The workers at the boutique inside Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore embrace them, both literally and figuratively.
"It's a place where our patients can come and feel like they're treating themselves and not like they're being treated," said Jennifer Crawford, who owns the store with her mother, Elisa Lawson, and rents the space from Mercy.
The shop got its start 27 years ago in what was essentially a supply closet. This spring, the boutique reopened in an expanded space off the lobby in the Weinberg Center for Women's Health and Medicine.
The expanded shop has space for three fitting rooms to try on an expanded stock of mastectomy swimsuits, bras and other garments; a private wig studio staffed by a hairdresser; and a seating area. There's also a selection of wellness items like goat milk soaps, dangly earrings, and scented candles.
"I've always loved taking care of the ladies, but what I love is that this space feels really special," Crawford said.
When Lawson, 69, was a teenager, she worked in the lingerie department at Stewart's department store in Baltimore, and she learned how to do customized fittings. "It just becomes one of those industries that becomes a part of who you are," she said.
She married, had four children, and when they got older, she decided to go back to work, this time in the lingerie department at Nordstrom. There, she was introduced to prosthetics garments. But something about the commissioned sales experience felt off: Women came to her with no breasts or one breast, and she wanted to help them in a more nurturing environment.
In 1999, she asked her father to lend her $2,000 to start her own business in prosthetic garment sales. She visited local surgeons to ask for customer referrals. That year, at Mercy Baltimore, she met Dr. Neil Friedman, who provided her a small office space in the hospital. The business grew. A few years later, when the hospital's Hoffberger Breast Center at Mercy moved into a new building, she expanded into a slightly larger office space.
Surgeons and patients, even ones from other hospitals, learned about the boutique and gave her their business. The boutique workers know how to navigate insurance requirements and can recommend new products that might work better medically for patients.
"The patients are relieved," Lawson said. "They're like, 'Wow, this is great. My doctor wants me to have this, and that's exactly what I'm getting.'"
Making the transition
Meanwhile, around the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lawson began pondering when she might retire.
Crawford had built a career running daycare centers. Lawson asked her if she would want to take over the boutique. Crawford came in on and off, and then began training her directors to take over her daycare business.
"And then I started really pouring my heart and soul into this place, because it's so special," Crawford said.
But it was growing. And the breast center expanded, pushing the boutique out of its space. Meanwhile, the mother and daughter eyed the former cafe space.
"I envisioned it, and I just could see the possibilities, and I just wanted it," Crawford said.
Mercy helped with the cost of renovating the space. The medical center also assists with the cost of garments when patients can't or their insurance won't cover them.
The boutique moved to the new space in April. The shop has five employees in addition to Crawford and Lawson.
'Every woman belongs'
Zoe Jaffee, a patient navigator with the breast center, walks patients down to the boutique after they've had their initial diagnosis and consult. Patients, who come to the breast center for treatment from around the country, are understandably overwhelmed.
"The minute you walk into the boutique, you can feel it," Jaffee said. "There's someone at the front desk, and they're immediately greeted, but typically that person's going to walk out from the front desk and give that patient a hug right away."
When she thinks of the boutique, Jaffee said the word hospitality comes to mind. "We don't see them as a patient, they're a person," she said. "And they're treated like they're your sister, your mother, your friend, and they're just given that love and support the minute they walk in."
Deborah Harrington, 62, was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago and has endured five surgeries. During that time, she came to the boutique for different types of bras and garments and even more.
"I don't know what I would have done without Jen and the other girls there, even mentally getting through some of it," she said.
Continuing to grow
As for Crawford, she continues to grow into the new space and help patients. She's the brains behind sometimes-zany posts to promote the boutique on social media: she and her colleagues dance around in blue, skintight body suits to model the newest mastectomy swimsuit styles and perform talk show-style sketches to yap about new products.
Lawson, who works more now on the paperwork and insurance compliance side, is happy the shop, and her customers, are in good hands.
"I couldn't be more at peace than knowing that this business that I've been so passionate about is going to continue to grow and have the amazing reputation that it's always had," she said.