Do the Pink Glove Dance!
Billings dons a splash of pink to put breast cancer awareness in the spotlight
It took about 1,000 pairs of pink exam gloves, hundreds of outgoing performers, dozens of breast cancer survivors and an outpouring of community support to create one 90-second video for breast cancer awareness. It’s all part of the nationwide Pink Glove Dance movement, and St. Vincent Healthcare is hoping all the fun helps women remember the importance of breast cancer screenings and early detection.
St. Vincent Healthcare participated in the contest for the first time last year as an associates’ engagement activity. The staff along with numerous breast cancer survivors joined forces to produce the city's first Pink Glove Dance video.
“This year we wanted to go out into the community and raise awareness,” says Lynn Ratcliff, the Manager of Marketing and Communications at St. Vincent Healthcare.
The video, which is set to the song, "What Makes you Beautiful" by One Direction, was taped at 10 locations across Billings including Chicks and Chaps, which was held during the MontanaFair PRCA ProRodeo, the Celebration of Life, the YMCA, the Billings Food Bank, the Rimrocks overlooking the city and even at YVW's Run Like A Girl! 5K/Adventure Run. All kinds donned the pink gloves – St. Vincent Healthcare employees and Billings police officers and firefighters, to Yellowstone County Sheriff’s deputies, and members of the Skyview High School volleyball team. The grand finale featured the more than 500 runners and walkers in the Run Like A Girl 5K. No matter which location, breast cancer survivors were always featured front and center.
“It’s surprising how our survivors are taking ownership of this project,” Lynn says. “They’re telling us, I’ve beat this and I want to be an inspiration to others.”
You'll see 88-year-old Phyllis Prindle featured in the video. She says she hopes by doing the Pink Glove Dance, she will help encourage women to get breast cancer screenings. When she was diagnosed in 1945, she was newly married and she and her husband had just bought their first house. Breast cancer was a topic no one talked about.
“At that time, I didn’t want anybody to know I had it,” Phyllis says. “Things have changed now and it’s much more accepted to talk about it, which is good, because that invites people to check for it early.”
In the video, Phyllis can be seen carrying a sign that says, “Brave for 68 years.”
While communities are competing nationwide, there's a good reason why they enter. The grand prize winner of the Pink Glove Dance video contest will bring home $25,000 for a charity aimed at beating breast cancer. St. Vincent Healthcare could also win $10,000 for second place, or $5,000 for third place.
If St. Vincent Healthcare wins, the donation will go to the St. Vincent Healthcare Foundation’s EVA Project, which provides free digital mammography screenings to women age 40 and over who are uninsured or underinsured.
WATCH BILLINGS DO THE PINK GLOVE DANCE
Premier Party Planned
The St. Vincent Healthcare Pink Glove Dance video will be shown for the first time at a premier party Friday, Oct. 18 at noon at the Mansfield Center on the St. Vincent Healthcare campus. The video will then be available for viewing on the St. Vincent Healthcare website at www.svh-mt.org and at www.pinkglovedance.com. Online voting starts on Oct. 25, and ends on Nov. 8. To take a look at all the entries in the Pink Glove Dance contest, and vote for your favorite, go to www.pinkglovedance.com. The winner will be announced Nov. 15.
