It started six years ago as the brainchild of our health system's CAM (Complementary / Alternative Medicine) coordinator, who wanted to do a women's evening to benefit the Healing Through the Arts program at our hospital. This is a program that encourages and develops art and music volunteers throughout the hospital -- in oncology, pediatrics and many other areas. She enlisted my help, we formed a committee and in very short order we hosted the first Women's Red Hot Night, with the Blues. It was held at a downtown restaurant and featured a fabulous meal, 2 local female blues singers and about 80 attendees. Our CAM coordinator position is now defunct, although CAM is still active within the hospital, thanks to a lot of dedicated holistic folks. The Women's Red Hot Night has continued to grow, with a new theme each year... our themes have included: RHN in the Tropics, Livin' La Vida Red Hot (Cuban), Red Hot Night in Black and White (Big City theme), and Red Hot Night with an Asian Flair.
Dr. Rebecca Burrell, committee member and art professor at Drury University, in full attire for the evening!
The Healing Through the Arts fund was the recipient of proceeds the first three years; since then we've chosen to benefit a different need each year. Last year's proceeds benefited women in the cancer fatigue program at our cancer center, and this year will go towards The Women's Center's development of postpartum depression support group and services, which is our latest project at TWC. 
Probably the biggest highlight of this year's event was the henna tattoos, done by a tireless and talented art education major, Julie, from Drury. Had we known what a hit it would be, we would've asked for two or more students! Julie worked non-stop all evening, and had a line of women waiting the entire time. Other activities included chair massage, and evening hair and makeup application, courtesy of Accents Salon and the MAC counter at Dillards. Another fun part of the evening was the belly dancers from a local troupe - what would an Arabian Night event be without belly dancers? Very talented ladies, and had quite the captivated audience for their performances! Check out her flaming hand thingys (???)--- it was very cool!
We also asked our accupuncturist back this year; she was a "fit" with our Asian theme for last year, but was so popular that we decided that even if it was a Mediterranean evening she'd still be fun for the attendees. I had a chance to visit with her at the end of the evening, and she put a couple of needles in my hands that were supposed to help with "general relaxation". I have to say that I could feel a change as I sat there for a couple of minutes; but that could've just as easily been because it was literally the first time I had sat down and rested since I arrived to set up at 2pm that afternoon!
Here's one more pic; the two ladies with me are Mary and Susan, two of the women that keep holistic medicine alive and well at CoxHealth. Mary's been on the committee a couple of years, and has brought some great ideas and energy to our event planning. This year she was there solely as an attendee, since she's taken on a new position and is very busy!
It was a terrific event, and raised several thousand dollars for the postpartum fund, thanks to the hard work of the RHN committee, the Women's Center and the Foundation at Cox. I'm already looking forward to next year's event -- no idea what the theme will be yet, but it will be a challenge to top this year's! We were sold out, with over 130 women in attendance. We'll have to look at another venue for next year, or consider having it on a Sunday when we can use the entire restaurant. If you're in town and haven't been, shoot me an email and I'll get you on the mailing list. (Lucas, it may warrant a trip to Springpatch, you and Kim can make a night of it, you Red Hot Women!)
