Wig Fitting Room Gets Makeover Thanks To Eagle Scout Project

ARLINGTON, VA — Alia Abbud was surprised when she first saw the wig fitting room at the Sid and Reba Dewberry Cancer Center at VHC Health in Arlington.

“I saw it as more of a storage space than an actual wig fitting room, a place that people could feel comfortable in,” she said.

An aspiring physician, Abbud has worked at the center for the past two summers, inspired by her mother, who is a radiologist in VHC Health’s Women’s Imaging Center.

The wig fitting room reminded the Langley High School student of her first grade teacher and her struggle with breast cancer.

“She was such a classy woman,” Abbud said. “She fostered my growth in education and really made me love reading and writing. So, she has a very special place in my heart.”

With these memories in mind, Abbud decided to renovate the wig fitting room as part of an Eagle Scout project. After writing up a budget, she split the project’s cost with her parents and got to work.

Abbud installed new lighting, designed custom storage, and redecorated the space, making it a warm and functional environment to help patients feel dignity and comfort during a vulnerable time.

Margaret Navarro, the breast health navigator at VHC Health, mentored Abbud through the project and praised the teen for her compassion and attention to detail.

“Now we have this beautiful chair that can accommodate old and young,” Navarro said. “We had a folding chair before, and she put in this giant mirror that's backlit. Just little things like that, like organizing, made a huge difference.”

For Abbud, renovating the wig fitting room was a small way to help women, like her first grade teacher, who are undergoing cancer treatment.

"I'm not able to do the wig fittings," she said. "Margaret and her lovely staff always do the wig fittings. Let me make a nice LED mirror for them. Let me have a nice comfortable chair for them. Let me have some nice decorations on the walls that they can look at to help them through the process. Even the slightest thing I could do, it meant so much for me. It’s just learning to help wherever you can.”

Read about how another Eagle Scout project by a Langley High School student restored the cancer garden at VHC Health's Sid and Reba Dewberry Cancer Center in Arlington.