Video aims to generate funds for UB breast cancer research

In their blue scrubs and pink gloves, UB nursing students made a dashing addition to a special video developed by the Briody Health Care Facility in Lockport to raise money for breast cancer research.

And if the video receives enough online votes to place in the national “Pink Glove Dance Video” contest, the prize money will go toward funding UB Nursing faculty member Robin Lally’s research.

The video, which also stars residents and staff members from Briody, as well as Lockport Mayor Mike Tucker, members of the Lockport police and fire departments, and other Niagara County organizations, premiered on Oct. 11 at the Palace Theater in Lockport.

Voting in the video contest, sponsored by Medline, the nation’s largest, privately held manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies, is now under way and will continue through Oct. 26. The top three vote-getters will receive a donation in their name to the breast cancer charity of their choice. Medline is donating $10,000 for first place, $5,000 for second and $2,000 for third.

Voting requires a Facebook account. There is no limit on the number of votes cast by each voter.

The winners will be announced Nov. 2 on pinkglovedance.com.

Briody’s charity of choice is the UB nursing school; the money will support Lally’s research, which examines how women react to a diagnosis of breast cancer.

Ann Briody-Petock, owner and administrator of the Briody Health Care Facility, decided to donate the prize money from a winning Pink Glove Dance Video to Lally after learning about her research from Davina Porock, UB professor of nursing and associate dean for research and scholarship. Porock was conducting her own research in person-centered care at Briody.

“Briody had already decided to do the video when it was mentioned to me,” Porock says. “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,” Porock explains, “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.”

The “pink glove” phenomenon began back in 2009, when Medline began a breast cancer awareness campaign in conjunction with its manufacturing of a pink glove called “Generation Pink.”

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

But to spread the word further, Medline videotaped health care workers dancing in pink gloves and launched the video online in November 2009. It went viral, generating thousands of responses, including emails and letters from survivors and their families.

The company released a sequel in 2010, featuring health care workers and breast cancer survivors from across the country. The first online competition to find the best Pink Glove Dance video was held last year, with 139 videos submitted from hospitals, nursing homes, schools and other organizations from across the U.S. and Canada. The videos received more than 1.2 million views, a half a million votes and thousands of tweets, blogs and texts. Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia, S.C., won with 61,054 votes.