in one place for the event is vital for the community to take in all the resources available to them in eastern North Carolina.
“This is really what we need – what this community needs,” Simpson said. “We have providers here. We have Trillium Health Resources, which manages Medicaid and does so much to provide resources to this region. We have the 988 Helpline team here. If someone needs some help with behavioral health and they don’t know who to call, just pick up the phone or text 9-8-8.”
He also said it was an exciting opportunity to share information about the upcoming state-of-the-art, 144-bed behavioral health hospital in Greenville, slated to open in 2025.
Lillie Malpass, executive director of the Pitt County Coalition on Substance Use, participated with her organization in the event and said it was a great opportunity to connect with more community members and other organizations.
“Even among other organizations, we’re getting connected with other great organizations and learning what they do and they’re learning about what we do – that’s so important,” Malpass said. “It’s about exchanging information and getting out of our silos – we’re prevention and meeting with recovery organizations, treatment organizations – it’s great to come together and see how we can all work together.”
Resources
When Dr. Shannon Longshore, the medical director of the pediatric trauma program at ECU Health Medical Center, first joined the hospital, the James and Connie Maynard Children’s Hospital at ECU Health Medical Center wasn’t a verified pediatric trauma center. Now, Maynard Children’s Hospital is one of only four Level I Pediatric Trauma Centers in North Carolina and the only one serving the East.
“It is incredibly fulfilling to reflect on the growth we have experienced over the years, to now achieving verification as Level I Pediatric Trauma Center,” Dr. Longshore said. “Our teams across ECU Health have dedicated their work to constantly improving our care over the course of many years. From prevention, to treatment, and being entrusted to provide critical care at the highest level, this verification is a testament to the mission-driven work that defines our hospital and health system.”
The American College of Surgeons’ (ACS) Verification, Review and Consultation (VRC) Program is designed to assist hospitals in the evaluation and improvement of trauma care and provide objective, external review of institutional capability and performance, accomplished by an on-site review of the hospital by a peer review team experienced in the field of trauma care. There are three levels of ACS trauma center verification, with Level I being the highest verification a trauma center can achieve.
Level I Trauma Centers must be capable of providing system leadership and comprehensive trauma care for all injuries and have adequate depth of resources and personnel. These centers play an important role in local trauma system development, regional disaster planning, increasing capacity and advancing trauma care through research.
Recognizing excellence in pediatric trauma care and community outreach
Dr. Longshore herself has been instrumental in Maynard Children’s Hospital’s continued growth as a trauma center through her research and presentations at national conferences and her work with the Eastern Carolina Injury Prevention Program (ECIPP).
The ACS surveyors noted the value of ECIPP, which aims to create a safer environment, change behavior and change policy to improve the quality of life in eastern North Carolina. Sue Anne Pilgreen currently serves as the executive director of the Safe Communities Coalition and the manager of ECIPP, which has been around since 1995. Between 2020 and 2023, ECIPP was awarded more than $1 million in grant funding, which has supported work in areas such as teen driver safety, suicide prevention, firearm safety, and child passenger and bike safety.
“The surveyors were especially impressed with our work around firearm safety and suicide prevention,” said Pilgreen. “We utilize the pediatric trauma registry data, and that is what drives our work.”
Pilgreen was quick to commend ECIPP team’s work in all areas to prevent injuries, and she highlighted that while most trauma programs have one injury prevention person, ECU Health has an entire team. That enables the program to reach out to rural communities and establish new injury prevention processes.
“Even with our incredible injury prevention team, we recognize that injuries will happen,” said Pilgreen. “To have this Level I Trauma Center with the best of the best gives the opportunities for the best outcomes.”
Other specific strengths noted during the pediatric program’s survey included the addition of two pediatric orthopedic surgeons and a pediatric neurosurgeon; outreach clinical simulations in the region; the collaboration among the pediatric orthopedic surgeon, the neurosurgeon and the Pediatric ICU (PICU); and the recent renovation of the PICU to establish a family-friendly place to care for patients. Of note, a large strength also lauded was the academic research and a collaboration with the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University’s Department of Pediatrics.
