'Pink Glove Dance Video' Premiere Hopes to Generate Funds for UB Breast Cancer Research

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- It's a win-win: a "star-studded" video premiere and the opportunity to generate enough votes to win $10,000 for University at Buffalo School of Nursing breast cancer research.

The Briody Health Care Facility of Lockport will host the premiere of its "Pink Glove Dance Video" on Thursday, Oct. 11, at 5 p.m. at the Palace Theater, 2 East Ave., in Lockport, starring members of the Lockport police force and fire department, the Lockport mayor, UB nursing students and UB assistant professor of nursing, Robin Lally, PhD, RN.

The event is free and open to the public.

The video will be entered into a contest sponsored by Medline, the nation's largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies.

Starting on Oct. 12, viewers can view and vote on their favorite Pink Glove Dance Video (voting requires a Facebook account) at http://pinkglovedance.com; voting extends through Oct. 26. The top three winners will receive a donation in their name to the breast cancer charity of their choice. Medline is donating $10,000 for 1st place, $5,000 for 2nd and $2,000 for 3rd.

Briody Health Care Facility's choice of charity, if their video wins, is to donate it to UB's nursing school to support Lally's breast cancer research, which focuses on how women react to a diagnosis of breast cancer.

The winners will be announced Nov. 2 on http://pinkglovedance.com.

Medline established a breast cancer campaign in 2009 with the manufacture of a pink glove called "Generation Pink."

Andy Mills, president of Medline, said "Gloves are the first point of contact between the health care worker and the patient. And, because the glove is pink, we hoped it would get people talking about breast cancer."

But Medline wanted to spread the word even further. So, they came up with the idea of videotaping health care workers dancing in pink gloves and they launched it online in November 2009. The idea went viral, generating thousands of responses including emails and letters from survivors and their families.

Ann Briody-Petock, the owner and administrator of the Briody, got the idea of donating the prize money to Lally from Davina Porock, MSN, PhD, UB nursing professor and associate dean for research and scholarship who was conducting research in person-centered care at Briody Health Care.

Porock says, "Briody had already decided to do the video when it was mentioned to me. The prize from this year's competition was to go to breast cancer research but the folks at Briody didn't want it to just get lost in one of the larger charities, so they asked me if I knew anyone who was doing breast cancer research. Robin of course is our star in that department so I told them about her work and they loved the idea of supporting the research and being able to be in direct contact with the researcher."

Media arrangements: Sara R. Saldi, UB's Office of University Communications, 645-4593 or email at saldi@buffalo.edu.