UAB Briefs: AEIVA exhibits, new hospital, Sowing the Seeds of Health
In this weekly online feature, we keep track of interesting people and events on campus.
Two new art exhibitions have opened at the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts.
Medical West Hospital has been granted permission from the state to build a new hospital in McCalla.
The Sowing the Seeds of Health program recently celebrated 15 years of promoting breast and cervical cancer screening for Latinas.
Know people, places and programs on the UAB campus that deserve a mention? Email jchambers@starnespublishing.com.
TWO NEW SHOWS
New exhibitions by sculptor and installation artist Christina West and painter Quentin Morris opened at the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts on Monday, Aug. 26, according to the AEIVA website.
An opening reception for both shows is planned at AEIVA for Saturday, Sept. 7, from 6-8 p.m., with West scheduled to give a lecture about her work at 6 p.m.
“Christina West: UnScene” will be on display in through Saturday, Dec. 14. An associate professor of art at Georgia State University, West builds immersive sculptural installations that use figurative sculptures and the alteration of space to create psychologically charged environments.
These installations explore what the artist calls “individual subjectivity in our experience of reality, and the ways our physical encounters with spaces and with representations of bodies can affect perceptions of our own bodies.”
Paintings by Quentin Morris will be on display in through Saturday, Oct. 12 — his first major exhibition in the South. Based in Philadelphia, Morris uses a variety of materials to explore identity, race, spirituality and cultural mythologies. He has explored these themes for nearly 50 years in a focused, prolific series of black monochrome paintings, according to AEIVA Senior Director John Fields. Morris wants the viewer to take an intense look into his deceptively simple paintings, understanding that the color black is both beautiful and complex, Fields says.
For more information, go to uab.edu/AEIVA.
MEDICAL WEST APPROVAL
On August 21, the State Health Planning and Development Agency approved a Certificate of Need filed by UAB Medical West Hospital to construct a replacement hospital in McCalla, according to UAB Media Relations.
An affiliate of the UAB Health System, Medical West will build a 200-bed hospital near Exit 1 on Interstate Highway 459 to serve southwest Jefferson County and replace an existing facility on Ninth Avenue Southwest in Bessemer. That facility was built in 1964 and is now outmoded, officials say.
“The new facility will help us establish a state-of-the art hospital for our patients,” said Keith Pennington, CEO of Medical West Hospital, in the UAB news release.
Design and construction of the new hospital is expected to take 3 years, and the current facility in Bessemer will continue to operate during construction.
Medical West will also continue to serve area residents at several primary care clinics, including facilities in Bessemer and Hueytown, and a freestanding emergency department on Highway 150.
15 YEARS OF SERVICE
Sowing the Seeds of Health — a program at the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center — recently marked 15 years of promoting breast and cervical cancer screening for Latinas. A celebration was held at the Prince of Peace Catholic Church, where 85 women attending the event obtained breast and cervical cancer screening, according to UAB Media Relations.
Sowing the Seeds of Health has served more than 4,000 Latinas in six counties in Alabama.
The program began in 2003 when Isabel Scarinci, a professor in the Division of Preventive Medicine, obtained a grant from the National Cancer Institute to develop a community-based, culturally relevant educational program for Latinas in the state.
The program is carried out in partnership with several organizations, including the Susan G. Komen North Central Alabama Affiliate, Brookwood Baptist Health System and Alabama Regional Medical Services.
“I could not have dreamed that we could be able to continue these events year after year and reach new women every year,” said Scarinci, who also serves as associate director of Globalization and Cancer at the cancer center. “This shows the power of partnerships and volunteerism as well as the global footprint of our cancer center in serving the Latino immigrant population in Alabama.”
To learn more, call 996-2827.