At the RCCA Hair Boutique, cancer patients will receive head shaving services as well as a wig that is trimmed to fit their face free of charge.
At the RCCA Hair Boutique located in Virtua’s Samson Cancer Center patients will receive head shaving services as well as a wig that is trimmed to fit their face free of charge.
When Rosalie Forcinito started losing her hair following her chemotherapy treatments, she looked in the mirror and was frightened. An elementary school teacher, Forcinito wondered how she could go back to work with such a markedly different appearance.
Staff at Virtua Health System referred Forcinito to Rizzieri Salons & Spa. A pair of stylists fit Forcinito with a wig and trimmed it to fit her features.
“It looked like a part of me,” Forcinito said.
The experience was transformative in more ways than one. Forcinito said the wig made her hair one less worry while she was fighting breast cancer. Rizzieri wants to give that same experience to every patient fighting cancer at the soon-to-be-opened Samson Cancer Center in Moorestown. At the RCCA Hair Boutique located in the cancer center, patients will receive head shaving services as well as a wig that is trimmed to fit their face free of charge.
Frank Rizzieri, CEO/owner Rizzieri Salon & Spa, has been part of the Virtua Foundation board for several years. When he heard that Virtua was planning to build a cancer center in Moorestown, he suggested a boutique for women undergoing cancer treatment.
He said a salon where everyone is being primped is often not the right environment for someone losing their hair, so he thought a salon where the women are receiving their treatment would be a perfect fit. Virtua was immediately on board.
Stephanie Fendrick, senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Virtua, said Rizzieri talked about creating a “sacred space” for women going through treatment. She said privacy is really important for patients, and the Samson Center is a place where patients don’t have people looking at them because they’re losing their hair.
So, Rizzieri set out out to fundraise for the space. Through two events in partnership with Virtua and a generous donation from Regional Cancer Care Associates, they raised the $1 million needed to finance the space.
Rizzieri said Virtua’s nurse navigators will schedule a time for patients undergoing chemotherapy to come into the salon.The patients are encouraged to bring family and friends. The salon will have wigs on hand, so that the same day a patient shaves her head, they leave with a wig trimmed to fit their face.
It’s an extremely emotional moment for all involved, Rizzieri said. Whenever they’re fitting someone for a wig, he and his staff encourage the patient their hair will grow back and that this is temporary. He said for some, the wig offers patients a chance to try a hair color or style that they might have never tried before, so they try to play up those aspects when they can.
“The most important thing is making sure that the guests who come here to receive their treatment feel really good when they leave,” Rizzieri said.
Staff members at Rizzieri are donating their time by working at the facility on their days off. The Virtua Foundation, a nonprofit that helps support Virtua through fundraising and other philanthropy efforts, will finance the cost of the wigs, scarves and other aspects of the salon.
Rizzieri is also brainstorming other ways to continually fundraise for the salon. He said he’s looking into creating a signature candle with the profits benefiting the RCCA boutique, and he would sell it at his salons in Moorestown, Voorhees and Washington Township.
Today, Forcinito is cancer-free. She said when she was diagnosed with cancer, chemotherapy’s accompanying sickness had her feeling defeated and not very good about herself, but receiving her wig was an uplifting moment along the way and she’s excited to hear other patients will also get to experience.
“I think it’s a wonderful thing [Rizzieri’s] started,” Forcinito said.
Parts of the Samson Cancer Center will open on Nov. 5. For more information on the Virtua Foundation, visit https://foundation.virtua.org.
