Two Men and a Truck – C-VILLE Weekly

Medical directives

Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital President Rita Bunch is stepping down on September 13. Bunch has served as division president for the hospital since January 2022, and will be joining the Erlanger health system in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

“It has been an incredible honor to serve the Charlottesville community and lead Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital over the past 2.5 years,” said Bunch in an August 19 press release announcing her departure. “The dedication and passion of our team have been truly inspiring, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to work alongside such committed professionals. I will always cherish the time I spent here and the meaningful impact we’ve made together.”

With Bunch leaving soon, SMJH is searching for a new president. In the interim, Regional President Paul Gaden will fill the position, according to Corporate Communications and Public Relations Advisor Alyssa Pacheco.

“Sentara is dedicated to finding a leader who will build on the solid foundation already in place and continue advancing our mission of improving health every day,” Pacheco told C-VILLE in an emailed statement. Bunch and Gaden are collaborating on a transition plan, with the hospital focusing “on maintaining continuity and ensuring that the hospital continues to provide the highest level of care during this leadership change.”

The change in leadership comes amid heavy legal scrutiny for Sentara Health, which is being investigated by the Department of Justice for allegedly misleading regulators and potential price gouging in 2018 and 2019.

Trickle down

At press time, residents of eastern Orange County remain under a Do Not Drink water advisory after hydrocarbons were detected at the Wilderness Water Treatment Plant on August 21. The advisory applies to all WWTP customers, including the Lake of the Woods, Wilderness Shores, Somerset, Edgewood, Germanna Heights, Twin Lakes communities, Germanna Community College Locust Grove campus, and several restaurants and businesses along Route 3.

The contamination was discovered when a “petroleum odor” was reported by plant employees on August 21, prompting water testing. Officials have not confirmed the specific contaminant or its source, but have said the hydrocarbons detected are not volatile organic compounds.

WWTP customers were originally placed under a Do Not Use advisory, but the warning was deescalated to a Do Not Drink Advisory by the Rapidan Service Authority and the Virginia Department of Health Office of Drinking Water on August 25.

The petroleum smell has reportedly decreased, but not completely disappeared. As of press time, WWTP customers should continue to avoid consumption of tap water in any form—including drinking, food preparation, dishwashing, or brushing teeth.

For more information and updates on the advisory, visit vdh.virginia.gov/drinking-water/wilderness-water-treatment-plant-contamination.

Hay there

Cassiopeia Foundation has publicly confirmed its purchase of the Foxfield property in Albemarle County, ensuring the continuation of the iconic Foxfield Races. While the purchase of the property took place in February, the nonprofit officially confirmed it was the buyer—under the name Foxfield Land Preservation LLC—to Daily Progress reporter Emily Hemphill on August 23.

First up

Students are back on Grounds at the University of Virginia, and will soon file into Scott Stadium for the first home football game of the year against the Richmond Spiders on August 31. Second-year Anthony Colandrea will be the Hoos’ starting quarterback against the University of Richmond, with kick-off scheduled for 6pm.

Anthony Colandrea will be the starting quarterback when UVA opens its season against Richmond on August 31. Photo via UVA Athletics Communications.

Going to the dogs (and cats!)

Two Men and a Truck Charlottesville launched its Movers for Mutts campaign on August 19, collecting donations for the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA through the end of October at locations around town. Items needed include blankets, pet food, treats, leashes, toys, litter, and towels. For a full list of donation sites and items, visit either the Two Men and a Truck or CASPCA website.

In business: Drugs, booze and a moving van

By Lisa Provence and Samantha Baars

Sure it’s blistering hot, but for three new businesses, July was the perfect time to hang a shingle. One local pharmacist fills a void, an app from a UVA alum serves an untapped market, and a moving company franchise offers help with the heavy stuff.

Meadowbrook begats Top Notch Pharmacy

For those mourning the recently closed Meadowbrook Pharmacy, its former pharmacist has opened her own independent drugstore, and it looks a lot like the old one, albeit with different ownership.

Leah Argie wanted to own her own pharmacy one day, and when she learned this spring that she would be out of a job, that timeline got pushed up a bit.

Last week Top Notch Pharmacy had a soft opening of its Preston Avenue store, which is eerily reminiscent of Meadowbrook, although maybe there are only so many independent drugstore designs.

Argie was considering candles when a reporter walked in, the “fun part” of the job, she says. Like her former place of employment, she wants to sell unusual gifts, like the toddler seersucker bow tie-and-suspenders combo, that you don’t find anywhere else.

Despite another CVS coming in on the Meadowbrook site at the corner of Barracks Road and Emmet Street, Argie thinks there’s room for an independent pharmacy like Top Notch to “fill the specialty niche no one else is doing in Charlottesville,” she says.

That includes making compound medications, such as hormone replacement creams, gluten-free meds or carrying veterinary drugs.

And if you have multiple daily drugs, Top Notch will create blister packs to put all the morning drugs together so it’s easier to take what you need at the right time.

“That’s a service that’s hard to find,” says Argie.

Top Notch will deliver drugs, and there’s one more similarity to Meadowbrook: Argie hired several of the folks who worked there. “People will see some familiar faces,” she says.

An app you’ll want to drink to

A look at the app’s local map, courtesy of Happy Hour Hunter.

A month ago, UVA alumni and CEO of Edge Tech Labs Shaun Masavage broke into a previously untapped market when he launched Happy Hour Hunter, an app designed to help you belly up to the bar without emptying your pockets.

As if you needed to be encouraged to get your drink on, Happy Hour Hunter maps out up-to-date drink specials in the user’s city. It’s one of two uses of an app called DrinkMate, which also functions as a breathalyzer if you buy an additional mouthpiece.

Though his app is the first to offer such a public drinking service, Masavage says other efforts to track happy hours, such as “an underground spreadsheet” that once circulated through Washington, D.C., have caught his eye.

“A lot of people have tried to do this before and they’ve continually failed because they don’t have a method of keeping things up to date,” he says. “The best aspect is that you can help keep deals up to date with your own edits and earn points and badges along the way. This is why we call it a ‘Wikipedia for happy hours.’”

About 3,500 monthly active users have already downloaded the app in Charlottesville and other cities, including D.C., Baltimore, New York City and Miami, but Masavage says tracking every special in every bar in every city in America will take some time. His team has also been surprised to see happy hour aficionados entering drinking data in Ireland and Germany.

“We didn’t even realize how big happy hours are overseas,” he says.

Another franchise moves to town

A college town sees a lot of relocating, enough that a former Charlottesvillian and his partners decided to open a Two Men and a Truck franchise here.

The company started booking moves last week, “the second we turned [on] the website,” says Rebecca Feldman, one of the franchise owners. She and her husband own franchises in Richmond and Chesterfield, and turning west to Charlottesville seemed like a logical step.

Partner Nathan Bocock, who also works out of Wilmington, North Carolina, attended Stone Robinson Elementary, and got his start in the moving biz working with Bryan Feldman in college. “We love the Charlottesville area and I wanted to visit more often,” he says.

Two Men currently employs between 10 and 12 people and has two trucks. The company anticipates a fleet of about 12 trucks and 50 employees in the next few years, says Rebecca Feldman.

Besides packing, loading and unloading your possessions, specialty services include moving grand pianos and hauling out furniture when a house is getting new floors, says Feldman.

And here’s a tip for new-to-the-area Two Men and a Truck: Watch out for the 14th Street bridge, which loves to eat moving vans.