predecessor eastcare founded greenville north carolina april 8 1985 1985 04 08 founder pitt county memorial hospital headquarters greenville north carolina united states area served eastern north carolina ; southeastern virginia key people scott sampey program director vidant eastcare ; dave thomson md ms medical director vidant eastcare ; owner vidant health ; vidant medical center number of employees 125 website vidant eastcare vidant eastcare is the critical care mobile air and ground transport of vidant health vh at vidant medical center vmc . it serves 29 counties in eastern north carolina . 1 2 it is sponsored by vmc and the brody school of medicine at east carolina university . vmc is the only level 1 trauma center east of raleigh . 3 it is one of nine air ambulances plus marine corps air station cherry point located in north carolina and serves a radius of 230 nautical miles 430 km ; 260 mi around greenville without refueling . 4 dave thomson is the current medical director for vidant eastcare and scott sampey is the program director . 4 5 vidant eastcare can be dispatched for a number of causes including trauma burn neonatal high risk pregnancy hyperbaric medicine stroke and myocardial infarction . 6 vidant eastcare is most often sent for cardiac patients followed by trauma pediatric and neonatal patients . 7 the only air crash occurred on january 8 1987 when everyone on board perished . in january 2012 vidant medical transport changed its name from eastcare as part of a system wide renaming initiative . in october 2014 vidant medical transport became vidant eastcare as it has long been associated with quality and service . vidant health is a coordinated system of care serving a 29 county region that s committed to creating access to high quality care providing exceptional experiences and the best possible outcomes . vidant eastcare is the advanced critical care transport service that delivers on that commitment on the road and in the sky when it matters most . contents 1 history 1.1 1987 crash 1.2 hurricane floyd 2 air ambulances 3 ground transport 4 awards and recognitions 5 references 6 external links history edit on december 18 1984 the vmc board of trustees budgeted 754 119 to set up a helicopter ambulance service . 8 eastcare was established by vmc on april 8 1985 . 9 on june 30 1985 an open house was held to usher in the new ambulance service . 8 original flight crew pilots flight nurses willie dykes mike mcginnis chief flight nurse dolly bryan breda hurdle sam ewing mary jo bankhead pam demaree john nelson perry reynolds alena bramble betty harris cindy raisor eastcare helped vmc become a level 1 trauma center in november 1985 . 8 it expanded to critical care ground transport in august 1994 . 10 by 2000 vmc adds a second helicopter to their fleet . also vmc begins the construction of a new emergency department . the four story emergency department is a two helicopter rooftop landing pad which was complete in november 2003 . the communication center is also located on the top floor of this tower overlooking the helipad . 11 12 in 2009 the ground ambulances went on more than 10 000 trips . 13 1987 crash edit eastcare flew in a bell 206l longranger helicopter to the naval hospital at camp lejeune on january 8 1987 to transport a child . the helicopter crashed around 9 30 pm in the hoffman forest near pollocksville in jones county . pilot perry l. reynolds flight nurses mike mcginnis and pam demaree and the patient all died . the crew reported a fire on board during its last mayday . marine search and rescue from air station new river found the burning wreckage around 9 40 pm . most of the cabin was burned away and the last body was removed at around 2 00 am and all taken to jacksonville . the national transportation safety boards preliminary results suggested the helicopter banked to the right with its nose down when it crashed . 8 14 15 hurricane floyd edit main article hurricane floyd on september 16 1999 hurricane floyd made landfall in north carolina . 16 the tar river which runs through greenville suffered the worst flooding exceeding 500 year flood levels along its lower stretches ; it crested 24 feet 7.3 m above flood stage . 17 damages in pitt county alone were estimated at 1.6 billion 1999 usd 1.87 billion 2006 usd . 18 vmc turned into a landing zone for helicopters landing and departing . vmc at the time owned one helicopter . eastcare flew 102missions from landfall to ten days later . the first mission occurred on the afternoon of landfall . eastcare transported a woman who had been rescued pinetops from her rooftop who was nearing labor . 19 the situation far exceeded vmc s aerial capability . mission st. joseph s health system in asheville sent one helicopter for two days the university of pittsburgh medical center sent one helicopter and two teams for six days and rocky mountain air the company that owned the eastcare helicopters at the time sent one helicopter for two days . many military helicopters from the north carolina air national guard were used to help rescue survivors and bring them to the hospital . 