COVID-19 VMM Update November 19, 2020
New Changes*
In light of Thursday's province wide mask mandate and non- essential travel recommendations there have been some changes regarding how massage therapy is allowed to operate in BC. Prior to this masks were only mandatory for the therapist to wear, it is now mandatory for the client to wear a mask, including in the treatment room. Please see below for more details on how this will be executed.
The other major change to VMM's policy's is that any client who has travelled off of the island will be required to wait 2 weeks before receiving a massage. This includes the members of your household and visitors as well. This was a company decision and it will be reassessed in the new year and likely be revoked once the numbers begin to decrease.
In light of Thursday's province wide mask mandate and non- essential travel recommendations there have been some changes regarding how massage therapy is allowed to operate in BC. Prior to this masks were only mandatory for the therapist to wear, it is now mandatory for the client to wear a mask, including in the treatment room. Please see below for more details on how this will be executed.
The other major change to VMM's policy's is that any client who has travelled off of the island will be required to wait 2 weeks before receiving a massage. This includes the members of your household and visitors as well. This was a company decision and it will be reassessed in the new year and likely be revoked once the numbers begin to decrease.
COVID-19 VMM Restart Plan June 1st, 2020
Overview: VMM will begin slowly and carefully reopening in phases starting June 1st. Clients who have had their appointments cancelled in March and April will be given priority in the order they were cancelled in. In addition to that many people were added to the list since we closed and the current wait list is about 2 months long. Everyone on the list will be contacted over the next 2 weeks to reschedule. Once every client has received a massage the schedule will return back to pre-Covid meaning clients who were previously booked weekly, biweekly, or monthly will have their normal time slot back at this stage.
In order to get all existing clientele tuned up we will not be accepting new clients during this time. We have also had to limit our travel radius to only Courtenay, Comox & Cumberland in order to fulfill sanitation requirements in-between appointments.
So if all goes well and it is safe to stay open everyone should be caught up by August. This is 100% dependant on the number of Covid cases remaining low in our area. We are lucky to have very few cases at the moment, however many areas are experiencing 2nd waves upon reopening. Recent research has also shown that Covid-19 is mutating into potentially more lethal forms. Rest assured, your health and safety is our #1 concern and we will stay up to date with the provincial regulations as well as the recent scientific literature and move forwards accordingly.. You can find links to reliable, non-biased and fact based information on Covid-19 below.
We are implementing many safety and sanitation procedures to ensure everyones wellbeing. With that being said there is always going to be some risk in receiving massage during a pandemic of this nature. We thank you for your patience and understanding over the next few weeks as we test the water of reopening.
Pre-screening clients:
Clients will be screened by answering a variety of questions upon being rescheduled and they will receive a 2nd phone call the morning of their appointment to confirm they (and the members of their household) are all in good health. They will also be asked to fill out this pre-screening Covid-19 waiver form prior to their appointment.
New Covid Protocol for Mobile Massage:
Phase 1 (PotentiallyJune 1-15)
Initially, will only be travelling to clients homes that have their own massage table. This will allow us to reduce the amount of equipment being transported from house to house along with potential Covid transmission. Every item we bring into your home must be cleaned and disinfected prior to going into the next home. The only safe way to accomplish that at this point is to limit the majority of the equipment.
For clients who do not own their own table, VMM has 5 extra tables that we will be strategically rotating through, again in order to minimize transmission. Linens will be lent out along with the tables and the clients will be responsible for setting the table up prior to their appointment as well and laundering their own linens. A bottle of lotion will be left at each clients home and they will be in charge of setting up their own music, etc. Appointments will be paid for via e-transfer, square (email only), or cash/cheque (please put in a ziplock bag).
Personal Protective Equipment
Clients: Will be required to wear some level of PPE. We are still waiting for the details on this but so far we have been told that you will need to wear a mask and goggles/glasses when you are face up on the massage table. Disposable surgical masks will be provided by VMM but face shields and goggles will not.
Therapist: Are required to wear an apron that is to be changed between each client. Safety goggles/glasses or face shield along with a surgical mask are also required.
For more information on the safety guidelines and sanitation procedures we will be following click here.
Phase 2 (TBD)
In order to get all existing clientele tuned up we will not be accepting new clients during this time. We have also had to limit our travel radius to only Courtenay, Comox & Cumberland in order to fulfill sanitation requirements in-between appointments.
So if all goes well and it is safe to stay open everyone should be caught up by August. This is 100% dependant on the number of Covid cases remaining low in our area. We are lucky to have very few cases at the moment, however many areas are experiencing 2nd waves upon reopening. Recent research has also shown that Covid-19 is mutating into potentially more lethal forms. Rest assured, your health and safety is our #1 concern and we will stay up to date with the provincial regulations as well as the recent scientific literature and move forwards accordingly.. You can find links to reliable, non-biased and fact based information on Covid-19 below.
We are implementing many safety and sanitation procedures to ensure everyones wellbeing. With that being said there is always going to be some risk in receiving massage during a pandemic of this nature. We thank you for your patience and understanding over the next few weeks as we test the water of reopening.
Pre-screening clients:
Clients will be screened by answering a variety of questions upon being rescheduled and they will receive a 2nd phone call the morning of their appointment to confirm they (and the members of their household) are all in good health. They will also be asked to fill out this pre-screening Covid-19 waiver form prior to their appointment.