This expansion of the pediatric trauma research footprint was accomplished through more than 10 publications in nationally recognized journals. Both Erika Greene, manager of the pediatric trauma program, and Elizabeth Seawell, manager of the adult trauma program, credited the collaboration with Brody to produce research and get articles accepted to journals.
“That was a big win for us,” Greene said. “We have an academic medical center with the resources and processes in place to care for injured patients, and we’ve done an amazing job to achieve Level I for pediatrics. We have the capabilities to take the best care of those patients to the highest level of the accrediting body.”
Sustained excellence in adult trauma care
The pediatric trauma center’s new Level I verification accompanies the ECU Health Medical Center’s adult trauma center re-verification of Level I, a title they have proudly held for 40 years.
“We were one of the first Level I Trauma Centers in North Carolina, and we were verified by the American College of Surgeons in 2005,” said Seawell. “We are recognized nationally for how we care for patients in a rural area.”
This recent re-verification was made possible in part due to the resources available to the program including neurosurgical, interventional radiology, orthopedic trauma neurology, and vascular resources, operating room capabilities and blood access, as well as a trauma team of 11 surgeons.
“We are the only Level I Trauma Center for 29 counties, and to reach that far and care for that many patients – we served more than 4,000 patients last year – we have to rely on local community hospitals and emergency response teams to ensure timely transfers and communication,” said Seawell.
Seawell noted that ECU Health Medical Center and Maynard Children’s Hospital have a 60 percent transfer in rate, when the national average is 30 percent, which means they work closely with local EMS agencies, regional transfer facilities, other ECU Health organizations and non-affiliated organizations to serve patients from all over the region.
“The role of our trauma program is to not transfer patients but to have all the resources we need. It provides excellence in patient care and helps keep our patients local,” said Seawell.
Dr. Eric Toschlog, medical director of the adult trauma program, emphasized the tremendous preparation required to achieve Level I. He noted that there are more than 100 standards to prepare for, including paperwork, infrastructure, teamwork and more.
“The visit from ACS is a two-day adventure in stress and anxiety,” Dr. Toschlog said. But at the conclusion, he felt immense pride. “This visit was my seventh in 24 years at ECU Health, and it was clearly our best; we were found to have no deficiencies, and the reviewers used words such as ‘exemplary’ and ‘blown away’ regarding multiple aspects of the trauma center.”
Having two Level I Trauma Centers at ECU Health is no small thing, and both centers achieving the highest level of care is due to the dedication of the trauma center teams.
“I am surrounded by brilliant, compassionate, hardworking, mission-driven individuals who share a singular vision of saving the lives of the patients we have the honor to care for each year. Our success is owed to those truly extraordinary people,” Dr. Toschlog said.
Greenville, N.C. – James and Connie Maynard Children’s Hospital at ECU Health Medical Center received verification from the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Committee on Trauma as a Level I Pediatric Trauma Center, becoming one of only four in the state. Maynard Children’s Hospital now joins ECU Health Medical Center as the only Level I Trauma Centers in eastern North Carolina.
“We are proud of the dedication that all of our team members at Maynard Children’s Hospital have made to prioritizing the delivery of high-quality care close to home, and achieving Level I Trauma Center verification is a demonstration of that commitment,” said Tara Stroud, vice president, Women’s and Children’s Services, Maynard Children’s Hospital. “This verification aligns with our mission to improve the health and well-being of eastern North Carolina by ensuring patients receive prompt and specialized critical care, right here in our region.”
According to the ACS, Level I Trauma Centers must be capable of providing system leadership and comprehensive trauma care for all injuries. In its central role, a Level I Trauma Center must have adequate depth of resources and personnel. Most Level I Trauma Centers are university-based teaching hospitals due to the resources required for patient care, education and research. In addition to providing acute trauma care, these centers have an important role in local trauma system development, regional disaster planning, increasing capacity and advancing trauma care through research.
