The ECU Health Volunteen Summer Program is designed to teach students ages 15 to 17 the value of community service and to provide experiences that foster growth and maturity. The program also provides an opportunity for the students to learn about and explore health care careers. Mattox Piscorik, a senior this year at D. H. Conley High School in Greenville, and Abigail Williford, a junior at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, have both served as Volunteens at ECU Health Beaufort Hospital, a place where they enjoyed working in a small, family-like community.
Mattox Piscorik
For Mattox Piscorik, ECU Health is a family affair. His entire family works in health care in some way, making it natural for him to also choose a career path in the field.
“My mom’s a nurse at ECU Health, my sister-in-law is a cardiovascular sonographer, my brother is an ECU dental school student, and my other brother is in pharmaceuticals,” he laughed. “I even recruited my grandmother to be a NICU volunteer. I grew up in health care and I love it.”
His brothers also both served in the ECU Health Volunteens program, which sparked Mattox’s interest in volunteering at the hospital when he got old enough to do so. He began at the ECU Health Medical Center, but this past summer he spent time at ECU Health Beaufort Hospital. That’s where he got the idea to pursue a career as a hospital administrator. “I thought I wanted to be an emergency department (ED) doctor,” Mattox explained. “But after starting the Volunteens program and talking to Dr. [Dennis] Campbell (president of ECU Health Beaufort Hospital) this past summer, I fell in love right then and there with health care administration. I want to work at ECU Health and give back to the families in need in eastern North Carolina.”
While Mattox enjoyed his experience volunteering at the ECU Health Medical Center, which offered many opportunities to learn, he said he especially enjoyed the small community setting at Beaufort. “Everyone knows everyone, and you get to know the patients and their families. I wanted to make a strong connection and impact that community,” he said.
While at Beaufort, Mattox said he worked in the ambulatory surgery unit (ASU) taking patients to pre-op and then back to their cars after surgery. He also worked in the hospital lobby greeting patients and families and helping them find where they needed to go. “I also shadowed an ED doctor, and it was so awesome to see exactly what nurses, physician assistants, doctors and the others do in that setting,” he said.
This type of work is extremely gratifying, said Mattox, especially considering he’s seen the hospital from a patient’s family member perspective. “My dad had a couple of cardiac events and was in the hospital,” he said. “I got to see things from that side, and it showed me that these families need someone to show them compassion.”
That patient and family interaction is what Mattox enjoys the most. “You don’t know what they’re going through, and just being able to put a smile on their face and give them someone to lean on means a lot. Everyone comes together at the Medical Center and Beaufort, and it’s a team effort to provide care for eastern North Carolina. This includes the volunteers, and it means I can make an impact.”
Abigail Williford
Abigail Williford is a Chocowinity native who plans to attend medical school. She’s known for much of her life that she wanted to work in health care, in part because of her own experience as a patient at the ECU Health Medical Center. “I was born 10 weeks early and was in the NICU,” she shared. “Every year we go to Greenville and take the NICU a cake and a card to show our appreciation for them and what they do.” Her specific area of interest has evolved over time, from a neonatologist to a surgeon; but whatever she chooses, Abigail said it’s always medicine and she wants to give back.
That’s why being a Volunteen at ECU Health Beaufort Hospital made sense. “My mom heard about the program and she told me about it. I thought it sounded interesting and have been doing it for two years now.” Abigail opted to serve at Beaufort Hospital. “It’s smaller and that was better for me starting out,” she said. “Starting in a smaller community lets you get your bearings, and I plan to go back next year.”
Abigail said it’s the people that keep her coming back. “Everyone is so nice. You’re welcomed there, and everyone is willing to give you opportunities to help and learn.” Some of the services Abigail has provided include taking phone calls, delivering meals and flowers, working the front desk and signing people in, running wheelchairs to various parts of the hospital, helping in the ASU and directing people to where they need to go. “It’s cool to hear the patients and families tell their stories. I try to bring joy to their lives and it’s great to see their happy faces.” She also had the chance to observe a few surgical procedures, and some of her time volunteering in cardiac rehabilitation gave her the chance to see patients work hard to recover.