New Covid Protocol for Mobile Massage:
Phase 1 (PotentiallyJune 1-15)
Initially, will only be travelling to clients homes that have their own massage table. This will allow us to reduce the amount of equipment being transported from house to house along with potential Covid transmission. Every item we bring into your home must be cleaned and disinfected prior to going into the next home. The only safe way to accomplish that at this point is to limit the majority of the equipment.
For clients who do not own their own table, VMM has 5 extra tables that we will be strategically rotating through, again in order to minimize transmission. Linens will be lent out along with the tables and the clients will be responsible for setting the table up prior to their appointment as well and laundering their own linens. A bottle of lotion will be left at each clients home and they will be in charge of setting up their own music, etc. Appointments will be paid for via e-transfer, square (email only), or cash/cheque (please put in a ziplock bag).
Personal Protective Equipment
Clients: Will be required to wear some level of PPE. We are still waiting for the details on this but so far we have been told that you will need to wear a mask and goggles/glasses when you are face up on the massage table. Disposable surgical masks will be provided by VMM but face shields and goggles will not.
Therapist: Are required to wear an apron that is to be changed between each client. Safety goggles/glasses or face shield along with a surgical mask are also required.
For more information on the safety guidelines and sanitation procedures we will be following click here.
Phase 2 (TBD)
COVID-19 Information & Resources
In the age of misinformation we believe it is important to seek non biased, fact based articles and news sources. We encourage you to do your own research but have attached a few different sources below:
This is a great resource for checking websites for a potential bias or lack of factual reporting:
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com
The Washington Post did an excellent article on May 1oth summarizing what we understand about how Covid-19 attacks the body.
"It attacks the heart, weakening its muscles and disrupting its critical rhythm. It savages kidneys so badly some hospitals have run short of dialysis equipment. It crawls along the nervous system, destroying taste and smell and occasionally reaching the brain. It creates blood clots that can kill with sudden efficiency and inflames blood vessels throughout the body."
The full article can be found here.
Science Alert has also done some great articles during this pandemic. There most recent article discuss's how China is experiencing a second wave due to lack of immunity, you can find it here. They did another excellent article on herd immunity and how it unfortunately won't help us here, and another article on whether or not you are immune once you have recovered from Covid-19 here.
Reuters does great international Covid updates and disproves a lot of the misinformation out there as does Aljazeera news.
Dr. Roger Seheult from Med Cram is my favourite resource for Covid-19 updates. This doctor treats Covid patients in the ER by day and does video updates by night… he is a true hero! He has been doing Covid video updates since Jan 26th they are science/ fact based with lots of visual explanations of technical information.
In the age of misinformation we believe it is important to seek non biased, fact based articles and news sources. We encourage you to do your own research but have attached a few different sources below:
This is a great resource for checking websites for a potential bias or lack of factual reporting:
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com
The Washington Post did an excellent article on May 1oth summarizing what we understand about how Covid-19 attacks the body.
"It attacks the heart, weakening its muscles and disrupting its critical rhythm. It savages kidneys so badly some hospitals have run short of dialysis equipment. It crawls along the nervous system, destroying taste and smell and occasionally reaching the brain. It creates blood clots that can kill with sudden efficiency and inflames blood vessels throughout the body."
The full article can be found here.
Science Alert has also done some great articles during this pandemic. There most recent article discuss's how China is experiencing a second wave due to lack of immunity, you can find it here. They did another excellent article on herd immunity and how it unfortunately won't help us here, and another article on whether or not you are immune once you have recovered from Covid-19 here.
Reuters does great international Covid updates and disproves a lot of the misinformation out there as does Aljazeera news.
Dr. Roger Seheult from Med Cram is my favourite resource for Covid-19 updates. This doctor treats Covid patients in the ER by day and does video updates by night… he is a true hero! He has been doing Covid video updates since Jan 26th they are science/ fact based with lots of visual explanations of technical information.
UPDATE MARCH 15: Valley Mobile Massage will be temporarily closing as of March 15, 2020 in response to Covid 19
After much research and careful consideration I have decided to close Valley Mobile Massage until the risk of spreading Covid 19 has diminished. Many of my clients are immunocompromised, including myself. Some of the people I see have autoimmune conditions, have recently been through chemo or are living in a senior care home. In order to protect these people in our community I will be cancelling all currently book appointments as of Monday March 16th with hopes of minimizing the spread. If you have an appointment this week you will be notified by email.
I encourage you all to begin social distancing to help flatten the curve and take the load off of our health care system. Now is the time to stay at home and help stop the spread. Get prepared, and find some fun hobbies to get into!
UPDATE March 15: A decision will be made later today to decide if Valley Mobile Massage will be temporarily closing to help stop the spread of Covid 19. If so, anyone who has an appointment this week will be contacted via email if their appointment is going to be cancelled.
PSA March 13 **With concerns about Covid-19, I would like to take every precaution to protect the health of our clients and myself.
- Do you have a fever, cough, difficulty breathing, or have you travelled outside of Canada or been in contact with someone who has travelled outside of Canada in the last 14 days?
- If so, please contact me by calling (250) 465-1755 and we will reschedule your appointment
- If any of the above applies to you and you do not reschedule your appointment we reserve the right to refuse the appointment and you will be charged the full amount of your session.
