 One week after Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear enlisted the National Guard to aid in the fight against COVID-19, Pikeville Medical Center held a press conference to welcome those soldiers on Monday. You know, knowing that the Kentucky National Guard was able to respond and to help us in a time of crisis. And that's what we're in is a time of crisis, having professionals soldiers on the ground here helping us battle this pandemic. And that's what it is. It's a battle. Today fighting for their lives in our ICU. Since July, PMC, as well as the state, has seen an increase in positive cases. CEO Donovan Blackburn says that increase is being felt. I mentioned earlier yesterday we were at 82 COVID patients in the hospital. That is one off from our peak all of last year. Our high was 83, so it took us two months to get to 82 patients to where it took us about four and a half months to get to 83 patients. So this surge is overwhelming and we're doing it with less people, less employees. Here at Pikeville Medical Center's Heart and Vascular Institute, we have assembled a comprehensive team of cardiac specialists bringing expertise from all regions of the nation and the world. We have coupled that with cutting edge technology, providing them the best equipment and operating rooms available. The result is comprehensive cardiac care for the people of our region that is second to none. The Heart and Vascular Institute at Pikeville Medical Center. With 30 soldiers assisting the hospital, we spoke with COVID response officer, Captain Kirby Schwear, about their roles and duties. We're going to be doing three primary jobs out of six departments. The primary jobs, they're all non-clinical. They're going to be helping transportation of patients. We're going to be helping with janitorial duties and then we're going to be helping with traffic control, although all of those are non-medical jobs. The key is that by us doing that, it enables the actual clinical staff to do the life-saving work that right now, their hands are tied, they're busy doing all that other stuff. The National Guard is expected to help out the hospital for three weeks. For Mountain Top News, I'm Joel Chorjol.