The sometimes-segregated Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) employees on the Coast came together around a common theme recently and danced their way to unity.
Brenda Rowe, patient care coordinator with VCH, said she felt that "all of the employees in the whole entire health authority needed a project that would bring everybody together," so she set about finding such a project earlier this fall.
First she needed to come up with a common theme everyone could get behind.
"Cancer unfortunately is the common thread through all of us," Rowe said. "It's so ridiculous. If you're not faced with it every day at work you're faced with it at home or with friends or with family, and so that really was the driving force."
Rowe is also a board member of the Ruby Slipper Fund, a charity organization that raises money to help people affected by cancer on the Coast.
After some searching online, Rowe saw that other hospitals had recorded "pink glove dances" in support of breast cancer awareness and that a pink glove dance website was offering prizes for the best videos submitted.
While it would be too late for the local hospital to enter the contest, Rowe saw the benefit of producing a video with VCH staff, as did her co-workers.
"It was one of those sort of things where the idea just took hold and sort of took on a life of its own, like a snowball," Rowe said.
Soon doctors, nurses, public health workers, auxiliary members and even cafeteria staff were planning their dance moves and collecting pink paraphernalia to wave for the camera.
Two students skilled in video production from Chatelech Secondary School, Kayma Seamark and Nicola Hardwick, got involved and ended up shooting more than five hours of video, which they later condensed into a three-minute segment.
Both girls were excited to be involved in the project.
"It seemed pretty unique and kind of cool," Seamark said.
The video, featuring wacky pink costumes, silly dance moves and even some well-choreographed bits, was shown at the VCH Christmas dinner to the delight of everyone in attendance.
"It was definitely a morale boost for the people at the hospital," Seamark said. "Because that must be a pretty serious job to work at."
The end of the video tells viewers how they can give to the Ruby Slipper Fund, should they wish, and it's meant to be seen by the masses some day.
Rowe hopes to have the video on YouTube in the New Year; however, VCH must first obtain copyright permission for the soundtrack they selected.
