It started out like a TV episode of "Glee."
Hospital administrators in Aitkin and Crosby, Minn., were looking for a way to publicize their new breast-cancer collaborative. And somebody said: How about a music video?
This week, the finished product made its debut at the historic Rialto Theatre in Aitkin -- and quickly found its way to YouTube.
The 4 1/2 minute video stars a cast of hundreds -- cops, kids, farmers, nurses -- from central Minnesota, all wearing pink surgical scrubs and dancing (more or less) to an infectious song called "This Town."
"It was sort of a fun way to be informative about a pretty serious subject," said Mike Delfs, chief operating officer at the Riverwood Healthcare Center in Aitkin. "It just seemed like a great way of kicking off a partnership."
The video was conceived as a way to promote the Cuyuna Riverwood Breast Health Alliance, a joint venture to expand services for breast-cancer diagnosis and treatment at the two hospitals in Aitkin and Crosby.
But it also was a way to play off the historic rivalry between the two towns, said Theresa Sullivan, who heads the Cuyuna Regional Medical Center in Crosby. They've always competed in sports, and the two hospitals, owned separately, often compete for patients. "Having the [staffs] dancing in scrubs," she said, "was a fun way for them to get beyond the idea of competition."
In the video, "Team Crosby" wears hot pink; "Team Aitkin" wears pale pink.
