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25 August 2003

Massage Schools, Statistics, and Nested Boxes

In digging through the programs offered by different massage schools, I've noted that some have a lot in common with a set of gold boxes from the 9th century Tang Dynasty.

Perhaps I really should begin at the beginning. In working with CAMBS, both in the political process and to bring up their website, it occurred to me how much of what we conclude about massage schools is based on assumption rather than data. Part of the CAMBS website development was to create a text file database of member schools in XML (extended markup language) format. Immediate benefits from creating a skeleton version of that database were the ability to generate a directory of member schools on the fly. The blue buttons on the right hand side of the directory each cause the generation of a page describing what CAMBS has collected about the contact information and programs of an individual school.

Given that this is an as yet incomplete but growing database, there was another use that could be created from the data on school programs being collected — generation of statistics on such programs. The early results of this collection can now be seen.

In general, short (continuing education) programs, while the most numerous, are underrepresented. There is a range of schools that list all courses and hours on their websites to those that just provide a summary list. There seems to be a statistically solid range in entry -level certificates, with most being from 100 to 250 hours.

There is a greater range in considering all certificates taught, but that brings us back to my opening thoughts on nested boxes. Some schools have advanced certificate programs that are totally independent classwise from each other. This method of accounting generally leads to advanced programs being listed once again in the 100 to 250 hour range. Other schools have programs that nest like the gold boxes from the Tang Dynasty. While such a certificate may appear as being, for example, 500 hours, its incremental content may be half of that. In presenting the data as graphs, I haven't tried to compensate for such double bookkeeping. All in all though, such nesting of certificates may be one indication of success in getting students into early practice, with their learning continuing as they accumulate experience and funds.

 

14 August 2003

More History and Perspectives from CAMBS Available

One reason I've been more quiet than usual is that I've been helping the California Alliance of Massage and Bodywork Schools (CAMBS) implement the content on their new website. As a consequence, CAMBS newsletters are now available from last February to the present, providing a running commentary on CAMBS' concerns relative to AB 1388. There is also more on the history and goals of CAMBS since its organization in 1997 in response to school governance changes. Finally, there's a link to a Zip+4 search to help you find your legislators.

What a Rabbit and Fox Teach us about the Influence of Massage Schools

Although the implementation is a bit different, many years ago Aesop told a tale about a rabbit and a fox that explains why massage schools and their students will put a lot of energy into lobbying for their interests.

Aesop's tale was about a rabbit given a long hard chase by a hungry fox. Even though the rabbit was as tired as its pursuer, it eventually eluded the fox. Aesop's moral to the story was that “The rabbit runs faster than the fox, because the rabbit is running for his life, while the fox is only running for his dinner.” Now massage schools don't even begin to run. Against the prospect of pending legislation that could affect their viability, all they can do is stand and fight back. Because of the years of effort and love put into such schools, however, you can be sure that the schools and students will fight hard for their continued life.

Shed Me No Tiers

It seems that almost every time I read a newsletter article on AB 1388 or a proposal for its rewording, the idea of tiered licensing is paraded out. Despite the attractiveness of the concept of tiers, however, I don't believe that a law implementing tiers has a ghost of a chance of enactment.

There are instances in which a tiered law has been successful. The cities of California's Coachella Valley implemented a multi-city law with 300 hour and 500 hour levels. At 300 hours you can work for others and at 500 hours you can run an independent practice. A major reason that this systems works well is that a large portion of the massage done comes via the tourist based spa and hotel industries. It's a good regional solution but not one that generalizes to the entire state.

The main stated reason for pursuing state licensing has been to escape onerous and highly variable local requirements. Since massage is not intrinsically risky, and since the state sunrise questionnaire requires demonstration of likelihood of harm, AMTA representatives have stated that they were claiming harm to consumers via limitation of access to services stemming from bad local laws. Even if the legislature buys this argument, the sunrise process also requires consideration of the minimal intervention needed to alleviate the likely harm.

Following this line of thought, the minimum level of state regulation preempting local education requirements would also be the maximum required to alleviate the claimed harm. Anything beyond this would push into the sunrise restrictions. In contrast, any tier not providing this preemption would be stillborn.

The CAMBS analysis of massage education hours, does allow for a massage intern level at 100 hours with a therapist level at between 180 and 250 hours. If a tiered system is at all possible, it would be at these levels with practice supervision at the 100 hour level, as in the lower tier of the Coachella Valley system. Trying to do the same separation of rights at the 250 and 500 hour levels would place the attempt against the likelihood of substantial massage school opposition. Such a system would be expected to have a significant negative impact on current school programs. Trying to do two tiers with equal rights falls afoul of the sunrise stipulations, as discussed above. Legislators are likely to view the second tier as an unneeded complication and kill the entire bill. Given all this and the players involved, the success of a tiered law looks like a very dim prospect.

