The women who walk through the doors of CHI St. Vincent's New Outlook cancer recovery program for the first time usually do so with trepidation. No one really wants to be there, and even if they're there for beauty tips, it's not a makeover anyone would want to need.
"Everyone comes in really sad," explains Erma Rogers, a longtime volunteer. But, by the time they walk out, "they're not leaving crying. They're leaving happy."
That's thanks not only to the beauty tips and products they receive, but to the emotional support and care they get from fellow patients and people such as Rogers. She points to a bulletin board completely covered with thank-you notes written by women the program has helped.
New Outlook is a program for people in active treatment for all kinds of cancer. It provides wigs, scarves, caps, makeup and other skin care and health tips related to cancer treatments at individual meetings and at its regular Look Good Feel Better group makeover sessions.
Cancer and its treatments can wreak havoc on a woman physically and emotionally. The point of New Outlook, coordinator Alesa Garner explains, is to show the women "You're more than that treatment. You've got other parts to you that need support."
So, a session with New Outlook could mean makeup (donated by companies such as Clinique, Lancome and Chanel) to give them a fresh look. Or a wig, scarf or a colorful handmade cap to cover up the loss of hair and keep a bald head warm. Or something as simple as ChapStick and advice, like using plastic eating utensils to lessen the chance of triggering nausea during chemotherapy.
But, Garner says, it's not just the tips and products they receive that do the clients a world of good.
"Most of the time, it ends up being a mini-support group because they're in a room with people going through the same thing. All of a sudden you'll see wigs flying and bald women sitting there and they're comfortable and they're laughing. It's an emotional transformation that happens."
The group sessions can have as many as 15 or as few as two people and are open to all cancer patients, regardless of where they're receiving treatment.
"We all play well together here in Little Rock," she says, noting that the area hospitals coordinate and cooperate when it comes to treating their cancer patients.
Rogers is New Outlook's longest-running volunteer and has been there since 1997, when a friend invited her to a luncheon for the new program. As a licensed cosmetologist, she is able to perform certain tasks, like trimming wigs and shaving heads, that others cannot. She helps out at the Look Good Feel Better events with makeup and headgear tips. She also works one-on-one to help women select a wig, working from photographs of how a woman's hair looked or, more often, just helping them try out a variety of styles.
"A lot of them like to change," she says. "We just have fun doing it."
Former New Outlook client and current volunteer Rasa Gillean speaks from experience about the healing power of the sessions.
"It makes them smile. It's such a terrible time in their lives. It's nice to have something to look forward to and laugh about."
On rare occasions, a woman is just not yet in an emotional or mental place to select a wig or to be open to the help and advice. "They're too emotional," Rogers says. It's a challenging time in the lives of the women Rogers and Garner help, and sometimes smiling and laughing aren't exactly what they need.
"Sometimes there isn't anything to do so we just sit and hold hands and hug," Garner says.
"What the patient needs, that's what we try to furnish," Rogers says. "If they want to cry, we cry with them. We just hug them. Go ahead. There's nothing wrong with it."
Still, she says, "They walk out happy."
For Rogers, the real benefit comes through working with people and getting to be around and help "all these wonderful ladies." Rogers was the recipient of this year's Sunshine Award given by the American Cancer Society of Arkansas and it was, she says, a complete shock.
"I did not know anything about it," she says. They surprised her at the New Outlook offices when she had just finished fitting a 17-year-old leukemia patient with a wig.
"I wanted her in the picture with me," Rogers says. "I still have my trophy they gave me and I show it to everybody who comes in at home." It was an award that Garner and Gillean both feel is apt and well-deserved.
"She is sunshine," Garner says. "She's just that kind of person."
For more information about CHI St. Vincent's New Outlook cancer recovery program, call (501) 552-3433, (800) 227-2345 or (800) 446-7341 or visit chistvincent.com/newoutlook.
High Profile on 12/25/2016