Dear Patients of Leslie Clisby,

Leslie Clisby is moving out of the province at the end of October 2023. Her last day of practice at Arbutus Therapeutic Collective in downtown Courtenay will be October 23.

Leslie Clisby is thankful for every patient she cared for during her 12 years on 6th Street! Another exciting chapter in her career begins with Arbutus Therapeutic Collective! She looks forward to welcoming all her past and present patients at her new clinic space 2 blocks over at 101-391 4th Street, downtown Courtenay. Her online schedule can be found here: https://arbutusmassagetherapy.janeapp.com/locations/arbutus-therapeutic-collective-courtenay/book#/staff_member/23. Her phone number remains the same: 250 338 4515.

Starting June 7th, Michele Fleming will be offering massage therapy alongside Leslie at 331C 6th Street. She has her own Jane account for booking online, http://thegreenroom.janeapp.com. Michele is accepting new patients!

For a multitude of reasons, Functional Massage Therapy will close at the end of June 2023 and Leslie Clisby will start seeing patients at Arbutus Therapeutic Collective, 101-391 4th Street, downtown Courtenay beginning July 2, 2023. Michele Fleming will continue on at 331C 6th street after Leslie Clisby departs.

Starting July 2nd, Leslie’s schedule will change to Friday 8-2; Saturday and Sunday regular hours of 11-6pm and Monday 2:30-8pm. One bonus is 2 hour massages will be offered morning, afternoon or evenings! Her new Arbutus Jane link is https://arbutusmassagetherapy.janeapp.com/locations/arbutus-therapeutic-collective-courtenay/book#/staff_member/23

All Functional Massage Therapy patient files will be transferred over to the Arbutus Jane account on June 30th. Until then, start an Arbutus Jane account now to guarantee your summer massage using only your name, email and contact number. No need to fill out another health intake form. Rest assured your original one from Jane will find you safe and sound with Leslie once she gets to Arbutus July 2nd.

Her phone number will remain the same, 250 338 4515, the email leslie@functionalmassagetherapy.ca will remain active for ease of communication and this website will continue to provide updates for patients seeking Leslie’s continued care. An alternate email address for longer term access is leslieclisby@yahoo.ca.

The “Book Now” button on this page will switch to Arbutus’s Jane link on June 30th. The Functional Massage Therapy Jane account will be discontinued after June. Leslie is looking forward to leaving 6th street behind and embracing a fresh start at Arbutus! She hopes you will find her 2 blocks over this summer!

As of May 1st, 2023, Leslie Clisby can no longer accept new patients to her practice due to the current wait time for care. Any new patients booking online will be contacted and have their appointments cancelled. The only option will be waiting until current returning patients no longer have to wait 3 weeks to receive massage therapy. New patients will then be contacted in the future to see if they still want/need to book an appointment. Leslie apologizes for this hardship in accessing her care.

As an early Christmas gift, Functional Massage Therapy is lifting all travel restrictions and will no longer be sending out prescreening questions. Masks are still required.

By now, everyone should know to cancel their massage appointment if they have any signs of illness. It is best to postpone your appointment until symptoms have ceased. This will continue to be communicated in the standard 2 day email reminder. The best way to cancel an appointment is directly through the online booking platform. This allows the space to become automatically available for anyone else seeking care, including those on the waitlist who get priority booking for an hour after the appointment becomes available again. You can also inform your therapist of any cancellation via phone or text. If you have tested positive for covid, please wait 10 days before entering the clinic.

Beginning January 2023, late cancellations will charged 100% of appointment fee if less than 24 hours notice is given. There will not be a charge for cancelling due to illness. This late cancellation fee cannot be charged to any extended health benefit. Your honesty is much appreciated! Also beginning January 2023, massage therapy rates will be increasing to $120/ hour and $250/ 2 hours.

As always: be kind, be safe and take care until Functional Massage Therapy can treat you again!

There is a new feature with online booking! Those on the waitlist will automatically be notified when a spot becomes available – an hour before it gets released to the general public! So if someone cancels online while I’m away from the clinic or busy with a patient, you will be sent an email or text (depending on your settings), alerting you to the booking potential before anyone else can snatch it up! If there are multiple patients on the waitlist, it will be a first come, first served.

The schedule has been opened up a bit for those hoping for next day appointments. It will now show openings 12 hours away. So if you are checking the schedule late at night, you may see some appointments available the next day. Formally, the schedule was blocked within 24 hours to allow the therapist enough notice.

Prescreening questions continue to be sent out in the 2 day email reminders and masks are still required, but there will be one less question. Exposure to anyone ill in the 5 days before will not require cancellation. More times than not, these exposure cancellations were unnecessary as illness was not transmitted. Should a patient themselves have any signs of illness in the 5 days before their massage, then the appointment will be rescheduled once their body has recovered.

Beginning in 2023, cancelling with less than 24 hours notice, or not showing up at all, will be charged the full fee. This fee needs to be paid by the patient and cannot be billed to extended medical companies, as they only cover services rendered. This will continue to be waived if due to illness. Fees for services will also increase January 1st, 2023 to $120 per hour of massage or $250 per two hour appointments. This will keep the fee comparable with other RMT practices in the Comox Valley.

Functional Massage Therapy’s travel boundary is relaxing to include the whole Vancouver Island once again! 2 hour massages are back on the table and available to book online!

Thankfully, the Island covid related hospitalizations are finally below 40 and Leslie Clisby is ready to come out hibernation, slowly!

Masks are still required due to the prolonged appointment time and being unable to physically distance in the treatment room. Those that have recently left the Island or hosted guests from off Island will still have to wait 5 days for a massage appointment. Tourists will have to wait a while longer before being welcomed back inside the clinic, unless they are family of current patients and have been here at least 5 days. Take care and be kind, the marathon isn’t over yet.

Beginning March 1, 2022, it will be easier to make appointments at Functional Massage Therapy. According to Infection Control experts, Covid in 2022 is much different than Covid in 2020. The Omicron variant incubation period is shorter than the previous variants. Therefore, Leslie Clisby has decided to update some policies.

New guidelines

• Travel and social contacts outside of the North Island has shifted to 5 days.
• Exposure to illness has shifted to 5 days, as long as you remain symptom free.
• Experiencing symptoms of illness, please wait until symptoms resolve.
• Confirmed covid symptoms must wait 10 days from onset.
• Workplace exposure while PPE is worn is no longer a barrier for care.

Once active cases, hospitalizations and rate of transmission fall on the Island,
the travel and social contact boundary will expand and two hour massages will be available again. As of last week, there are still 135 cases on the North Island, 59 in the Comox Valley. There are 67 Islanders in the hospital with 67% being fully vaccinated.  Rate of transmission is 9%. 

Please continue to take care and be kind. Your honesty and wellbeing is valued at Functional Massage Therapy!
 

Due to the recent spike in active Covid cases on Vancouver Island, Functional Massage Therapy will be open for business for locals that have stayed north of Bowser, including their social contacts/visitors/guests in the two weeks before their massage appointments. This travel policy will be in place until there are only 40 active cases on the Island again. There will be a period of grace for appointments already booked as of August 5th. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated in this complex time!