Flashing lights and blaring sirens marked what Chief Medical Officer Sheranda Gunn-Nolan calls “the hardest year in medicine.”On Monday, first responders thanked Sovah healthcare workers who are tackling the pandemic on the frontlines. “What has been very difficult has been the feeling of helplessness because as caregivers we are here to help heal the body,” said Sovah Health Interim Chief Executive Officer Tory Shepherd. Seeing spikes in January at the system’s hospitals in Martinsville and Danville, 25 patients a day were in the critical care unit in Martinsville. With a vaccine available, many health care workers are rejoicing. Ad”We were able to do this under a year is a testament to man’s ingenuity,” said Dr. James McKay with Sovah Health.

The top man at Sovah Health in Martinsville is out. The health system confirmed to 10 News that Dale Alward is no longer the CEO at the Martinsville campus. Tory Shepherd, the hospital’s COO, will now serve as interim CEO. Tory Shepherd (Sovah Health)“We will inform our community when a permanent leader has been identified,” wrote Sovah Marketing Director Kelly Fitzgerald to 10 News in an email. “As a matter of practice, we maintain confidentiality on all personnel matters, so we cannot provide additional details.”This news comes on the same day that we learned Centra CEO Dr. Andy Mueller is leaving for Maine.

LYNCHBURG, Va. – Health officials in the Southwest Region, including Carilion, Centra, LewisGale, and Sovah, report 280 patients are hospitalized with the coronavirus, 61 are in the ICU and 30 are on ventilators. At Centra Health, officials are unsure when they’ll get the vaccine or how. “They do likely have some amount of immunity to it, unclear of how much and for how long. We still don’t still know is that enough immunity to protect them for a good enough while that we’d say, ‘well, let’s not vaccine,” said Dr. Christopher Lewis of Centra Health. Centra officials say they’re not going to mandate it for caregivers but strongly encourage it.