Methodist South Completes ER Renovation, Expansion

Methodist South Hospital at 1300 Wesley Drive has completed its roughly $7.8 million emergency room renovation and expansion.

Renovations include larger patient rooms that allow more sunlight in, specialized rooms for infectious diseases and the study and treatment of obesity as well as additional rooms for patients to wait for results to help improve patient flow through the emergency room.

The renovation adds almost 13,000 square feet to the emergency room area. There’s also an expanded waiting area for patients and families, as well as artwork reflecting Memphis’ heritage.

– Andy Meek

Artist, Foundry Chosen For Johnny Cash Statue

A planned statue of Johnny Cash in the Cooper-Young Historic District has taken another step forward with the selection of an artist and foundry to create the monument.

Legacy Memphis Inc., the nonprofit that has been planning and raising funds for the Cash statue, has a contractual agreement with artist Mike McCarthy and the Lugar Bronze Foundry.

McCarthy has been a Cooper-Young resident for 18 years. While better known for his films and graphic novel work, McCarthy studied under sculptor John McIntyre at the Memphis Art Academy (now the Memphis College of Art), according to Legacy Memphis.

Larry and Andrea Lugar established their bronze foundry in 1991 in Eads, Tennessee, and have created many Memphis statues, such as Elvis on Beale Street and both Little Milton and Bobby Blue Bland on South Main Street. Lugar will be casting the bronze sculpture.

Cooper-Young was chosen because it’s where Johnny Cash, guitarist Luther Perkins, and bassist Marshall Grant first performed in December 1954 at the former Galloway United Methodist Church.

Legacy Memphis, which is dedicated to erecting statues and monuments to Memphis’ musical and cultural icons is working with the Cooper-Young Community Association, the Cooper-Young Business Association and the fundraising platform ioby.org toward their first neighborhood statue project. Phase 1 fundraising is now complete, and Phase 2 funds are now being sought for site preparation and landscaping.

– Daily News staff

Commission OKs Funding For Old Forensic Center

Shelby County Commissioners approved a $4 million contract with Jaycon Development Corp. Monday, June 12, for the renovation of 1060 Madison Ave., which served as the county forensic center until 2012 and is slated to become the new location of the Rape Crisis Center and the Crime Victims Center.

The commission approved a $2.3 million contract with Damon-Marcus Co. for an HVAC retrofit and a replacement at Agricenter International, 7777 Walnut Grove Road.

And there is another $2 million for construction of the West Tennessee Veterans Home Project, a $30.1 million project with federal funding paying 65 percent of the cost, and the state another 35 percent. The $2 million in county capital funding approved Monday is part of $10.5 million local match, with the rest coming from private donors and corporations.

A $344,000 contract with Castle Black Inc. approved Monday is for design and construction of a new 21,000-square-foot office and storage building at the new county cemetery on Raleigh-Millington Road. The 43-acre cemetery and the accompanying building should go into use in the spring of 2018 as the existing county cemetery on Ellis Road reaches capacity, said county public works director Tom Needham.

And the commission approved up to $540,000 for post-booking jail diversion services for the mentally ill through Alliance Healthcare Services Inc. as part of the Jericho Project. Jericho coordinates supervised community release options in Shelby County Criminal Court.

– Bill Dries

GTx Reports Positive Data From Phase 2 Drug Trial

GTx Inc. is reporting positive results from the first group of patients in its ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial of enobosarm in postmenopausal women with stress urinary incontinence, or SUI.

The Memphis-based biopharmaceutical company released preliminary data Monday, June 12, that showed each of the first seven women treated with enobosarm showed a clinically significant reduction in incontinence episodes per day. In addition, the results were sustained beyond the 12-week treatment period, with patients showing a continued reduction in incontinence episodes for up to five months.

The ongoing trial is testing 3 mg of enobosarm in postmenopausal women who have demonstrated SUI symptoms for more than six months, with 3 to 15 reported episodes per day and a positive bladder stress test.

“What caught our attention was the fact that the first seven patients dosed in this study saw impressive positive results. We subsequently added two additional clinical trial sites, and we look forward to presenting data from additional patients from this study at the ICS (International Continence Society) meeting in September,” said GTx executive chairman Robert J. Wills. “We believe SUI represents a near-term commercial opportunity in a potentially large population of women whose treatment options are currently limited to non-pharmacologic or invasive treatments.”

An abstract titled “Kegels In A Bottle,” summarizing clinical data from the first seven patients completing 12 weeks of treatment, is now available on the ICS website.

– Daily News staff

WMC to Air Tigers’ Sept. 23 Game vs. Southern Illinois

The University of Memphis non-conference football game on Sept. 23 against Southern Illinois has been picked up by Raycom and will air on WMC in Memphis at 7 p.m.

This is the eighth game of the 12-game regular season that has been picked up for television. The game will also stream on ESPN3 for fans outside of the Memphis viewing area and will be carried on KFVS-CVS in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

Memphis will have seven other televised games, including home games against Louisiana-Monroe (Aug. 31), UCLA (Sept. 16) and Tulane (Oct. 27), and away games vs. UCF (Sept. 9), UConn (Oct. 6), Houston (Oct. 19) and Tulsa (Nov. 3).

Season tickets for the seven home games are on sale now; visit gotigersgo.com/footballtickets for details.

– Don Wade