Community, Facility, & Organization
Nestled in the heart of the beautiful Appalachian Mountains are Lee and Wise counties, a region unique in scenic beauty, location and attributes. Here you will find an area with a low crime rate, virtually no traffic and one of the lowest cost of living averages in the nation. The area enjoys four distinct seasons, but with mild weather year round to support a multitude of outdoor recreational activities, such as hiking, golfing, fishing, biking, camping and canoeing.
Both Wise and Lee counties are within an hour’s drive to a number of larger cities like Kingsport and Johnson City, Tenn., and within two to three hour’s drive to even larger cities like Knoxville, and Gatlinburg, Tenn., and Lexington, Ky. There are a number of colleges and universities in our area, including the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, Mountain Empire Community College and Lincoln Memorial University, which includes the DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine.
The counties are located in the southwestern portion of Virginia and are home to three Wellmont Health System hospitals.
Mountain View Regional Medical Center, located in Norton, Va., has served the region since 1948. The 133-bed community hospital provides a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, including 24-hour emergency services. The facility continues to advance medicine and make strides in technology, while maintaining compassionate, quality health care. Mountain View Regional was the first facility in the region to install a 64-slice computed tomography scanner, the most advanced in the area. Mountain View Regional also has a dual-certified 44-bed skilled/intermediate long term care unit located within the hospital.
Lonesome Pine Hospital, located in Big Stone Gap, Va., has been recognized as one of the nation’s Top 100 hospitals for performance improvement. Providing a full spectrum of health care services, the 60-bed community hospital continues to grow to better serve the healthcare needs of the community. Lonesome Pine is a founding member of the Appalachian Regional Stroke Center Network, a collaborative effort between several rural hospitals in Southwest Virginia to better care for patients suffering from a stroke. Lonesome Pine recently completed a $5 million expansion and improvement project that increased the number of emergency department exam rooms, added new space for a same-day surgery center, PACU/recovery area and two endoscopy suites and added a new magnetic resonance imaging machine.
Lee Regional Medical Center, located in Pennington Gap, Va., is an 80-bed facility that HCIA Sachs previously ranked as a “Top 100 Hospital.” Lee Regional provides 24-hour emergency services, both inpatient and outpatient medical and surgical services along with intensive care and telemetry services