“Being a Level I Pediatric Trauma Center reaffirms our ability to provide timely, life-saving care for pediatric trauma patients,” said Dr. Shannon Longshore, pediatric trauma surgeon and medical director of the pediatric trauma unit, ECU Health Medical Center. “We see pediatric patients with injuries as the result of falls, motor vehicle collisions, ATV and dirt bike accidents and firearm injuries. The change from Level II to Level I demonstrates Maynard Children’s Hospital’s ability to maintain the highest level of care for patients and advance research publications, national presence as a trauma center and community outreach.”
In Fiscal Year 2023, ECU Health Medical Center cared for a total of 4,057 patients – 3,721 adult and 336 pediatric cases. Nearly 60 percent of patients at ECU Health Medical Center and Maynard Children’s Hospital are transferred in from other hospitals for a higher level of care; the national average is 30 percent.
ACS listed the following as major strengths of the Pediatric Trauma Program: The Eastern Carolina Injury Prevention Program, the outstanding commitment and quality of care provided by the adult trauma/acute care surgeons, availability of whole blood for pediatric trauma patients, three trauma bays, having at least two radiologist in-house 24/7 performing reads and available for consultation, neurosurgical and orthopedic support, disaster management planning and pediatric rehabilitation center.
Maynard Children’s Hospital was previously verified as a Level II Pediatric Trauma Center first in 2017. The verification lasts for three years, until February 2027. ECU Health Medical Center has been a Level I Trauma Center since 2005 and recently received re-verification in 2024.
“Maynard Children’s Hospital and ECU Health Medical Center serving as the sole Level I Trauma Centers in eastern North Carolina underscores the value of having a robust system of care with different levels of specialization, ensuring patients receive timely and appropriate treatment for all injuries, from pediatric to adult cases,” said Brian Floyd, chief operating officer, ECU Health. “Maynard Children’s Hospital’s recent verification as a Level I Pediatric Trauma Center reflects ECU Health’s commitment to clinical excellence and academic research, leading to tangible, life-saving benefits for the communities and patients we serve.”
In July 2023, the Eastern North Carolina Nurses Honor Guard had the opportunity to participate in a living tribute for a fellow nurse, Janet Broady Farmer. The group of active and retired LPNs, RNs, FNPs and DNPs typically honors nurses throughout eastern North Carolina by attending their funerals or memorial services, but living tributes are a relatively new service that honors a nurse with a terminal illness or dementia. It allows the nurse to be present at his or her service, and it gives family members the opportunity to share and hear stories about their loved one.
“It is heart-touching for the family,” said Deborah Herring, a retired ECU Health nurse and honor guard member.
The national Nurses Honor Guard was initiated by the Kansas State Nurses Association in 2003. The Eastern North Carolina Nurse’s Honor Guard was established in 2017 by Tabatha Hall, assistant manager of nursing in labor resource management and its current president.
It was the first honor guard established in North Carolina, but many chapters followed. There are now nine regional chapters and one state chapter, and the Eastern North Carolina chapter serves 24 counties in the state.
During the honor guard funeral services, four or five nurses stand guard wearing their traditional white uniforms with caps and navy blue capes. They perform a ceremony customized for the honoree, but which follows a typical format. First, the Nightingale Tribute is performed. At this time, the Nightingale lamp is lit. Then, the Florence Nightingale pledge is recited; this is the same pledge every nurse recites at his or her graduation.
“It means a lot to nurses because they remember when they recited that pledge,” said Herring.
A poem is then read in which the nurse’s name is used, followed by the nurse’s prayer. The ceremony ends with the nurse’s final call to duty, and the Nightingale lamp is extinguished. This service is offered to the family at no cost.
While she’s participated in several funeral services, Herring said last summer’s living tribute was a first.
