The South Tower of UVA Health Medical Center is a symbolic beacon of hope for many in our community. Throughout the pandemic, its "negative airflow" rooms have housed COVID patients, providing our team with the best environment to care for them safely. But the unique structure — with its metal fins and glass windows extending eight stories high — has also served as a literal beacon of light in the Charlottesville night sky several times over the past two years.
In the spirit of Independence Day and colorful fireworks in the sky, here are photos of several occasions we have lit up the South Tower in color.
We first lit up the South Tower in December 2019 in red and green, at the suggestion of a team member to boost morale during the holiday season. In those early days, our Facilities Management team members hand installed more than 150 individual bulbs across 1,400 linear feet of cable on the tower's top two floors. Today, bulbs are now programmable to nine different LED colors making the switch easier on our team members and allowing for more recognition opportunities.
Here's a list of some recognition highlights and their colors that shone brightly:
- Rainbow Colors for Pride Month
- Blue and Yellow in Support of Ukraine
- Gold for Childhood Cancer Awareness
- Pink, Teal, and Green for Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day
- Green for Mental Health Awareness Month
- Blue, Green, Pink, and Purple for Rare Diseases Day
- Purple for World Prematurity Day
- Green for Donate Life Month
- Orange for National Gun Violence Awareness
- White for Lung Cancer Awareness
- Red for Dysautonomia Awareness
I hope you'll agree it's been heartwarming to see such beautiful colors in our night sky. Recognizing these awareness days represents our commitment to providing exceptional care to and inspiring hope in people throughout the Commonwealth and beyond.
Take care and be well!
Wendy