This experience has taught her that you never know what people are going through. “You might look at someone and wonder why they are so upset, but then you realize they have something serious going on. You have a choice to be a light in their day.”
Angelina Brittle, the manager of volunteer services at ECU Health Beaufort Hospital, sees the Volunteen program as a great way for teens to connect with their community while gaining valuable skills. “The Volunteen program provides a meaningful opportunity for students to experience the health care environment firsthand,” she said. “At ECU Health Beaufort, we see incredible value in offering these experiences, not only to help teens explore potential career paths, but also to foster personal growth, teamwork and a spirit of giving back. Volunteering in a health care setting allows them to connect with their community in a unique way, leaving a lasting impact on both the teens and those they serve.”
The process to apply to be a Volunteen is easy, and both Mattox and Abigail encourage any students interested in working in a hospital setting to apply. Applications for the 2025 program, which runs from mid-June to the beginning of August, open in January 2025, and students can volunteer at ECU Health Medical Center, Beaufort, Duplin or Edgecombe. Due to an increased interest in the program, applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as the application opens. To learn more about the Volunteen program and to apply online in January 2025, visit ecuhealth.org/volunteers/#Beaufort or email Angelina Brittle at [email protected].
Eastern North Carolinians know all too well the devastation that accompanies major hurricanes. When Hurricane Helene hit our neighbors to the west, ECU Health and Eastern Healthcare Preparedness Coalition (EHPC) team members did not hesitate to answer the call. Since Friday, these specialized team members have been providing ongoing support to hospitals and health care facilities as they work to ensure patients can be safely cared for in the fallout of the catastrophic storm.
“Our folks are great. As soon as this happened, our disaster preparedness group started putting together what we have, how can we help and how we can get there,” said ECU Health Chief Operating Officer Brian Floyd. “One of the things I love about ECU Health is we are filled with people who just care. I could not be more proud of the collective response from our team members, including those who went as part of our organizational response, and those who are helping donate to recovery efforts.”
Across western North Carolina, more than 20 hospitals were impacted by the storm and thousands of people left devastated. Some are without water and power and others are in various phases of assessment and stabilizing operations. Beyond facility issues, hazards rendered the roads dangerous and, in some cases, unable to be used at all.
Through our EHPC, ECU Health is closely aligned with NC Emergency Management for daily coordination of hospital and patient care needs. In one example, the team directly supported the evacuation of 23 residents in a care facility and help relocated the individuals to a safer location using the Medical Ambulance Bus.
Stephanie Seals, disaster services specialist with EHPC, was among the first group of team members to deploy to western North Carolina. Within 24 hours, the team “pre-deployed” to the area carrying supplies, the ambulance bus and experts to help. The ECU Health team was among the first to arrive in the region in the early hours after the storm moved through.
Shortly after she arrived on-site in western North Carolina, Seals was tasked with an important job by the state: directing the Statewide Patient Coordination Team support cell. This support cell – which is vitally important given the outages impacting connectivity at hospitals and health care facilities – brings all transfer centers together to help expedite critical care transports out of the western part of the state and to safer locations.
Many transfers from impacted hospitals to new locations have required assistance from the Statewide Patient Coordination Team support cell. This process involves assessing patient needs, working to find capacity at a new facility and helping to arrange critical care transport.
“It’s hard to overstate the importance of this work, especially during a disaster that impacts critical communication services that care teams and patients rely on,” said Seals. “It takes tremendous coordination to ensure we can get patients safely transferred to a facility that has availability to care for them. In some cases, we’re receiving phone calls from people huddled in the corner of the hospitals because that’s the only place they can get service for a few moments. From there, we take that information to help arrange the necessary transport services.”
Should patients need to be transferred as far east as ECU Health, the system stands ready to serve patients and families from western North Carolina. In the meantime, as recovery efforts continue, ECU Health and EHPC are continuing to do their part to support those impacted by the devastation of the storm in whatever way they can.
