UI Health takes fourth in Pink Glove Dance Competition

UI Health’s Pink Glove Dance video featured faculty, staff, student athletes, Chicago Fire soccer players and more. “It was very energetic and uplifting,” says Cathleen Schaeffer, nurse navigator at UI Health. Photo: Hossein Fatemi

The votes have been counted and the results are in – UI Health took fourth place in the Health Care System category of the 2014 Pink Glove Dance Competition.

The nationwide contest was held to raise awareness of breast cancer and early detection.

UI Health took 7th place overall among all video submissions in the three categories, Standalone Healthcare Provider and Non-Healthcare Organization. The winner, Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center in Pomona, California, received $15,000 from medical distribution company Medline to donate to a charity of its choice.

The 90-second version of UI Health’s video received 13,944 votes, exceeding the goal of 10,000.

“For our first time, it was great,” said Cathleen Schaeffer, a breast nurse navigator for UI Health’s Center for Breast Care. “It was a real sense of empowerment, especially for our survivors.”

Participants include faculty, staff, student athletes, spirit squads, breast cancer survivors, friends and families, Chicago Fire soccer players and representatives from Imerman Angels. They danced to the Mandisa’s “Overcomer,” many wearing pink shirts, wigs, socks and scrubs.

“It was very energetic and uplifting,” Schaeffer said of the June video shoot. “Once you got involved, you just wanted to keep going.”

Schaeffer appeared in a scene with others from the oncology department and mammogram center, dancing in a hallway of the Outpatient Care Center. “I’m not one to get out there,” said Schaeffer, “but it was a bigger power than me.”

“If I could have danced in every part, I would have,” said Cathy Love, senior training and development specialist in human resources. Love’s group danced in front of the Pink Survivor Cube, a structure that represented all stages of the breast cancer journey.

Schaeffer and Love are pleased with the results.

“We had a great turnout, and a lot of buzz around the voting period,” Love said.

UI Health’s chosen charity – Imerman Angels – is a Chicago-based organization that connects cancer survivors, caregivers and patients for one-on-one support in 50 states and more than 60 countries.

Schaeffer and Love look forward to next year’s competition. “I think I would be the first one out there with my pink shirt on,” Love said.