Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/1512873
kind of care they receive. Most negative health-care experiences are due to a mix of: • discrimination • lack of empathy • poor communication/listening skills • frustration/anxiety navigating and dealing with the health-care system • disregard for the individual's mental health and overall well-being. 2 "Just being nicer" to those clients won't change this, but a palliative care perspective and related skills could make all the difference. By learning some essential pieces of information about these diseases and some specialized communication and collaboration skills, your treatment space could become an important site of compassionate care for people living with serious illness, and you and any therapists who work with you could change the daily experience of illness for people and their families. GROWTH IN PALLIATIVE CARE Palliative care was officially recognized as a specialty area of practice in 2006, but the imperative for all care providers to have a working knowledge of the foundational skills that differentiate palliative care from what's often called curative treatment has become clear in recent years. The nation's palliative care organizations agree that "equipping all clinicians with foundational palliative care competencies (serious illness communication, illness trajectory and symptom management, collaborative care, and psychosocial/spiritual care, to name a few) is essential to address the complex needs of the growing number of adults living with chronic, progressive, or life- threatening serious illness." 3 When these organizations make these assertions, they're talking about doctors, social workers, nurses . . . and us. We are clinicians. I know they're talking about us because they're talking about anyone who provides any kind of care for "the growing number of adults living with chronic, progressive, or life-threatening serious illness." It's time to start noticing that people living with these conditions are already our clients and our clients' loved ones. We've all heard about the workforce shortage in health care, and the conversation about this shortage is shifting. The first thing that needs to happen is a move away from the idea that doctors are always the first point of contact for people living with illness. People are often diagnosed by a doctor, but then many other care team members join together (in the same location or not) to provide the care they receive related to that illness. Currently, massage therapists are not a very big part of that equation in reality or in the minds of health- care decision-makers, but we can be part of the solution to the workforce shortage. It's on us to show up to meet this need. Notes 1. National Institute on Aging, "What Are Palliative Care and Hospice Care?" accessed November 24, 2023, www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-are- palliative-care-and-hospice-care. 2. Massachusetts Coalition for Serious Illness Care, "2020–2021 Public Experience Research Findings," accessed November 24, 2023, www. maseriouscare.org/sites/g/files/csphws2336/ files/2021-12/MCSIC-2020-2021-Public- Experience-Research-Findings.pdf. 3. Brook A. Calton et al., "An Interprofessional Primary Palliative Care Curriculum for Health Care Trainees and Practicing Clinicians," Palliative Medicine Reports 3, no. 1 (2022): 80–6, www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/ pmr.2021.0074. Cal Cates is an educator, writer, and speaker on topics ranging from massage therapy in the hospital setting to end-of-life care and massage therapy policy and regulation. A founding director of the Society for Oncology Massage from 2007– 2014 and current executive director and founder of Healwell, Cates works within and beyond the massage therapy community to elevate the level of practice and integration of massage overall and in health care specifically. Cates also is the co- creator of the podcasts Massage Therapy Without Borders and Interdisciplinary. Check out Healwell's new podcast, The Rub, where hosts Cal Cates and Corey Rivera explore issues related to palliative care and massage therapy, health care and massage therapy, and all things clinical massage therapy. Find it wherever you get your podcasts. A B M P m e m b e r s ea r n F R E E C E h o u r s by rea d i n g t h i s i s s u e ! 75 Most massage therapists are surprised to learn that their brand, technique, and approach to massage therapy already work with palliative care.