Medline Pink Glove Dance Video Competition Celebrates Fifth Anniversary

Nearly 1,000 operating room nurses from across the country danced to their hearts’ content to kick off the 2015 Medline Pink Glove Dance Video Competition. The inspiring dance took place at Medline’s 10th Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Breakfast in Denver, in conjunction with the annual Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) Surgical Conference & Expo.

The Medline Pink Glove Dance is the only campaign to unite nearly 200,000 healthcare professionals, patients, survivors and communities to celebrate hope for a cure and honor those affected by the disease – all through the joy of dancing. Breast cancer survivor and former “Dancing with the Stars” host Samantha Harris, danced side-by-side with the nurses and shared her personal breast cancer journey as the keynote speaker. Last year, Harris found a lump in her breast days after a clear mammogram. Shortly after, she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 40.

“I knew I was in the right place when I walked into the Breast Center at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica. Nurses held my hand, listened to me and I never felt alone,” says Harris. “Cancer had a chance to break me down but I was determined to fight back with strength and positivity.”   

This is the fifth year of the Medline Pink Glove Dance video competition, which includes the United States, Canada and Panama. Separate competitions are also held in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. To register for the competition, go to www.pinkglovedance.com. Results will be announced Oct. 1 with the winning team receiving a $15,000 donation in their name to the breast cancer charity of their choice. Other prizes will also be awarded.

Medline also presented the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) with a check for more than $200,000 to help fund mammograms and educational services for underserved women. To date, Medline has donated $1.6 million to NBCF as part of Medline’s campaign to promote breast cancer prevention and education.

“Five years ago, we created the Pink Glove Dance to spark meaningful conversations between healthcare providers, patients and families,” says Sue MacInnes, Medline’s chief market solutions officer and co-founder of the Medline Pink Glove Dance campaign. “Through this movement and the strength and support of caring clinicians, we want to let those impacted by this disease know that they are not alone in this fight.”

Back in 2009, Medline Industries, Inc. turned everyday exam gloves from green to pink. This sparked the beginning of the company’s unique breast cancer education campaign. The introduction of the pink gloves helps take the scary out of detection exams and reminds nurses about the importance of creating a comfortable, friendly and open dialogue with patients. A few years later, Medline created the Pink Glove Dance video competition, bringing together nearly 200,000 healthcare professionals, patients, survivors and communities to celebrate hope for a cure and honor all who have been affected by the disease – all through the joy of dancing. More than 16 million YouTube® views later, the Medline Pink Glove Dance competition has inspired nearly 1,000 dance videos and raised nearly $1 million for breast cancer charities nationwide. In addition, Medline has donated $1.6 million to the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) in support of its mission to save lives through early detection and offering free mammograms for women in need. 

Source: Medline Industries, Inc.