COVID-19 Updates

June 9, 2020:

Dear clients,

We are happy to report that the WA Department of Health (DOH) is now allowing massage therapy for all clients, regardless of urgent medical need! To protect client and public health, we are continuing to adhere to DOH and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) standards, as discussed in the last paragraph below.

We look forward to working with you again! Please feel free to make an appointment online (link below). For those whose appointments were cancelled in the past few months, Christine will be available for additional hours, so please email or call if you don't find a time online that works for you. Brian plans to return around July, and we will post his hours online at that time.

http://www.greenleaf.massagetherapy.com/hours-scheduling

As always, your health and wellness is our main priority, and we are following strict DOH and CDC guidelines, some of which are outlined below:

· Massage therapists and all clients are required to wear a mask when in the office and throughout the session. We will provide a cloth mask for you if you don't have one with you.

· Per DOH guidelines, we will be screening all clients and ourselves for symptoms prior to appointments. Here is a link to the CDC's symptoms of COVID-19. Please let us know if you have any symptoms before your appointment. There is no penalty for cancelling at any time due to illness.

· We are disinfecting all touched items and surfaces between all clients per CDC and DOH guidelines. Hand sanitizer is also available throughout the office.

· To help maintain social distancing, we have rearranged our waiting area. You are also welcome to wait in the main building's lobby.

Please let us know if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you for your next massage!

Warm regards,

Christine and Brian
Green Leaf Massage Therapy

 

May 6, 2020:

Dear clients,

We hope you are all doing well, and starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel! We are hopeful that we will be able to open up massage to clients across the board during Phase 2 of Governor Jay Inslee's phased re-opening plan. At this point, we will extend cancellations for non-urgent medical needs through May 31, but I will start seeing clients effective immediately for "urgent medical needs", which is the sole condition under which the Washington Department of Health (DOH) is currently allowing massage.

Several examples of urgent medical need include "lymphatic overwhelm issues, severe whiplash, and acute pain control." The DOH also states that, "Simply having a prescription for massage is not sufficient to establish urgent care.”

Please let me know if you believe your symptoms fit under the category of an urgent medical need, and would like to come in. If so, I have an N100 mask that I will wear, and the DOH is requesting that clients wear a cloth mask during the entire session. We are following all recommendations for cleaning and disinfection given by the DOH and Centers for Disease Control. This includes changing our clothes between each client (as an alternate to a medical gown). All sheets and blankets are changed between each client and washed in hot water, and all surfaces are disinfected between clients.

In the meantime, we will cancel all non-urgent massage sessions through May 31, and be in touch with updates before the end of May with regards to any sessions in June. I will reach out to you if you have an appointment scheduled this month to confirm whether we should cancel. We will let you know when the Department of Health allows massage for non-urgent medical needs.

As always, please reach out with any questions. We cannot wait to see you again soon!

Warm regards and wishes for wellness,

Christine and Brian
Green Leaf Massage Therapy


References

Governor Jay Inslee:
https://medium.com/wagovernor/inslee-signs-new-covid-19-order-for-phased-re-opening-of-washingtons-economy-ad5ea919ab56

 

April 30, 2020:

Dear clients,

We hope you are all continuing to do well and find connections during this difficult time of social distancing. We thank you so much for your patience during our temporary closure. Regarding Green Leaf’s planned reopen date, we are awaiting Governor Jay Inslee’s scheduled announcement tomorrow, May 1st, in which he is expected to extend the “Stay Home - Stay Healthy” proclamation past May 4th.

We will send out an update in the next few days after reviewing Governor Inslee’s updated proclamation and any updates from public health authorities and professional associations.

Thank you again for your patience. Your health and wellness is important to us, and we value the trust you have given us with your care. Please feel free to reach out with any questions. We will be in touch in the next few days.

Warm regards,
Christine and Brian
Green Leaf Massage Therapy

 

April 3, 2020:

Dear clients,

We hope you are doing well and continuing to weather the social distancing and COVID-19 storm. In light of Governor Jay Inslee's extension of the "Stay Home,Stay Healthy" order through May 4th, we will be extending our postponement of appointments through then, and plan to reopen on May 5th. We will touch base towards the end of April to confirm that reopen date.

Although a somewhat open-ended postponement might feel a bit unsettling, please rest assured that we are making these decisions with the utmost care and consideration for the health and safety of our clients and the public. We are also continuing to stay in alignment with recommendations from our professional associations and public health authorities.

Please feel free to reach out at any time with questions or for support and suggestions for self-care.

Take care, and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Warm regards,
Christine and Brian
Green Leaf Massage Therapy


References

Governor Jay Inslee:
https://www.governor.wa.gov/news-media/inslee-extends-stay-home-stay-healthy-through-may-4

 

March 18, 2020:

Dear clients,

We hope you are all doing well during this stressful time! We hoped it wouldn't come to this, but after much consideration and consultation, we are temporarily suspending massage appointments at Green Leaf Massage at least through the end of March to protect clients and the general public from risk of exposure to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. This was a very difficult decision, as our clients receive massage to improve their health and well-being, and we want to be here for clients. We are sad about this, as we also truly enjoy and value working with you, and I’m sure you can agree, could all use a massage right about now!

We hope to resume appointments as soon as possible, and cannot wait to get back to doing massage! Details on how we made our decision are below. We hope to resume appointments in April, and will keep you posted on rescheduling appointments. We are keeping track of updates from the health care and government agencies and associations listed below, and are holding off on making new appointments at this time. If you could please confirm that you received this email and your cancellation for March, that would be much appreciated. Otherwise, I will give clients a call who have appointments that are being cancelled this month to confirm that they received this. If you have a package or certificate and your appointment is being postponed, we will carry it over to future appointments. Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions or concerns. We are happy to speak with you on the phone or via email, and are here to support you in your wellness and self-care. 

Our decision process: 

We have in the last weeks been following recommendations regarding COVID-19 provided by the CDC and the Washington State Department of Health and have been complying by governor Jay Inslee's announcements, all of which, as of this email, do not prohibit practicing massage. Our decision to suspend practice was largely based on updates given in the past two days from the two largest professional massage therapy associations, ABMP, which Brian and I are both members of, and AMTA.

The Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (ABMP) released an update on March 16th strongly encouraging massage therapists to suspend practice on a temporary basis, and the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) released an update on March 17th encouraging massage therapists to only practice when medically necessary. As massage therapists, we feel that determining medical necessity when the COVID-19 situation is evolving so quickly would require continued approvals from your primary healthcare provider. We therefore decided that for your health and safety, we will cancel all appointments for this month to be in line with these associations’ recommendations.

We will continue to be in touch! Please feel free to reach out with any questions or for advice on self-care. We plan to update our website in the coming days with a page on self-care resources that you might find helpful during these times. Your suggestions are also welcome!

With our deepest care and support,

Christine and Brian
Green Leaf Massage Therapy

 

References

CDC:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/summary.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fsummary.html#covid19-pandemic

Washington State Department of Health:
https://www.doh.wa.gov/emergencies/coronavirus

Governor Jay Inslee:
https://medium.com/wagovernor/inslee-announces-statewide-shutdown-of-restaurants-bars-and-expanded-social-gathering-limits-bb19095b2251

Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals (ABMP):
https://www.abmp.com/updates/news/our-new-world-covid-19-march-16-update-abmp-and-ruth-werner

American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA):
https://www.amtamassage.org/articles/1/News/detail/4023/amta-is-committed-to-keeping-you-informed-on-covid-19

 

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