MUNDELEIN, Ill., Oct. 12, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Starting today, the public can vote on the dance moves of more than 60,000 health care workers, students, firefighters and policeman from across North America — from Hershey, Pa. and Hollywood, Fla. to Houston, Texas and Honolulu, Hawaii — in Medline Industries, Inc.'s 2nd Annual National Pink Glove Dance Video Competition.
Online voting for this national competition that supports breast cancer awareness and prevention begins today and runs through October 26. The public can go to www.pinkglovedance.com to cast their ballot to help determine the nation's favorite Medline Pink Glove Dance. Voters are required to have a Facebook® account in order to register their votes.
The national competition, sponsored by Medline — the creator of the YouTube® sensation Pink Glove Dance and makers of the pink gloves — has attracted more than 270 entries from 42 states,Canada and Puerto Rico. That's almost twice as many competitors as last year's inaugural competition.
Three winners will be announced on November 2, with the winning video receiving a $10,000 donation in their name to the breast cancer charity of their choice; second place will receive $5,000 and third place $2,000 for their charity.
"The response to this year's competition is fantastic and the quality of the videos and passion of the participants is incredible," said Andy Mills, president of Medline. "The videos have impacted people in more ways than we could have ever imagined. People have told us that they're not only fun to watch but they're comforting and even motivating to those who are dealing with this difficult disease."
For every case of Medline's Generation Pink® gloves purchased, Medline will donate $1.00 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) to fund free mammograms for underserved women. To date, Medline has donated more than $1 million to the NBCF.
History of the Pink Glove Dance
The original Pink Glove Dance video premiered in November 2009 and featured 200 Portland, Ore. hospital workers wearing pink gloves and dancing in support of breast cancer awareness and prevention. Today the video has more than 13.6 million views on YouTube® and has inspired more than 1,000 pink glove dance videos and breast cancer awareness events across the country. Because of the overwhelming response to the original video, a sequel was produced in October 2010 featuring 4,000 health care workers and breast cancer survivors throughout North America. In 2011, the first national Pink Glove Dance Video competition was held, attracting 139 entries from across North America. More than a half million votes were cast with Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia, S.C., winning first place and $10,000 to their breast cancer charity of choice, the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer.
"Gloves are the first point of contact between the health care worker and the patient," said Mills. "As a way to extend our breast cancer awareness campaign, we developed a pink glove called Generation Pink®, with the aim of getting people to talk about breast cancer."
Pink Glove Dance® is a registered trademark of Medline Industries, Inc.
About Medline
As the nation's largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies, Medline is focused on helping to improve the quality of care for patients and residents. Breast cancer awareness is a natural extension of Medline's corporate mission to help save lives through the early detection of breast cancer. (Visit www.medline.com/breast-cancer-awareness for details). Based in Mundelein, Ill., Medline manufactures and distributes more than 125,000 products to hospitals, extended care facilities, physician offices, surgery centers, home care dealers and agencies and other markets.
John Marks, (847) 643-3309
Ann Fahey, (847) 643-3011
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The following pictures are available for download:
| [Image] | Lexington Medical Center |