– by Doreen Marion Gee –
This is the second in a six-part series of profiles on some great local businesses that are working to keep us all in good health.
A year and a half ago I dislocated my shoulder, an extremely painful ordeal requiring a trip to emergency. After my shoulder was reset, a nurse gently washed me, put a warm towel over my sore body and brought me tea and an egg salad sandwich. Her tender kindness meant the world to me and seemed to counteract the trauma of my injury, bringing me back to normal. In a similar way, local esthetician Alana Delcourt provides services that lovingly counter the harsh effects of serious illness. Her tender touch and kind attention are a welcome ray of light for people dealing with a life-changing diagnosis.
A licensed esthetician and owner of “Fresh Esthetics Studio” in Sidney, Alana Delcourt has worked in some of the top spas in BC, including Wickaninnish Inn and The Fairmont Empress. She has even waxed, buffed, and exfoliated the stars, including Halle Berry and Jessica Biel! Alana’s new passion is Oncology Esthetics, a new field of esthetics that has been improving the lives of cancer patients since 2007. Alana has an “Advanced Certificate (in Oncology Esthetics) to understand cancer, its treatments and their side effects, and provide comfort and relief.” She can perform cancer screenings, provide non-invasive spa treatments designed for cancer patients and “listen with compassionate ears … and build the client’s confidence that the treatments provided will ensure them a higher quality of life” (www.oncologyesthetics.com).
In her Oncology Esthetics specialty, Alana shows her clients tender compassionate care. “There are many side-effects of cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy, with a breakdown of skin, hair and nails.” Alana adapts her treatments to the individual needs of ill clients. “As our largest organ, I can really help the skin out. The products that I use are especially made and designed for compromised skin that feels burnt, flared up, or has a rash.” Her products that soothe, calm and hydrate the skin “are oncologically friendly” with no carcinogenic agents, chemicals, parabens or scents.” Alana also treats “health-challenged” skin that has been compromised by other illnesses such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis, auto-immune disorders, hormonal disruptions and allergies. She provides expert foot, hair and nail care. Trimming, buffing and gently smoothing out ridges on nails “can make clients feel so much better.”
Alana Delcourt is a natural fit for her work. When she took loving care of her own seriously ill mother, she realized that she “wanted to help others, making them feel good as much as possible.” She describes her profession as dealing with mind, body and soul. “Treating the whole person from the inside to the outside is really important” to Alana. “If people are stressed, this is a way for them to decompress. People learn how to take good care of themselves.” With the ravages of invasive illness and treatments, Alana’s nurturing gentle services counter and buffer the injuries, bringing her clients back to comfort, renewal and normality for a while. “Considering the harshness of some of the treatments, it is nice to have a softer side.” Alana wants to “help out on a deeper level. People get depressed, it affects their psyche.” Alana’s services lift them up, pamper and refresh them, giving them a sense of well-being. Alana: “I want to give people a ray of light in a dark time!”
Local testimonials are always the best evidence of a job well done. A content client currently undergoing chemotherapy for colon cancer says it all in an email to Alana: “Just want to say that was the BEST facial I’ve ever had … I came home feeling really relaxed and my skin is feeling really happy too … whatever you put on it, clearly my skin needed it.”
Alana’s services are more important than we will ever know. Those beautiful sessions in her studio might just be the spark that ignites the body’s own healing power. Strangely enough, my shoulder has never felt better.
Contact: fresh-studio.ca, 250-686-6208
