EastCare

On December 18, 1984, the PCMH Board of Trustees budgeted $754,119 to set up a helicopter ambulance service. EastCare was established by PCMH on April 8, 1985. On June 30, 1985, an open house was held to usher in the new ambulance service.

EastCare helped ECU Health Medical Center become a level 1 trauma center in November 1985. It expanded to critical care ground transport in August 1994. By 2000, ECU Health Medical Center added a second helicopter to their fleet. Additionally, ECU Health Medical Center began the construction of a new emergency department. The four-story emergency department, which includes a two-helicopter rooftop landing pad, was completed in November 2003. In 2009, the ground ambulances went on more than 10,000 trips.

Hurricane Floyd

On September 16, 1999, Hurricane Floyd made landfall in North Carolina. 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. Damages in Pitt County alone were estimated at $1.6 billion (1999 USD, $1.87 billion 2006 USD).

ECU Health Medical Center turned into a landing zone for helicopters landing and departing. At the time, VMC owned one helicopter. EastCare flew 102 missions from landfall to ten days later. The first mission occurred on the afternoon of landfall when EastCare transported a woman who had been rescued from her rooftop in Pinetops and was nearing labor. The situation far exceeded VMC's aerial capability. Mission St. Joseph's Health System in Asheville sent one helicopter for two days, STAT MedEvac sent one helicopter and two teams for six days, and Rocky Mountain Helicopters / Air Methods, the company that operated EastCare's 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. At the height of the aftermath, there were as many s thirty helicopter missions each day, more than ten times the normal rate. A few days after the storm hit, the staff was fatigued and was replaced. It became ECU Health EastCare's job to fly and pick up staff who worked at the hospital. ECU Health EastCare also transported patients and supplies to and from the hospital.

In addition to an upper landing pad on the roof of the ECU Medical Center emergency department used for patient transfers, EastCare also maintains a full-service heliport on the ECU Health main campus. Located at 35°36′31″N 077°24′26″W, its FAA LID is NC91. Commonly referred to as the lower pad, the full-service aviation facility consists of a 100 x 100-foot main helipad and two smaller parking pads. On-site amenities include hot/cold refuel, maintenance, and crew rest facilities for EastCare aircraft and aircrews. EastCare helicopters typically drop off patients and medical crew at the upper pad before transitioning to the lower pad to await their next call. Both the upper and lower pads are for the exclusive use of EastCare-assigned and other authorized air medical aircraft; all other use requires prior permission. With approximately 9,000 yearly operations, the EastCare heliport is one of the busiest civil heliports in the United States.