 

07 August 2003

What Does WWII Military Strategy Have in Common with Starting a Massage Practice?

WWII gave rise to a strategic term that today is part of the vocabulary of business strategy. It describes a concept used effectively by many startup practitioners in California and a concept whose importance is largely ignored by proponents of licensing and long initial hours of training.

One of the brutal truths of the second world war was that battling to gain ground through rough terrain in a linear fashion against a well-established enemy was extremely costly in human lives, time, and resources. In the campaigns of Anzio and Normandy, amphibious landings were used to gain a new foothold from which troops could be supplied and an expansion into new territory pursued. The strategic terminology that entered our vocabulary in the 1940s was that of establishing a beachhead. The concept has since generalized to a business strategy of entering a market by looking for an underserved niche or a limited extent niche in which you already have interpersonal connections.

Establishing a beachhead translates in a business sense into starting a practice with a limited scope and focus of practice. It basically means learning a set of techniques sufficient to provide value to a small, targeted set of clients. Often the targeted set of clients can be groups of people you already have interactions with in other contexts. In other words, start practicing massage where you already know the territory.

In the sense of training, establishing a beachhead translates into programs that are modular, incremental, and "just in time". Modular programs are split into smaller segments that you can pay for and take separately. Using modular training effectively manages your time and financial commitments. Incremental training builds closely on the knowledge and skills that you have already solidified through use. We learn easiest and remember best close to what we already know and use. "Just in time" learning matches segments of training to what you will need and use in the immediate future. Via such training, you can most effectively extend your scope and techniques of practice while staying within the boundaries of your training. Learning "just in time" increases your opportunity to reinforce what you have just learned with actual use. Just in time learning limits time spent learning and forgetting material not of immediate benefit. Modular learning, incremental learning, and "just in time" learning are all part of a philosophy of lifelong learning.

Since 1998, the California Alliance of Massage and Bodywork Schools (CAMBS), has extensively considered issues of entry-level training based on need of content for effective practice. They will provide more details on the outcome of this effort in the near future. In the meantime, think business and think strategy. Establish a beachhead for your new practice or new practice directions.

 

04 August 2003

CAMBS Actively Opposes AB 1388

The California Alliance of Massage and Bodywork Schools (CAMBS) recently announced a decision to actively oppose AB 1388. See CAMBS' new website for details. This decision aligns CAMBS with the California Health Freedom Coalition (CHFC) in opposing AB 1388. When I checked a few weeks ago, the BPPVE listed 206 state-approved private massage schools in California.

 

22 July 2003

Off Until August

In the European late summer tradition, I'm planning on taking a much needed break from screen time until August to enable me to pursue some other activities, regeneration, and family visits. Postings to the Massage Politics Sheet will resume in early August.

 

21 July 2003

The Toy in the Cereal Box — Friendly Persuasion

Most of the business letters you'll write will be asking someone to act in your interest. A lot of your other letters should be thanking them for such actions. We all get a lot of marketing material in the mail and most of it ends up in the trash within a few lines of reading. How can you write effectively to persuade? Here's a couple of short articles to guide you.

• The Fundamentals of Persuasive Writing by Robert W. Bly
• Write to Persuade in Business by Karl Walinskas

("The Toy in the Cereal Box" is a semi-regular practice-oriented feature of the MPS. )

 

20 July 2003

Thinking Business —Acting as a Community

In thinking about therapeutic massage as a profession of personal care and health care, we sometimes are tempted to forget for a moment that our practices and training schools are very much small businesses. Like any small business, we have to closely manage our startup and operating costs, spend time marketing our services, and leverage our business connections. Like any other small business, our best efforts can be undermined by an unfavorable business environment.

Changing a business environment that is negative for the therapeutic massage profession is difficult to bring about when we act only as individuals. Former US House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neil had it right when he noted that "All politics is local." Especially when government regulations are involved, changing a business environment is politics and politics is about economics and group leverage. The massage profession will get better treatment only when we recognize that we need to focus on issues as a community of small business owners and insure that we don't reward negative treatment with our dollars. As Maria Smith, a Dallas editor and proofreader, recently commented, "I've been patient. I've been nice. I'm out of nice."

