OR Nurses Dance for a Cause: Medline Announces Annual Pink Glove Dance Video Competition

Healthcare professionals often go above and beyond to save lives. And sometimes they even dance. Joined by a flash mob of more than 1,000 operating room (OR) nurses from throughout the United States and Canada, Medline Industries, Inc., announced its third annual National Pink Glove Dance Video Competition in support of breast cancer awareness and prevention. The nurses were gathered for Medlines 8th Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Forum, held in conjunction with the 60th Annual Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) Congress, taking place this week in San Diego. AORN Congress is the worlds largest gathering of OR nurses.

Breast cancer survivor and TV show host Giuliana Rancic and her husband Bill Ranic, the first winner of The Apprentice, were the featured guest speakers at Medlines annual gathering where they told their inspiring story about overcoming cancer and the benefits of early detection.

I had so many wonderful caregivers that truly made a difference in my life. Cancer is such a scary thing and having the support of knowledgeable and gentle caregivers eased my worry, says Giuliana Rancic. The Pink Glove Dance is a wonderful and creative way to honor those caregivers and their patients and bring some joy to those afflicted with this terrible disease.

The third annual competition will officially kick off in July and is open to any organization in the United States and Canada. Competition entries are required to produce and submit their own pink glove dance video. The entries will be posted on the internet and voted on by the public. The winners will be announced in November with the winning teams receiving a donation in their name to the breast cancer charity of their choice.

For more information on the competition and to view this newest Pink Glove Dance video featuring OR nurses from all over North America, visit: www.pinkglovedance.com.    

"The Pink Glove Dance competition encourages anyone who wants to create their own video to participate and do their part to bring hope and support to those affected by breast cancer," says Medlines president Andy Mills. It is especially gratifying to have all of these nurses participating in their own video today because we created the pink glove dance in part to honor these health care providers, many of whom have had to battle breast cancer themselves.

At the Breast Cancer Awareness Forum, Medline presented the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) with a check for $200,000 to help fund mammograms for underserved women.  To date, Medline has donated more than $1.2 million to the NBCF as part of Medlines campaign to promote early detection and awareness of breast cancer.

The donation to NBCF is derived, in part, from the proceeds from Medline's Generation Pink® gloves and other pink products Medline manufactures and sells such as canes, walkers, apparel and other health care items.

According to the American Cancer Society, almost every 12 minutes, a woman in the United States dies of breast cancer and one out of every eight women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime. In 2012, it is estimated that among U.S. women there were 226,870 new cases of invasive breast cancer and 39,510 breast cancer deaths. Early detection is key to survival as studies show that early detection of breast cancer can increase the five-year survival rate by more than 90 percent.

In 2011, the first national Medline Pink Glove Dance Video competition was held, attracting 139 entries from across North America. More than a half million votes were cast with Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia, S.C., winning first place and $10,000 to their breast cancer charity of choice, the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer. The second Medline Pink Glove Dance Video Competition was held in 2012 with 270 entries and more than 60,000 people from hospitals, nursing homes, schools and other organizations in 42 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and Canada participating in the three-week competition. Lexington Medical Center won for the second year in a row.

The original Pink Glove Dance video premiered in November 2009 and featured 200 Portland, Ore. hospital workers wearing Medlines pink gloves and dancing in support of breast cancer awareness and prevention. Today, that original video has more than 13.7 million views on YouTube® and has been the inspiration for hundreds of pink glove dance videos and breast cancer awareness events across the country. A sequel was produced in 2010 featuring more than 4,000 healthcare workers and breast cancer survivors throughout North America.