19 at the height of the aftermath there were as many as thirty helicopter missions each day more than ten times the rate normally . a few days after the storm hit the staff was fatigued and was replaced . it became vidant eastcare s job to fly and pick up staff who work at the hospital . vidant eastcare also transported patients and supplies to and from the hospital . 20 air ambulances edit vidant eastcare currently has five helicopters with bases in beaufort county nash county craven county and wayne county . metro aviation inc. based in shreveport la . is the aviation operator . the helicopterscomplete around 2 400 times per year with the average one way flight being 30 minutes . 10 the callsign for dispatch is eastcare communications and for the helicopters are eastcare air1 eastcare air2 eastcare air3 eastcare air4 and eastcare air5 . ground transport edit vidant eastcare began critical care ground transport in 1994 . the ambulances include two neonatal transfer ambulances and ten type i ambulances . there are also six ambulances for advanced and basic life support . the ground transport vehicles are primary stationed either in greenville or at one of the satellite stations . the other stations are bertie county duplin county nash county onslow county and pitt county . 12 awards and recognitions edit in 1993 it was the first program east of the mississippi river and fifth overall to be accredited by the commission on accreditation of medical transport systems . by 1996 it was the first program to be re accredited and the first to be accredited for critical care ground transport . 21 in 2000 it was selected as the program of the year by the association of air medical services . it received the helicopter world air ambulance search and rescue 2001 award for its work during hurricane floyd . 10 references edit ferguson jeffrey october december 2008 . what s going on at eastcare pdf . the siren . greenville north carolina ecu emergency medicine brody school of medicine at east carolina university . pp. 1 2 . retrieved october 12 2010 . eastcare air medical service takes dlivery of ec135 with two ec145s to follow . retrieved 24 july 2011 . office of emergency medical services march 15 2010 . designated trauma centers . nc division of health service regulation . north carolina department of health and human services . retrieved october 13 2010 . a b dial codes pdf . raleigh north carolina north carolina office of emergency medical services . october 22 2010 . pp. 139 142 . full time emergency medicine faculty . ecu emergency medicine . the brody school of medicine . february 11 2009 . retrieved october 12 2010 . dale reeder rhonda . critical lessons learned from trauma powerpoint . university health systems of eastern carolina . retrieved october 13 2010 . abramowitz michael october 20 2010 . eastcare celebrates 25 years . the daily reflector . the daily reflector . archived from the original on october 23 2010 . retrieved october 20 2010 . a b c d williams wayne c. 2001 . pcmh a tradition of excellence . greenville north carolina barefoot press . pp. 110 111 132 133 . isbn 0 9703999 0 1 . eastcare . emergency medical services . pitt county development commission . 2010 . retrieved october 12 2010 . a b c eastcare . ecu emergency medicine . the brody school of medicine . 2009 . retrieved october 20 2010 . economic history of pitt county 1690 2010 pdf . pitt county development commission . june 2010 . retrieved october 13 2010 . a b atkins beth anne september 25 2007 . uhs cuts ribbon on new eastcare satellite location in nash county . uhs news . greenville north carolina university health systems of north carolina . retrieved october 12 2010 . freedman alex october 19 2010 . eastcare celebrates birthday new technology in medical transport . wnct . media general communications holdings llc . retrieved october 20 2010 . associated press january 10 1987 . 5 are killed in crash of a marine helicopter . the new york times . the new york times company . retrieved october 13 2010 . fouts charles t. january 25 1990 . atl87ma057 . factual report aviation . national transportation safety board . retrieved october 13 2010 . national hurricane center 1999 . preliminary report hurricane floyd . noaa . retrieved october 21 2010 . flooding in tarboro and princeville . daniel design associates . retrieved october 21 2010 . national climatic data center 1999 . climate watch september 1999 . noaa . retrieved november 2 2010 . a b boyd doug . as water soaked the ground pcmh aircraft filled the sky . joyner library . east carolina university . retrieved 24 july 2011 . lindberg curt . pitt county memorial hospital weathering and weaving lessons from the trenches . plexus institute . retrieved october 21 2010 . boyd doug december 5 2000 . eastcare transport program named best of year . division of health sciences news . east carolina university news bureau . retrieved october 12 2010 . external links edit eastcare homepage faa registry for pitt county memorial template vidant health vidant medical center retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title eastcare & oldid 741611953 categories air ambulance services in the united statesambulance services in the united states navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 28 september 2016 at 16 05 . 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