“The family wanted a little party with refreshments for the service and a table decorated with awards Ms. Janet had won,” she said. “We did our service, and then the family shared their memories of her and invited her former nurse manager to speak about how dedicated of a nurse she had been.”
Herring said the value of this type of service is that the guard can connect more with the family, and the event is a celebration of that person’s life.
It was all the more meaningful, Herring said, because she knew the nurse being honored.
“It just happened that I used to work with Ms. Janet,” she explained. “And this was back a long time ago. I was an African American woman working as a nurse at the Medical Center and I felt like I had to prove myself.” Herring said Janet pulled her aside one day and said something she never forgot: “She said I was smart and didn’t have to prove that to anyone,” Herring recalled. “She inspired me so much, and during the tribute ceremony I told the family that she was the one who inspired me to become a leader. I later became an assistant head nurse at the Medical Center, I worked as the director of nursing at the Pitt County Health Department and I was on the North Carolina Board of Nursing.”
After the ceremony, the honor guard received a thank you letter from Janet’s daughter. In it, she said, “All of our family and friends were so touched by the heartfelt words and sentiment. Having my mother’s previous coworkers there to speak of her passion and worth ethic was so special. Forty years ago, her memory and personality were so vibrant and full of laughter . . . thank you for brining those memories of her back to the forefront.”
Herring said many people don’t realize the honor guard exists or what services they offer.
“We’re trying to make sure people are aware,” she said. “That’s a big challenge.”
The guard members attend nursing conferences and funeral home conventions, they make visits to regional skilled nursing and assisted living facilities and they are working to get their information published in the North Carolina Board of Nursing newsletters. On May 6, the guard will host a booth at the Nurse and Well-Being Fair from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Medical Center’s cafeteria, where more people can learn about the guard and its services. It’s important to honor nurses in this way, Herring said, the same as one in the military, police or fire department might be honored.
“It upholds the profession to know that the service rendered by a nurse is valuable,” she said. “It’s your health being protected by the nurse, and you want to honor them for that.”
With construction underway on the future site of a state-of-the-art, 144-bed behavioral health hospital in Greenville, ECU Health’s Behavioral Health team visited the site for a mental health safety discussion with Thomas Construction.
ECU Health’s service line administrator for Behavioral Health Glenn Simpson visited the construction site during National Safety Week in the construction industry. This year, the focus is on mental health.
Simpson said one in five adults will experience a mental illness, and the construction industry has one of the highest rates of suicide in the nation, where 53 of every 100,000 workers in the United States die by suicide. That rate is four times greater than the national rate.
He said it’s as important to checking in on your own mental health as it is to check in on those around you.
“The construction industry especially has an extremely high rate of suicide. We know that it’s tough work that they’re doing,” Simpson said. “We’re so grateful for Thomas Construction, not only for the work they’re doing here at the site but for inviting us out for this discussion today. The message is important for everyone, but especially for this group here. It’s OK to reach out and ask for help.”
During the event, breakfast, t-shirts and mental health resources were distributed to the Thomas Construction team.
Chris Thorn, a health care team leader for Thomas Construction, helped set up the event. He said between National Safety Week, Mental Health Month and the team building a behavioral health hospital, the opportunity to hear from a professional and share resources worked perfectly.
“It can be a sensitive topic, especially in the construction industry, but ignoring mental health is not an option,” Thorn said. “These conversations are important for us to keep things moving in a more positive direction for our industry and letting our people know they have resources available to them.”
Simpson agreed and said it’s important to normalize conversations around mental health to reduce stigma.
“There’s still so much stigma attached to mental illness and substance use disorders,” Simpson said. “The more we can educate and make people feel OK about talking about those things, the greater impact we’ll have on turning some things around.”
During the event, Simpson promoted the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline as well, which offers 24/7 access to trained crisis counselors who can help people experiencing mental health-related distress.
The lifeline is available nationwide and connects callers with a trained professional in the state from which they are calling. North Carolina residents contacting the 988 services are connected to a team in Greenville. The lifeline offers free and confidential support and can also help callers connect with nearby services.
