CIM MASSAGE THERAPY TRAINING PROGRAM GETS A BIG BOOST WITH ACQUISITION OF A DOH LICENSE
Dr. Simbulan successfully acquires a DOH massage therapy license for CIM's evolving massage therapy program at the De La Salle Health Sciences Institute. Left, HANDSPRING INSTITUTE classmates after DOH Oath Taking Ceremony last Dec. 20, 2007; Right, with Handspring classmate Dr. Becky Singson, MD, Oby-Gyn, owner of Rebirth Spa at the Asian Hospital. Dr. Singson topped the Practical Massage examinations given last Dec. 10, 2007. All of my classmates are either physical therapists, practicing spa therapists, spa owners or medical doctors.
The CIM Massage Therapy Program got a big boost with the acquisition of a massage therapy license by the CIM chair, Dr. Dante G. Simbulan, Jr., after successfully hurdling the written and practical examinations given by DOH last December 4 and Dec. 10, 2007 respectively. Only around 32% of total number of examinees passed the licensure examination. Massage is being developed by CIM as one of relatively low-cost traditional and alternative modalities for preventive health care. Traditional and alternative health care research, advocacy and development is supervised by the Department of Health's Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC). The DOH massage therapy accreditation program is under direct supervision of the DOH Health and Human Resources Development Bureau (HHRDB), through its Committee of Examiners for Massage Therapists (CEMT).
The oath taking ceremony was conducted at the DOH Convention Hall in the morning of Dec. 20, led by HHRDB Chief Dr. Kenneth Ronquillo who is also the head of the Committee of Examiners for Massage Therapists. Every June and December every year, examinations are given for aspiring massage therapists and future massage trainers as required by law. These massage therapists are then required to supervise massage technicians who will be working under them.
This is a historic transition as the old curriculum requiring only 60 hours training will be replaced by a 560-hour curriculum, prior to taking the DOH massage licensure examination starting next year. Dr. Simbulan underwent the basic local training program in practical massage at the Handspring Institute of Massage and Shiatsu headed by Sir Benjamin Eugenio.
While the Spa and Wellness industry has been riding the wave of health consciousness among people around the world, the CIM Massage Therapy Program aims to be different in that it would cater to the needs of low-income communities, by propagating massage as a common household skill for stress management and other therapeutic purposes through short, practical massage courses, which would cover both oil-based and dry massage techniques. This is in line with the La Sallian mission to serve the least economically empowered among our compatriots.
In the future, it is part of CIM's vision to also help develop courses and a faculty within the Health Sciences Institute which will be able to train aspiring massage therapists who would wish to hurdle the new 560-hour curriculum.
Cross-training with Massage schools and trainers here and overseas will be a way to develop in-house training capabilities of CIM. A CIM Therapeutic Massage Study Group will soon be organized within the Health Sciences Institute to study and propagate the scientific benefits of massage.
Successful examinees: Handspring Institute Alumni and Staff,
center (Sir Benjamin Eugenio, President
of Handspring Institute of Massage and Shiatsu)
For evidence-based research on the benefits of massage, see the website of the Touch Institute of the University of Miami's School of Medicine.
BACK TO KAGINHAWAHAN HOME PAGE
Profile
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
kaginhawahan- kaginhawahan