MUNDELEIN, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--More than 800 operating room nurses marked the kick-off of the 2014 Medline Pink Glove Dance Video Competition today with an exhilarating dance at Medline’s 9th Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Forum. The forum was held in Chicago in conjunction with the annual Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) Surgical Conference & Expo. The conference is the world’s largest gathering of operating room nurses and OR professionals.
Click to Tweet: The Medline Pink Glove Dance video competition begins today! Help create hope for a #breastcancer cure at pinkglovedance.com
The Medline Pink Glove Dance is the only campaign to unite nearly 200,000 healthcare professionals, patients and communities to celebrate hope for a cure and honor those affected by the disease – all through the joy of dancing. To date, the Medline Pink Glove Dance competition has raised nearly $2.5 million for breast cancer prevention and free mammograms for women in need through the National Breast Cancer Foundation and other charitable organizations across the country.
Breast cancer survivor, former CNN news anchor and award-winning journalist Zoraida Sambolin danced side-by-side with the nurses and shared her personal breast cancer journey in the keynote presentation. She also discussed the profound impact nurses had on her recovery.
“I underwent my surgery and treatment at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and the nurses there greeted me with open arms and big bear hugs… and that was exceptional,” said Sambolin. “One of the prep nurses held my hand, stroked my hair and made me feel loved – and I didn’t even know her before that day.”
This is the fourth 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 and for complete rules, go to www.pinkglovedance.com. Results will be announced Oct. 2 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 donates nearly $1.5 million to National Breast Cancer Foundation
Also at today’s Breast Cancer Awareness Forum, Medline presented the National Breast Cancer Foundation with a check for $200,000 to help fund mammograms and educational services for underserved women. To date, Medline has donated nearly $1.5 million to the NBCF as part of Medline’s campaign to promote breast cancer prevention and education. The donation to NBCF is derived from the proceeds from Medline's Generation Pink® exam gloves and other pink products Medline manufactures and sells such as canes, walkers, apparel and other health care items.
Click to Tweet: .@Medline has donated nearly $1.5M to @NBCF to help promote #breastcancerprevention. Check out more at pinkglovedance.com
“Medline understands a woman’s breast cancer detection journey. It can be uncomfortable but it’s necessary,” said Sue MacInnes, Medline’s chief market solutions officer and co-founder of the Medline Pink Glove Dance campaign. “Through the Pink Glove Dance movement and the strength and support of caring clinicians, we want to let those who are impacted by this disease know that they are not alone in this fight.”
About Medline’s Pink Glove Dance Campaign
Back in 2009, Medline turned everyday exam gloves from green to pink and launched an aggressive breast cancer education campaign to help take the scary out of detection exams and remind nurses about the importance of creating a comfortable, friendly and open dialogue with their patients. A few years later, Medline created the Pink Glove Dance video competition, which to date has brought together nearly 200,000 healthcare professionals, patients and communities to participate in the videos and honor all who have been affected by the disease. More than 20 million YouTube® views later, the Medline Pink Glove Dance competition has inspired more than 1,000 dance videos worldwide and raised nearly $2.5 million for breast cancer prevention and free mammograms for women in need through the National Breast Cancer Foundation and other charitable organizations across the country.
Medline is donating a portion of each sale of the pink gloves to the National Breast Cancer Foundation to help fund mammograms for individuals who cannot afford them.
About Medline
As the largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of health care and surgical products in the United States, Medline manufactures and distributes more than 350,000 products to hospitals, extended care facilities, surgery centers, physician offices, home care providers and agencies, and retailers. Headquartered in Mundelein, Ill., Medline is a leading global health care company providing quality medical and surgical supplies throughout North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Medline has more than 1,200 dedicated sales representatives worldwide to support its broad product line and cost management services. For more information on Medline, go to www.medline.com or http://mkt.medline.com/clinical-blog/category/channels/social-channels/ to connect with Medline on a variety of social media channels.
