Safety remains a priority!

Covid safety protocols will remain in place regardless of vaccination status. At Functional Massage Therapy, this includes wearing a mask during the massage appointment and limiting travel and social visits to Vancouver Island for the two weeks before an appointment. These measures will continue until active cases in BC are below 40.

Free to roam the whole Island!

At Functional Massage Therapy, it’s the data that dictates travel restrictions, not dates. Now that the VIHA numbers have dropped below 40, it is safer to interact with other Island communities. Be free to roam the whole Island with your fellow Islanders without having to wait 2 weeks for a massage!

Functional Massage Therapy will open up to BC wide travel for their patients once the whole province falls to 40 active cases. Until then, please keep your travel and social contacts to the Island region 2 weeks before your massage. Not everyone is ready to take on more risks associated with travel and increased social intermingling.

The north island travel restriction may be reimplemented in the future, should VIHA cases rise above 80. Fingers crossed that doesn’t happen as more people get their double dose of vaccinations. Leslie Clisby received her 2nd Pfizer shot on June 4th, 2021!

In other news, Leslie Clisby is celebrating 15+ years of being a member of the BC massage therapy association! It is a wonderful milestone to achieve while serving in health care! Cheers to another 15 years of being an RMT!

What a difference a year makes! North Island Strong!

What a difference a year makes! It’s wonderful to be open to serve the locals of the North Island! It certainly has been a learning curve! With the focus on safety and trust, we can rise above most challenges! Leslie Clisby was vaccinated with Pfizer in March!

40 has become a lucky number! Since the fall, Functional Massage Therapy is only serving those that have stayed on the North Island and socialized with North Islanders for the two weeks before their massage appointments. This policy will continue until the whole Island’s daily case numbers are below 40 for a week and longer. When the North Island case count stays below 40, 2 hour massages are available to book online. When they rise above this number, trouble is brewing amongst the community. Transmission in our local region is too high to risk an increase viral load of sharing space indoors for a prolonged time.

Thriving in stormy situations

Yesterday’s challenge was brought by the power being out for the whole clinic day. Luckily the clinic stayed a toasty 18.5 degrees before the sun went down. During covid precautions, I can’t offer a warm blanket for each patient, but you can certainly bring one with you!

I’m happy to announce I am more prepared to work under such conditions! I now have a hot water bottle, a way to warm lotion and a way to raise the heat in the treatment room without electricity. 3 cheers for solutions and a strong hope that doesn’t happen again! Thankful to be better prepared for stormy situations.

Speaking of stormy situations, I am no longer offering 2 hour massages. At least until the covid cases drop back down to single digits on the island. It’s too risky to have prolonged contact at the moment. One hour massages are still available.Be kind, be safe and stay local! It may take a community, but we can do this!

Change of requirements!

The latest update from the College of Massage Therapy of BC, (November 2, 2020), requires patients to complete the BC Covid Self Assessment Survey 2 days before their massage and day before phone calls are no longer necessary!

Each patient will receive only one email, 2 days before their appointment. Functional Massage Therapy has streamlined the BC Covid Self Assessment Questionnaire with the bubbles, travel and health survey; making it easier to complete without having to navigate to another webpage. To reduce the number of emails received for each massage appointment, day before reminders will no longer be sent. Phone calls will only be made if the BC Covid Self Assessment questionnaire has not been filled out 2 days before their massage appointment. All other steps to reduce the risk of Covid transmission will continue to be in place.

New patients will receive a phone call as soon as Leslie Clisby notices they have booked, to ensure they understand Functional Massage Therapy’s policy of only treating patients that have stayed within Vancouver Island health region’s boundaries for 2 weeks before their massage and have not hosted anyone from off Island in this time. Hosting includes hugging, sharing meals and social gatherings. This policy will continue for all that enter the clinic for an extra layer of protection for our community; especially while neighbouring health authorities experience high numbers of active cases!

Making it easier to access Functional Massage Therapy!

Gathering size is no longer a restriction to accessing treatment from Functional Massage Therapy. Time to let go of what happens outside of the clinic, slowly. Health symptoms and travel limitations outside of Vancouver Island will remain for the time being. I appreciate the cooperation with the early prescreening efforts! I like to believe they increased awareness and eased the burden on our community over the summer! Take care until I can treat you again!

Here’s to hoping!

Functional Massage Therapy always intended to shut down once a local Covid case was confirmed by VIHA. Recently, a public exposure event has been confirmed here in Courtenay and Leslie Clisby is choosing to keep the doors open for patients, relying heavily on the safety provided by sanitizing hands frequently and wearing masks indoors, as well as avoiding high risk activities such as large gatherings or travel to other regions reporting new cases daily. Please do your part to keep faces and places to a minimum in the weeks leading up to your massage!