St. Anthony's Employees Dance for Breast Cancer Awareness

Staff from are celebrating Breast Cancer Awareness month in style. Employees from 13 different departments got together and made a music video in a competition to win $10,000 for the American Cancer Society.

The Pink Glove Dance started two years ago in a hospital in Portland, OR when nurses and doctors were looking for something unique to do to show their support for breast cancer awareness.

Medline, a medical manufacturing company, decided to host a competition between hospitals across the nation‑ the best music video earns $10,000 for their charity of choice.

The videos from the dance made their way into Perry Willmore's email. Willmore is the director of supply chain management for St. Anthony’s Medical Center.

“I didn’t know much about it,” he said. “Being more curious than anything, I clicked on it and clicked on the video. It was so touching and inspirational, it brought a tear to my eye. I said, ‘We have to do that.’”

Willmore, who has lost a close friend to breast cancer, said he made it a priority to watch one of the videos every day.

He asked one of his most energetic employees, Danielle Hunter, to organize the movement for St. Anthony's. More than 150 employees from 13 departments joined Hunter and created their own department video.

Hunter worked with a videographer in early September to produce a cohesive video between the departments. Employees practiced several times and on the day of the shoot, had a blast.

“It was just fun, it wasn’t challenging at all,” he said. “You saw people dancing in the group that you would never expect to dance.”

Shooting the video got more than just St. Anthony’s staff involved. A few children and patients joined in the fun as well. Willmore said one lady was standing across the street during an outside shoot, and the dance reminded her that she needed to get her mammogram done.

“It’s really growing into something that’s super exciting, not only for St. Anthony’s employees, but for the community,” Willmore said.

But the community response wasn’t the only surprise for Willmore. One of his employees in the department, Sandi Ploesser, came forward as a breast cancer survivor.

“It was emotional when we were out there (shooting),” she said. “What a neat way to honor all the survivors and it was so moving to see how many people wanted to participate. It’s just so great to see so many people want to support those who are going through something like that.”

Ploesser is a 4-year survivor and had treatment at St. Anthony’s before she became an employee about six months ago. 

“Danielle (Hunter) wrote me and I said to count me in,” she said. “I had seen the very first video; what an uplifting way to make people aware of breast cancer.”

More than 200 facilities have entered the contest and the videos have produced more than 13 million views. Donations of $5,000 and $2,000 will be given to the second and third most-liked video.

To vote for St. Anthony’s staff, ‘Like’ the video on the Pink Glove Dance website before Oct. 28.