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Calkins: Why was there a flash mob in the Methodist hospital parking garage? Because dancing always helps.

By , Daily Memphian Published: May 19, 2026 4:00 AM CT
Geoff Calkins
Daily Memphian

Geoff Calkins

Geoff Calkins has been chronicling Memphis and Memphis sports for more than two decades. Calkins has been named the best sports columnist in the country five times by the Associated Press sports editors, but still figures his best columns are about the people who make Memphis what it is.

They started arriving around 3 p.m. Sunday, May 17, one car after another, heading up the ramps of the Methodist University Hospital parking garage.

It was to be a surprise.

A flash mob.

But why on a Sunday in a parking garage?

Kristi Croom, the woman in charge of the proceedings, pointed to the building next to the garage. To a window overlooking the garage’s exposed top floor.

“Brittnye will be looking down from her hospital room,” she said. “When you wave, she’ll see you.”

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Topics

Grizz Girl Memphis Pom Brittnye Ostrom acute myeloid leukemia Methodist University Hospital Flash mob Subscriber Only

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