Touch Therapy for the Critically, Chronically, & Terminally Ill (For Healthcare Providers) with David Dowdy

This version of the Touch Therapy training is designed to add some wonderful tools for use by those working in the medical/caregiving world. Be you an RN, LVN, NP or a Nurse’s Aide, you will be able to incorporate many of these hands-on comforting techniques in a way that blends right in with your regular work at hand. When a patient receives this type of attention, even in the smallest amount, it reminds them that their body can still be a sign of pleasure. The Touch Therapy sequence addresses a patient from head to toe. This will allow you to draw from it in parts to address and apply the therapy for short sessions that go right to the source. We will review the various duties tied to making rounds at a medical facility, care giving facility or a person’s home. We will discover how the Touch Therapy may be applied without taking up excessive time and sometimes provided simultaneously with the medical/prescribed care being provided. A majority of the training will be hands on as the students taking this class already have education regarding the various caregiving environments and protocol. The training does not require disrobing or use of massage gels or creams. It can be performed through clothing, sheets or blankets as well as directly on uncovered parts of the body. You will discover that this technique is quite universal in that it can be used on not only the critically, chronically and terminally ill but it is well received by those suffering stroke or those confined to bed or wheelchair for any reason. This may become the most adaptable tool in you medicine bag!

Presenter: David E. Dowdy has been a therapist in the massage and bodywork industry since January of 2007. He began spreading his learning wings and expanding his offerings by gaining certification in Swedish massage, Shiatsu, Deep Tissue Massage, Sports Massage, Ortho-Bionomy Isometric Release, Ortho-Bionomy Phase 6, Ortho-Bionomy Position Release, Touch Therapy for the Terminally Ill, Hospital Based Lymphedema Treatment, Oncology Massage, and Fibromyalgia Treatment. He is also a Reiki II Practitioner of the Usui Method of Natural Healing. Through all his training, the area that resonated with him the deepest was the Touch Therapy for the Terminally Ill. He put this to use, teaming up with Hoffmann Hospice (a nonprofit hospice organization in Bakersfield and Kern County in California) as a volunteer therapist. Once the hospice leaders recognized the fantastic results David was having with every client he visited, they began having David train all their Certified Nursing Aides in the Touch Therapy for the Terminally Ill modality. All this led David and his wife Damiana (Ana) to taking ownership of the 501c3 nonprofit organization ‘Healing Hands ~ Healing Hearts.’ With the help of a dedicated, passionate team of professionals in the wellness industry, David and Ana are determined to see that the offering of this organization spreads across the United States and eventually around ‘the great blue ship that sails around the mighty Sun.’ (lyric borrowed from his favorite ELO song)