Preparing for a Healthy Future in the Greenville, NC, Region
Rural communities across the country are facing aging populations coupled with a critical shortage of health care workers. Health care resources based in Greenville-Pitt County, the medical hub of eastern North Carolina, are looking to help their neighboring communities. Statistics show that by 2040, North Carolina’s population of residents aged 65 and older will increase from 1.8 million to an estimated 2.7 million, and this growth has heightened the demand for health care providers in Greenville, NC, and its surrounding communities.
In response, ECU Health system and the College of Nursing at East Carolina University (ECU) have partnered to develop a new adult gerontology acute care nurse practitioner (AGACNP) post-master’s degree certificate program. The program, which launched in January 2025, is designed to prepare nurse practitioners to serve communities in need.
A Reputation for Excellence in Nursing
“The only acute care nurse practitioner programs in the state initially were at Duke University, so those nurses wishing to go and advance their careers were either paying high costs to go to a private institution or they were having to go out of state,” says Kristie Hertel, concentration director of the ECU AGACNP certificate program. “Being able to offer this to nurse practitioners is something that we really needed in this area. Now, local students can access specialized training and return to their communities equipped with the skills necessary for advanced patient care.”
ECU’s College of Nursing has a reputation for excellence at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and provides a strong foundation for the AGACNP program’s success. ECU collaborates closely with ECU Health to ensure students receive hands-on experience in clinical settings, which is also critical to the program’s success.
Stronger Together in Eastern North Carolina
“The composition of our system alone provides all sorts of clinical settings where students in this certificate program can get the clinical preceptorship mentorship that they need, ensuring that when they finish the program, they are ready to provide these services,” says Pam Rudisill, vice president of nursing excellence at ECU Health. “We know that nurse practitioners – and certainly nurse practitioners in this specialty – have been shown to provide care that improves the health of patients and prevents further complications to where the patient does not have to come back into the hospital setting because of complications.”
Rudisill says the program will also strengthen the workforce because the curriculum prepares nurse practitioners to care for patients who are critically ill and injured,not only at ECU Health, but also in rural communities and critical access hospitals.
“ECU Health offers so many different opportunities for health care providers, not only this group of acute care nurse practitioners, but for nurses in all specialties,” she says. “Whether they want to work at the academic medical center, in the outpatient clinics, in long-term care facilities or in rehab facilities, this group of nurse practitioners specializing in gerontology will have no shortage of opportunities for employment.”
Additionally, ECU offers scholarships to support students, making the program more accessible to aspiring nurse practitioners. ECU Health supports participants with incentives, such as tuition reimbursement, further encouraging health care workers to pursue advanced training.
Serving Their Home Communities
Hertel says many of the program’s students are from eastern North Carolina, and they are committed to returning to their home communities after completing the program.
“A lot of our students coming in the program are born and raised in these local rural communities, and then they come and take the skills and knowledge they receive back into their home communities to provide that much-needed care,” Hertel says. “We understand that rural health component and how important the hometown is. Incorporating that into our ability to train and educate this next generation of nurse practitioners is what really puts us above and beyond other programs.”
The local focus strengthens the program’s impact, ensuring that it contributes to the overall health and well-being of the region, which also aligns with ECU Health’s mission to provide quality care to all the communities it serves.
“This program provides the high quality, expert, excellent care that we strive to give our patient population,” Rudisill says. “This helps us better serve our community and maintain a healthy population.”
Get to Know Greenville NC
Want to learn more about living and working in Greenville, NC? Check out the latest edition of Livability Greenville-Pitt County, North Carolina.