PADUCAH, KY - For many participants in Western Baptist Hospital’s new Pink Glove Dance for breast cancer awareness, the motivation to don pink gloves and dance in a national video is very personal. 

For Western Baptist administrative assistant Dana McAfee, it’s her sister Cassie, who died of breast cancer in 2003 at 40. Mary Hayes, of the scheduling department, danced to honor the two-year fight of her daughter, Amy Cope, who also can be seen in the video. EEG technician Rebecca Johnson wanted to honor the late mother of her 11-year-old daughter’s best friend.

“I want her to know we are working to help prevent that from happening to other young girls because no child should have to go through that,” Johnson said. “I also know several women who have had breast cancer and won the battle with surgery and/or chemo. I want all of them to know we are in this fight to prevent them from having to go through that battle.”

After placing sixth in the national contest last year with its first video, Western Baptist Hospital partnered with Murray State University this year for its second entry. The video posted today on pinkglovedance.com. Videos are listed alphabetically, so look for us in the V-Z category. The Web site experienced problems at first due to an overwhelming response, so be patient if you have difficulty. Viewers can vote via Facebook through Oct. 26. Winners will be announced Nov. 2.

“Western Baptist is a regional medical referral center, and Murray State University is our regional university,” said Dona Rains, director of marketing and planning at Western Baptist, “so this is the perfect partnership to remind women in our region that early detection of breast cancer saves lives.”

One in eight women will develop breast cancer, making it the leading cause of cancer death among women.

During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the hospital uses the video to remind women to get annual mammograms for early detection. The top three vote-getters in the national video contest will receive prizes up to $10,000 for the breast cancer charity of their choice, so the hospital asks viewers to vote once daily by clicking “like” on the video. Ours is the Kentucky Cancer Program’s “Just Us Girls” mammography education project.

Video stars

The video, produced by MurrayState’s digital media crew, features students, the MurrayState band and dance team, basketball coach Steve Prohm, as well as hospital staff, including several breast cancer survivors.

The “star” is 43-year-old registered nurse Patty Harrison, diagnosed seven years ago. Because she is grateful to be cancer-free after early detection and treatment, she danced her way out of shyness hoping her courage would inspire others.

“This month I am a seven-year survivor of breast cancer and I wanted to spread the word (that women should) get a mammogram and not ignore the problem,” Harrison said. “And if you do have cancer, that it’s not the end.”

The video, featuring Katy Perry’s “Part of Me,” starts with the survivor’s diagnosis from the doctor. The lyrics “Days like this I want to drive away” match her mood, but caregivers, survivors and friends on Murray’s campus convince her that hope is the “…part of me that you’re never gonna ever take away from me.”

Pink Glove Dance History

The original Pink Glove Dance video – sponsored by pink glove manufacturer Medline Industries Inc. – premiered in 2009, featuring a Portland, Ore., hospital, with 13 million views on YouTube. The next year, 17 facilities participated in videos. Last year, Western Baptist finished sixth among 135 participants with 17,400 votes. Its video was viewed more than 32,000 times and spurred other videos at WPSD-TV and The Paducah Sun.

“When we saw the original video, we felt a real connection – not only because we care for families affected by breast cancer, but also because we have so many employees touched by breast cancer,” Rains said. “Whether it was the housekeeper or the CEO, when they put on those pink gloves, they turned into video stars, and we were moved most by our breast cancer survivors who danced with the greatest enthusiasm.”

Medline donates a portion of the pink glove sales to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. To date, more than $1 million has been give to the foundation to fund mammograms for those who can’t afford them.


Here is the video, but if you want to vote for it, you must visit the competition website, find the video, and click VOTE.

Here is a complete list of this area's "Pink Glove" video contestants:

Western Baptist Hospital - Paducah
Baptist Memorial Hospital - Union City, TN
Good Samaritan Hospital - Mt. Vernon, IL
Harrisburg Medical Center - Harrisburg, IL
Vienna High School - Vienna, IL
Marion VA Medical Center - Marion, IL
Marshall County Hospital - Benton, KY



On the Net:

Pink Glove Dance Website