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ECU Health Behavioral Health Services
ECU Health, Acadia Healthcare host groundbreaking ceremony for new behavioral health hospital
To be a health care provider is to answer a calling. For some, the journey to health care is a straight line; for others, the road is winding. This series features stories from ECU Health team members who took the winding road, but found the destination to be worth the effort.
“Nursing was not my first plan.”
That may be a surprising admission from Trish Baise, Chief Nursing Executive at ECU Health, but she’s very clear that she did not initially intend to pursue a career in health care.
“From first grade on, I was going to go to law school and join the FBI,” Baise said, but those plans fell flat during her freshman year of college. “I got to college and felt overwhelmed my freshman year. I wasn’t excited about the classes I was taking.”
Like many students, Baise worked full time to put herself through college; during that time, she took a student job dispatching for the police department. She continued taking classes, despite not being sure how to proceed with her career.
“I still thought I might go to law school, but I wasn’t entirely sure,” Baise said. “I was just trying to get my undergraduate work completed.”
At that point, Baise said she ended up getting married and had her first child, still with no degree. “I was taking classes part time and working full time, this time dispatching for the fire department,” Baise said. To do that, she was required to get her Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) license, and that’s when the lightbulb went off.
“I realized I preferred being on the ambulance as opposed to dispatching,” Baise said. “I wanted to be in the action.”
Baise said what drew her to health care was the focus on team and purpose; it was clear to her the impact these providers had every day. “That’s when I found my calling, and it started me off in a completely different direction than I thought I was going to go,” she said. Baise then enrolled in nursing school to get her associate’s degree.
Despite the hard turn from law, Baise said her previous jobs and education have absolutely influenced her current work.
“My mind works in an investigative way, seeking the truth,” Baise explained. “A large part of my work, especially in leadership, but also as a clinician, is gathering data, finding facts, getting to the truth and identifying what information you need to make an informed decision and plan. The law and regulatory classes I took as a student — you have to have a broad understanding of these things in health care. They impact the decisions we make.”
Having that baseline knowledge helped Baise be successful as she transitioned from the bedside to leadership roles, even if being a nurse leader wasn’t her intention.
“I had a mentor who joked that some people walk forward through a door, but I’ve been backing in the door my whole career,” Baise laughed. “I always ended up migrating toward positions with leadership responsibility, even if I wasn’t actively seeking out those things. I just saw a gap and I had a skill set that would be helpful. I’ve always wanted to know where I can make the biggest impact, to lead and inspire teams and to transform.”
That keys in to Baise’s calling to “report to someone I’m ethically aligned with, build a great team and do great things together.” Leadership, she said, allows her to fulfill that personal mission in big ways.
Achieving her own goals has been made possible by working with ECU Health.
“I just celebrated my year anniversary,” Baise said. “ECU Health’s mission brought me here. I’m aligned ethically with the mission, and we have a huge runway in front of us to do great things together. There is no better space to do great things than here, where we can be creative and we have an academic medical center that can provide any procedure.” The availability of resources to support nurses and rural health care is another big draw for Baise: “We can put things in place to achieve our goal of being a national model for nursing excellence and rural medicine. As my career and my desire to impact nursing has grown, ECU Health has given me a chance to achieve those goals.”
To anyone considering a career in health care, Baise has some simple advice. “I’d say talk to people they know who work in health care. Shadow, volunteer and see what the day-to-day is for those roles.” Baise also noted that there are many options when it comes to working in health care. “It’s so broad that there are clinical options and operational. There’s something for everyone. The key is to find your passion and where your skills can be used best.”
As for Baise’s journey, she said it’s been pretty amazing. “From an EMT to a paramedic, to a nurse ranging from an associate’s degree to a doctorate, and now in a leadership role, I’ve loved every minute of it. It was not my original plan, but the non-plan plan has worked out pretty well.”