Cancer Society opens wig banks in Galion, Bucyrus

Sarah Ein­se­len — Staff

The Amer­i­can Can­cer Soci­ety sends wigs donated by Pan­tene to local wig banks to be dis­trib­uted to women who are under­go­ing can­cer treat­ments. The wigs are syn­thetic but can be sham­pooed and styled with low heat.

By Sarah Einselen

Inquirer Reporter

For the 32 women in Craw­ford County who were diag­nosed with breast can­cer in 2010—and for women diag­nosed with any can­cer since—the local Amer­i­can Can­cer Soci­ety wig bank is now pro­vid­ing new, free wigs.

“We’ve always had wig banks, but mainly they were dona­tions we could get from local busi­nesses,” said Deb Niese, a health ini­tia­tives rep­re­sen­ta­tive for the Soci­ety. Now, “we get brand-new wigs that have never been worn, and they’re stylish.”

The revamped wig banks were launched in Craw­ford County in 2011. One bank is located in Galion and one in Bucyrus, but both will dis­trib­ute wigs to any­one the Soci­ety refers to them.

Val Stafford, a Galion cos­me­tol­o­gist, man­ages the Galion wig bank. That one started last April. She puts wigs of vary­ing lengths on dis­play with more left in the pack­ages they come in. Wig lines like Ken Paves, Raquel Welch and Eva Gabor are packed into each case. They are donated by Pan­tene. Stafford gets about fifty wigs in a case, she said, and when she runs out she’ll ask for more.

The wigs are up-to-date, Stafford said, though there are also silver-haired ones for those who want them. Women who come in to get a wig typ­i­cally look through a book Stafford has on hand, full of ideas for wig hair­styles, then pick out wigs and try them on in front of the mir­ror at the wig bank. “Most of them kind of go with what they’re used to,” she said. “They’re like, ‘ah, this fits.’ They like it, they’re com­fort­able with it.”

Cindy Leon­hart, an employee in the Bucyrus Com­mu­nity Hos­pi­tal oncol­ogy depart­ment, man­ages that city’s wig bank. She like­wise lets women try on the wigs.

“They think it’s won­der­ful, espe­cially when they find out it’s free,” Leon­hart said. “They’re very excited about it.

“It is just a won­der­ful pro­gram. You feel crappy any­ways some­times and a wig just helps you look better.”

Both wig bank coor­di­na­tors said they tried to make wig selec­tion a spe­cial time for their clients.

“I try to make it fun for them,” Stafford said. And the women often bring a friend along for moral sup­port and a friendly but hon­est take on the new look.

Cur­rently the wig banks pro­vide one wig per woman and don’t have toupees for men. Toupee requests are rare, Niese said, but can usu­ally be accom­mo­dated through the Soci­ety. Women who receive a wig fill out a con­fi­den­tial form to doc­u­ment that the wig was given away.

“I do have resources where they can buy oth­ers if they like,” Stafford said. She also has a few hats on hand, dona­tions from friends and local churches, that women may take if they prefer.

Before vol­un­teer­ing to man­age the wig bank, she had already begun teach­ing women makeup and nail tech­niques in the Society’s Look Good, Feel Bet­ter series of work­shops. The pro­gram is taught by licensed cos­me­tol­o­gists and helps women learn how they can still look good while can­cer treat­ments are tak­ing their toll on women’s bodies.

“We play with makeup, we play with hats and wigs and they receive a com­pli­men­tary makeup kit,” Stafford described. Skin and nail care is also taught. “They get to share with other peo­ple going through the same thing they’re going through.” The women enjoy the cama­raderie almost more than they enjoy “play­ing” with the makeup, Stafford said.

She began vol­un­teer­ing as a Look Good, Feel Bet­ter coor­di­na­tor in Decem­ber of 2009.

“I had a friend that was diag­nosed with breast can­cer in Sep­tem­ber of that year,” Stafford said, “and in the process of look­ing for wigs for her I found out about Look Good, Feel Better.”

The Soci­ety assists can­cer patients in other ways, as well. The newest pro­gram pro­vides gas cards to those who oth­er­wise can’t afford trans­porta­tion to their doctor’s appoint­ments or can­cer treat­ment centers.

To obtain a wig or more infor­ma­tion about the Amer­i­can Can­cer Soci­ety wig banks or one of the other patient assis­tance pro­grams, call the Soci­ety at (800) 227‑2345. A live per­son will answer any time, day or night.

Look Good, Feel Bet­ter sessions

Vol­un­teers with the Amer­i­can Can­cer Soci­ety will instruct sev­eral beauty work­shops in Craw­ford County for can­cer patients. The sched­ule for upcom­ing Look Good, Feel Bet­ter pro­grams is as follows:

• Feb. 13, 10 a.m.-noon, Wes­ley Chapel (260 Sixth Ave, Galion)
• March 1, 6–8 p.m., First Fed­eral con­fer­ence room at Bucyrus Com­mu­nity Hos­pi­tal (629 N San­dusky Ave, Bucyrus)
• March 28, 6–8 p.m., oncol­ogy depart­ment of Galion Com­mu­nity Hos­pi­tal (269 Port­land Way S, Galion)

Other ses­sions are sched­uled fur­ther in the future. Reg­is­tra­tion is required to attend any Look Good, Feel Bet­ter ses­sion. Call 1 (888) 227‑6446, choose option 2, then option 1 to register.

Posted by Sarah Einselen on Jan 18 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.