LewisGale Hospital Montgomery, formerly Montgomery Regional Hospital (MRH), is a

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

in the town of Blacksburg, in

Montgomery County, Virginia Montgomery County is a county located in the Valley and Ridge area of the U.S. state of Virginia. As population in the area increased, Montgomery County was formed in 1777 from Fincastle County, which in turn had been taken from Botetourt Count ...

. The hospital is a subsidiary of

Hospital Corporation of America HCA Healthcare is an American for-profit operator of health care facilities that was founded in 1968. It is based in Nashville, Tennessee, and, as of May 2020, owns and operates 186 hospitals and approximately 2,000 sites of care, including sur ...

History

LewisGale Hospital Montgomery, opened in 1971, is a 146-bed general acute-care facility certified as a

level III trauma center A trauma center (or trauma centre) is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major traumatic injuries such as falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. A trauma center may also refer to an emerge ...

. The facility replaced Altamont Hospital, which was opened in 1910 in neighboring Christiansburg as a privately owned hospital with 12 beds. The hospital was expanded to 20 beds in 1923 by its founder, Dr. A. M. Showalter. In 1967, the hospital was reorganized into a community hospital and was renamed for its founder as the A.M. Showalter Memorial Hospital. In 1969, pursuant to the efforts of the Showalter administrator, James Sublett,

(HCA) provided financing for construction of the current facility. After several name changes and transfers of ownership, the facility was renamed LewisGale Hospital Montgomery in 2010, as part of HCA's LewisGale Regional Health System.

2006 shooting

On August 20, 2006,

William Morva William Charles Morva (February 9, 1982 – July 6, 2017) was an American-Hungarian criminal convicted of the 2006 shooting deaths of Sheriff's Deputy Corporal Eric Sutphin, 40, and hospital security guard Derrick McFarland, 32, in the town of B ...

shot and killed Derrick McFarland, a security guard in the emergency department at Montgomery Regional Hospital (MRH). Morva had been in jail awaiting trial on an attempted robbery charge, but was taken to MRH after sustaining a sprained ankle and wrist while in jail. After using the restroom, he attacked the security guard and a Montgomery County Sheriff's deputy. Morva escaped the emergency department, but was captured the next day. While escaping capture, he shot and killed Montgomery County sheriff's Cpl. Eric Sutphin on the morning of August 21.

Virginia Tech shooting

The hospital received several patients that were wounded in the

Virginia Tech shooting The Virginia Tech shooting was a spree shooting that occurred on April 16, 2007, comprising two attacks on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. Seung-Hui Cho, an u ...

on April 16, 2007.

External links

Official Website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:LewisGale Hospital Montgomery Buildings and structures in Blacksburg, Virginia Hospital buildings completed in 1971 HCA Healthcare Hospitals in Virginia