ABINGDON, Va. – The hospital executives at the lectern called her a hero, and the struggle that had earned Emily Boucher that distinction showed on her face: in the pallor acquired over 12-hour shifts in the intensive care unit, the rings beneath eyes that watched almost every day as covid-19 patients gasped for their final breaths. The pandemic had hit late but hard in the Appalachian highlands – the mountainous region that includes Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee – and over the…
