Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/70551
Family Medicine and an assistant professor at the Boston University School of Medicine. For more than 10 years, she has worked to integrate complementary therapies, such as massage therapy, with conventional medicine. Acting on her convictions, Gardiner shepherded an application for a grant from the Muscular Therapy Institute Foundation. The foundation's mission is to advance massage therapy by supporting projects that serve the underserved, train massage therapy practitioners in research skills, and further research in the field of massage therapy. Since 2007, the foundation has awarded almost $100,000 to researchers and community service organizations. Ben Benjamin, PhD, founder of the Muscular Therapy Institute and the foundation, took a tour of BMC and was impressed. "I visited the hospital and was very moved," Benjamin says. He noted important programs and initiatives, including a food pantry used to feed impoverished women and their families, 25 translators for patients whose first language is not English, staff lawyers to help patients navigate government assistance programs, and clinicians who give books to young patients to encourage literacy. "They are doing good work in the world," Benjamin says. "At BMC, massage was generally not available for poor people, and it is not usually covered by health insurance," Gardiner says. "But regardless of income or skin color, patients can still benefit from massage." Benjamin agreed, and the foundation granted funding to help bring massage therapy to the hospital's underserved patients. NOT SO FAST Gardiner knew that to successfully integrate massage therapy into the clinical environment, they had to approach the process like a tortoise—slow and steady. Because massage was not traditionally seen as a therapeutic intervention, getting buy-in from nurses, doctors, and administrators was crucial. The hospital had to work to build awareness among the medical staff about the value of massage therapy. The most successful way to do The hospital had to work to build awareness. this was to let the staff experience firsthand the benefits of massage. Thanks to a private donor, Suen established a massage program that allowed staff members to receive 10-minute chair massages during their shifts. Over the course of a year, janitorial staff, medical students, nurses, pharmacists, and other coworkers received Courtesy of Tracy Walton & Associates. Photo by Nanci Newton. Celebrate ABMP's 25th anniversary and you may win a refund on your membership. ABMP.com. 73