“ECU Health is deeply involved and fully aware of what’s going on and is staying connected in the work, and we need to remember this is not a short-term turnaround,” said Floyd. “This issue is going to take a long time for them to get to some form of stability. But we’re here to help and committed to doing what we can to support those impacted.”
Each summer, teenagers from across eastern North Carolina dedicate a portion of their summer to serve their community at ECU Health hospitals across the region.
The VolunTeen Program is designed to teach students ages 15-17 the value of community service and to provide experiences that foster growth and maturity. The program runs from June to August and volunteers serve at least one shift per week at the hospital.
At ECU Health Medical Center, 122 teens completed 4,717 hours of service across 39 departments this summer. Sara Tingen, volunteer services coordinator at ECU Health Medical Center, said this year was very successful and they hosted their largest group of VolunTeens since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the volunteers serve in many roles across the hospital, Tingen said patient transporting from one area of the hospital to another is one of the most important tasks.
“The (ECU Health) Cancer Center alone can see 400 people in one day,” Tingen said. “That’s a lot of time it would take for a nurse or other team members to transport a patient, they rely heavily on our transport volunteers. They can just pick up the phone, say, ‘Hey, I need this person to go here to there.’ And it’s done, they can move on to caring for their next patient. We’re proud to be a smiling face and someone patients can connect with while we help them get around.”
Emily Anthony recently finished her third summer in the VolunTeen Program, where she spent her time escorting patients, assisting the Volunteer Services team on projects and serving as a leader for other VolunTeens.
She said her favorite part of the VolunTeen Program is talking to patients and team members while also making connections with her fellow VolunTeens. Emily is entering her senior year of high school and wants to pursue health care.
“It’s really great to get experience in health care, because I want to do something in health care, maybe a nurse,” she said. “The first summer, I just thought it would be a good experience to do the VolunTeen Program but I just loved working in the hospital. I worked in a unit the first summer with all the nurses and I just loved it.”
Christopher Latimer is entering his sophomore year of high school and said he had a great experience in his first year as a VolunTeen. He’s already decided he’ll join again next summer.
He said he’s had an interest in nursing and getting first-hand experience working alongside nurses has helped him understand the day-to-day work of a nurse in a hospital setting.
“I was on 2 South most of the time and I worked in the Cancer Center as well,” Christopher said. “They were both good experiences. I was going around, asking patients questions and seeing if I could help them in any way. I helped the care partners, seeing if I could help out the nurses with anything, really. I’m thinking about nursing and I’m going to also try and do different areas the next time I VolunTeen to see more and just kind of see my options in health care.”
Chad Tucker, director of Volunteer Services at ECU Health Medical Center, said Christopher’s experience is exactly what the program hopes to give back to the local students who are spending their time serving their community.
“This program is an investment in our future,” Tucker said. “A lot of these students are going into college and they get a chance to see the hospital first hand. It’s so rewarding when you see former VolunTeens who are in medical school, or they’re nurses here, they’re respiratory therapists, they are in various capacities and they attribute part of their foundation to the VolunTeen Program. These young people are able to help team members and the patients we serve, but it also gives them help in their careers.”
The program also offers Leadership Sessions for VolunTeens, which gives them a chance to see unique areas of the health system and opportunities for skill development. In one session, the group visited the EastCare helipad, learned about the team, got to look around the inside of a helicopter and even saw a landing.
In another session, the Human Resources and Workforce Development team worked on resume building and shared interview tips with the VolunTeens.
“We have quite a few seniors who are coming up on college applications so if they’re interviewing for jobs or interviewing for scholarships, it just gives them a good perspective on how to navigate possibly their first interview as a young adult,” Tingen said.
We’re proud to support the VolunTeen Program at ECU Health Medical Center and select ECU Health Community Hospitals and we’re grateful for the teen who step up each summer to help us serve eastern North Carolina.
To learn more about the VolunTeen Program and other volunteer opportunities at ECU Health, visit ECUHealth.org/Volunteers.