Aeroterra Health Welcomes ECU Health as Newest Governing Member
New member expands national collaboration focused on advancing safety, sustainability and innovation in medical transport.
Murray, Utah – October 14, 2026 – Aeroterra HealthSM, a nonprofit business of healthcare and medical transport partners, today announced ECU Health as the organization’s newest governing member, marking an important milestone in its continued growth.
Aeroterra Health was established in November 2025 by six leading nonprofit organizations working collaboratively to address systemic challenges facing the medical transport industry. The organization brings partners together to share resources, strengthen safety, improve financial sustainability, maintain access to critical transport services and advance the field of transport medicine.
As Aeroterra Health’s first new governing member to join the founding members, ECU Health will add the experience and perspective of a longtime critical care transport program serving rural eastern North Carolina. ECU Health’s EastCare program provides critical care air and ground transportation throughout eastern North Carolina. The program has served its communities since 1985 and is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems.
“Joining Aeroterra Health gives ECU Health an opportunity to work alongside like-minded organizations that share our commitment to providing safe, high-quality care to the communities we serve,” said ECU Health Chief Nursing Executive Trish Baise. “Collaboration allows us to learn from one another, strengthen our industry and create solutions that help ensure patients continue to have access to critical transport services when they need them most.”
Admitting new governing membership provides an avenue for additional aligned organizations to join the member-governed collaborative and help shape its future. ECU Health has appointed Baise, who oversees the EastCare program, to serve as its representative on the Aeroterra Health Board of Directors. ECU Health will have an equal and active voice in the organization’s priorities and strategic direction.
“Welcoming ECU Health as our first new governing member represents exactly the kind of growth we envisioned when we created this organization,” said Chairman of Aeroterra Health Board of Directors Jonathan Collier, who also serves as Vice President of Mobile Medicine for Advocate Health. “The future of transport medicine will be stronger when organizations are willing to share expertise, tackle common challenges together and learn from one another. ECU Health brings decades of experience and a strong commitment to the patients and communities it serves, and we are excited to have their voice at the table.”
Aeroterra Health operates as a collaborative Health Care Utility designed to leverage the collective scale, expertise and resources of its members. Its founding organizations are Advocate Health, Flight For Life Wisconsin, HealthNet Aeromedical Services, Intermountain Health, MedFlight of Ohio and Vanderbilt Health Medical Center.
“The addition of ECU Health is an exciting step forward for Aeroterra Health and demonstrates the value of bringing nonprofit transport medicine organizations together around common goals,” said Brian Doughty, who serves as Aeroterra Health’s Responsible Executive and Executive Vice President and CFO of HealthNet Aeromedical Services. “Every new perspective strengthens our ability to identify meaningful opportunities for collaboration, responsible stewardship and continuous improvement. Ultimately, our work together is about building a stronger, more sustainable environment for medical transport and the patients who depend on it.”
About Aeroterra HealthSM
Aeroterra HealthSM is a nonprofit business of healthcare and medical transport partners formed in 2025 and focused on safety, responsible stewardship and continuous improvement. Created as a member-governed Health Care Utility with guidance from the Mindshare Institute, Aeroterra Health brings organizations together to share resources and address systemic challenges facing the medical transport industry. Visit www.aeroterrahealth.org to learn more.
About ECU Health
ECU Health is a mission-driven, 1,708-bed academic health care system serving more than 1.4 million people in 29 eastern North Carolina counties. The not-for-profit system is comprised of more than 15,000 team members, nine hospitals, a children’s hospital and a physician group that encompasses over 1,200 academic and community providers practicing in over 220 primary and specialty clinics located in more than 120 locations. The flagship ECU Health Medical Center and ECU Health’s Maynard Children’s Hospital – both Level I Trauma Centers – serve as the primary teaching hospitals for the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. ECU Health and the Brody School of Medicine share a combined academic mission to improve the health and well-being of eastern North Carolina through patient care, education and research. For more information, visit www.ECUHealth.org.
Contact:
Brian Doughty
Responsible Executive – Aeroterra Health
brian.doughty@aeroterrahealth.org