December 11, 2007
Massage program promotes pediatric healing
Like many young patients, 13-year-old Ally Hampton was feeling tired and sick during her morning chemotherapy treatment at the Jimmy Fund Clinic one Monday. But when she heard the familiar voice of massage therapist Bambi Mathay, LMT, asking if she would like a massage during her infusion, the eighth-grader perked up a bit.
Hampton is one of many pediatric patients who have taken advantage of the free hand and foot massage service offered through the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies during the last year. Thanks to funding from events like the Boston Marathon® Jimmy Fund Walk and the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge bike-a-thon, massage therapists Theresa Ochenkoski, LMT, and Mathay have six hours a week to work in the clinic and perform unscheduled, free, 20-minute sessions on patients in the infusion room.
While they must meet certain medical criteria, most patients are eligible to receive massages. Before walking around the clinic, massage therapists check in with the nursing staff who suggests kids they think will be open to the experience. Additionally, patients can request sessions. For many youngsters in the clinic, this is their first encounter with integrative therapies, and one of the things that Mathay enjoys most is listening to them talk about it. One 10-year-old, first-time recipient said, "On the outside I know I am awake, relaxed, and I am here. But on the inside, I feel like I have gone somewhere else."
According to research and anecdotal evidence from patients and parents, massage and other integrative or complementary relaxation therapies, such as Reiki, may help decrease stress levels, pain, fatigue, and depression in pediatric patients. For Hampton — who has also benefited from Reiki at Children's Hospital Boston during her neuroblastoma treatment — such therapy makes coming into the clinic a little bit easier.
"As a parent, it's a breath of fresh air to see your child smile and have a look of relaxation on her face," said Jeff Hampton, Ally's dad.
Zakim Center Program Manager Anne Doherty-Gilman, MPH, says that while finding the funding to get the initiative rolling was a challenge, the importance of offering a free program like this was a priority for several reasons. Despite evidence of the benefits of complementary therapies along with conventional medical treatment, many insurance providers do not cover costs for such services. And, for pediatric patients who sometimes have a full day of treatment, scheduling an individual massage session can be too time consuming. Additionally, Doherty-Gilman says that it's beneficial for patients to receive the treatment right in their infusion beds so they aren't intimidated by being removed from other kids or parents.
"Ultimately, we wanted to offer a program where we really reach out to the patient and family," comments Doherty-Gilman. "Instead of saying, 'Here is a service, now you come to us,' we come to them." Currently, a similar program run jointly by the Zakim Center and Volunteer Services called "Hands on Care" offers hand rubs to patients in the Clinical Research Center. Doherty-Gilman is hopeful that more funding will become available to expand the Zakim Center infusion program into the adult clinics.
For more information on the infusion massage program, talk to your child's nurse, or call the Zakim Center at (617) 632-3322.
— Kara Lacey
kara_lacey@dfci.harvard.edu
