AYER — With just days to go until the imminent closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center, hundreds of hospital staff, residents and elected officials gathered at the facility to form a human chain around the building in solidarity and protest.

Holding pieces of red ribbon between each other, and with many wearing the color red, the hundreds of people successfully wrapped themselves around the building, only leaving gaps in areas where it was not feasible to stand and in roads where ambulances may need to pass.

After months of debate, protests and calls for the state to do more to save NVMC and Carney Hospital in Dorchester, the energy by Monday evening had shifted from preventing the hospital’s closure to seeking to reopen it sometime in the future.

Amanda White, a nurse who has been with the NVMC emergency department for five years, said while standing in front of the hospital that it is too important to Ayer and the surrounding communities to allow it to close. As far as what happens next for her, with her place of employment closing down in less than a week, she said the future is unclear.

“I’m going to keep working, work my scheduled shifts, and try to show up to the events that are happening to try to help save it,” said Amanda White, speaking on what the next few days would look like. “We are still hoping for that 11th-hour miracle.”

State Sen. Jamie Eldridge said at the demonstration the hospital is already “a skeleton” of its former self. But he is hopeful that a bidder can come forward, even after Saturday, if the state can provide some funding to keep NVMC as it is doing for six of Steward’s other Massachusetts hospitals.

“I can’t say 100%, but it is not looking good as far as what happens this weekend … but I still think there is truly an opening to save this hospital,” said Eldridge. “The turnout, whether two weeks ago at the public hearing in Devens with over 500 people, and it looks to be about the same number tonight, that really has got the administration to respond, so people need to keep telling their stories about how much this hospital means to them.”

Ayer Select Board member Jannice Livingston was one of the many voices at the rally laying some of the blame on Gov. Maura Healey.

“Where were they in Texas? Nobody represented us,” said Livingston, referring to the bankruptcy hearing in Texas where a judge ruled the hospitals could close within 30 days rather than with 120 days’ notice required by Massachusetts state law.

“We need more time, at least. She wiped her hands of this,” said Livingston.

State Rep. Margaret Scarsdale pointed to the dire warnings being given by more than a dozen local fire chiefs that work with NVMC, with some of them warning of an “EMS collapse” in the event of the hospital closing.

“How are all 17 of them going to handle this change? How are the remaining hospitals going to handle that? I think long-term there are still options on the table, and this delegation is going to be pursuing those as fiercely as possible,” said Scarsdale. “There are a lot of moving pieces, but I am personally feeling hopeful that we are going to get it done.”

NVMC nurse Audra Sprague, who has been leading the charge on behalf of the hospital’s staff in this crisis, asked for people to continue to put pressure on all the powers that be to come up with a solution, even after the Saturday closure.

“Even after we close, have everybody continue to call and continue to put pressure on everybody,” said Sprague, in particular naming Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Ron Mariano, state Senate President Karen Spilka and Healey. “So that she doesn’t think, ‘Oh its closed, it’s fine.’”

One of the main concerns stemming from the impending closure is how it will impact patients who will need to travel further to seek urgent medical care, which only creates more risk in a medical emergency. Sprague said there has already been at least one death that could be attributed directly to the coming closure.

Lunenburg resident Mike White’s father-in-law had to get hip replacement surgery the week before. After a complication, he was brought to NVMC’s emergency room Sunday. After contacting nearby hospitals to see who could take him, Mike White said his father-in-law was transferred to Beth Israel Medical Center in an ambulance, and during transit it is believed he had a stroke.

“When he was delivered to Beth Israel they didn’t recognize the changes, and thought it was his baseline,” said Mike White.

He said his father-in-law passed away just a few hours before Monday’s demonstration after suffering a seizure. The entire family’s medical care usually takes place at NVMC, Mike White’s wife works in the hospital’s lab, and now, while dealing with a tragedy, they are left to find alternatives for care and employment, like many other families in the region.

State Rep. Dan Sena said compliance with the 120-day notice of closure would have given the community far more time to find bidders before the hospital would have to close, but he was optimistic that a bidder can still be found in the near future.

“My hope is that we will find someone sooner rather than later.  As we know, health care shouldn’t be a privilege, it should be a right,” said Sena.

A sales hearing that was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon for the remaining six Steward hospitals that were not slated for closure was postponed to Sept. 4, now having been pushed back seven times. The original date for the hearing was July 2. This comes as Steward’s Massachusetts landlords, Medical Properties Trust, pushed back on Steward’s desire to cancel their leases on the hospital properties.

As of now, NVMC will officially stop accepting any new patients at 7 a.m. Saturday, and any remaining patients will stay until they can be discharged or transferred to a different hospital.