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HEALWELL SPREADS ITS WINGS with First Stewardship at VHC
A few years back you may have heard talk around The Teal Center about the Integrative Health Initiative. Those were the first stirrings of an idea to create the possibility of providing massage therapy to hospital inpatients regardless of their ability to pay.
Since those early conversations in 2007 Lauren Muser Cates and I have worked together to co-found an organization that promises to open more opportunities for the inpatient massage therapy program that began as part of the work of The Teal Center at Virginia Hospital Center.
Now known as Healwell™, we are incorporated in Virginia and received 501(c)(3) status in June of 2010. The vision for the organization has been organically unfolding with the help of a small but dedicated board of directors and the assistance of countless friends and supporters. After much patience, more faith and even more love and sweat Healwell is beginning to spread its wings.
Serving inpatients at VHC is one part of Healwell's broader mission: to improve quality of life for people living with acute, chronic and terminal illness, regardless of ability to pay, through hands-on integrative therapies, education and research.
Healwell's flagship initiative, The Healwell™ Massage Therapy Hospital Stewardship Program: Clinical Excellence and Compassionate Presence In the Hospital Setting (lovingly, and thankfully referred to as simply "the stewardship") is taking place now at Virginia Hospital Center. Big congratulations and heartfelt thanks to all the good people, especially Lauren Cates and Lucille Eddy, who have put so much time, energy and care into this project.
Healwell will harness the skills and energy of many of the talented, compassionate therapists who complete the stewardship program as it facilitates a transition of inpatient massage therapy services at VHC late this fall from Teal Center therapists to therapists who will be contracted by Healwell. There is also a small handful of therapists who have worked tirelessly to maintain and grow the inpatient massage program since its inception who will do "double duty", so to speak, as they continue to see clients in The Teal Center's treatment suites at VHC while also seeing inpatients for Healwell.
The stewardship is an advanced course which capitalizes on experience gained working directly in the hospital setting providing massage therapy at VHC and other area hospitals. There are two other similar programs in the country that have laid the groundwork for Healwell's program to offer an unrivaled opportunity for therapists to work in live settings with real patients on different units for 6 full days.
Thanks to a generous grant from The Palmer Foundation (thepalmerfoundation.org), we are currently hosting the inaugural cohort of ten stewards (who are all practicing massage therapists with a combination of oncology massage training and related clinical experience) from as nearby as Falls Church and as far away as Tasmania. Feedback from the stewards about the first module of the course has been very positive and we have three offerings of the course scheduled for 2012.**
The stewardship instructors are The Teal Center's own Lucille Eddy, CMT and Lauren Muser Cates, CMT. Both are graduates of the Potomac Massage Training Institute and were instrumental in the founding of the Society for Oncology Massage. In addition, Lauren served as the Clinical Supervisor for Hospital/Oncology Massage at The Teal Center at VHC from 2006-2009 and Lucille has filled that role since Lauren left to begin work with Healwell in 2009. Both instructors bring hundreds of hours of clinical and oncology massage as well as considerable teaching experience to the program.
Meanwhile, Healwell is heading into the second year of a pediatric oncology massage study in which it is partnering with a DC-area hospital. The organization is hopeful that the results of the study will not only yield opportunities for future study and collaboration in this area, but also open the door for the provision of massage therapy at this institution on a regular basis outside the confines of the study.
In anticipation of this next step, Healwell will host the nation's foremost pediatric oncology massage educator, Shay Beider (integrativetouchforkids.org), in the spring of 2012. Shay joined us early last year to train a team of therapists to prepare them to work as practitioners in the study. When she returns in the spring, she will provide basic and advanced training for therapists who want not only to cultivate a greater proficiency with the pediatric oncology community, but also to work directly with this population through Healwell's programs in the future.
As 2012 approaches, Healwell has many other projects, programs and ideas on the horizon. Stay tuned for news of our continued progress. If you'd like to support Healwell with your hands, your heart or your wallet, please contact us at info@healwell.org. Thank you all for your continued enthusiasm and support and for the wonderful work you do every day.
** While Healwell's website is under construction, you can learn more about the Stewardship and apply for acceptance to the program at www.lighthold.org/Stewardship.html.
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