Owners of therapeutic massage practices have been very concerned with localities that charge onerously high business license fees. As I've noted previously, the California courts have supported the legality of such fees, but that doesn't mean that we should accept them passively. The city of Belmont, CA is one example of such poor business treatment. The Belmont business license fee schedule lists the practice of massage only under the category of "massage parlors". The fee listed is $3,026. Neither the category nor the fee is something that we, as a profession and business community, should consider to be acceptable. As I've said before, therapeutic massage is personal care, health care, and small business — not adult entertainment. People enter the profession of massage most often because they are oriented towards helping others, rapidly learning that building a full-time practice can be a hard and multi-year task. No small business owner enjoys being kicked in the face at the onset.

The Associated Bodyworkers & Massage Professionals (ABMP) recently estimated that there are at least 25,000 practicing massage professionals in California. Each of us has networking connections with our clients. Those of us who are school owners and instructors have further connections with the many students who take courses from our schools. As business owners, we buy supplies, take training workshops, and often schedule hotels and other facilities to hold workshops. As a business community, we should focus our own efforts and those of our business partners to insure that it's a cold day in hell before localities that offer us only the business cold shoulder receive benefit from the way in which we spend our dollars. Additionally, however, we need to let those who are interested in the business environment of such communities know the stand we are taking and why. Finding solutions cooperatively is by far the best approach, but sometimes a little inducement is required to motivate people to see the benefits.

Particularly for those of you in the S.F. Bay Area, the Belmont Chamber of Commerce can be reached at director@belmontchamber.org . Help get the message across to them. Tim Hay is the Belmont reporter for the San Mateo County Times.

Spas are Increasingly Working Toward Wellness

Increasingly, Spas are integrating massage and other modalities into packages aimed at promoting wellness and increased quality of life. The shift in focus is a response both to an aging population desiring to say healthy and to the increased pace and stress of life. Here are a couple of wellness articles from the "The Day" (New London, CT) and Associated Press. A recent Massage Today article also noted the value of massage in treating back pain, a malady rampant in our desk-work culture.

These changes underscore the multiple roles of massage on a spectrum that ranges smoothly from personal care into proactive health and wellness care. Such articles are good public education on the benefits of massage. They also underscore the continuing need to see that regulatory agencies are educated about these benefits. The $300 billion costs of stress in the US are worth a bit of notice and proactive intervention.

 

19 July 2003

Number of California Massage Schools Up

As of the beginning of June, the number of massage schools listed by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education (BPPVE) has increased to 206. When I had checked at the beginning of the year it was 193. The diversity of locales and programs is great. The number of hours spent in gaining state approval for all these programs is immense, something to consider in any proposed legislation that would necessitate many schools simultaneously filing certificate changes. It's no wonder than any contemplated change is akin to the fine art of herding cats (mpeg clip).

 

18 July 2003

Four Cities not the Same

As I noted a bit ago, the Supreme Court of California realized that "The state in its law deals with all of its territory and all of its people". So what is it that San Diego, Gualala, Mount Shasta City, and Garberville (clockwise from the upper left) all have in common? They all have massage schools and they would all be forced into the same regulatory mold by a state licensing law. Do they have the same regulatory problems? Not hardly.

San Diego, where Assemblyperson Christine Kehoe, sponsor of AB 1388, hails from, only last March had to close a loophole that had permitted their 1000 hour holistic health practitioners to show up in the nude. We may all be equal under the law, but we surely don't all have the same problems. One size fits all across the length and breadth of California?. I think not.

 

16 July 2003

A Tale of Three Postings — Reprising the Legal Precedents

Three of my recent pieces discussed interactions between state law and local ordinances. The first two discuss the limited effects state regulation has on local rules for use of a license, including local assessment of business license fees. The third provides a means of differentiation of massage for therapeutic/relaxation purposes from other uses of massage. Finally, it conveys the weight of the state definition of unlicensed health care. This covers a lot of legal and regulatory territory.

• California Charter Cities Have Muscles to Flex in Assessing Fees
  
• California Supreme Court Supports Local Differences in Regulation
  
• How will California's SB 577 Play in Garden Grove?
  

Since many states, including California and Georgia, include sunrise requirements for the least invasive form of regulation sufficient to the needs (a concept independent of proof of harm), the discussion I've set forth provides a framework of consideration beyond the traditional arguments.

 

15 July 2003

How will California's SB 577 Play in Garden Grove?

The regulation of therapeutic massage in California is complex, deriving from three separate sources. Charter cities regulate municipal affairs under powers derived from Article 11, Section 7 of the state constitution. General law cities regulate municipal affairs based on enabling statute laws. Finally, the state legislature writes statutes on state affairs. On top of this, it falls upon the courts to decide when local ordinances are invalid because they conflict with or duplicate state code. Amid all of this, therapeutic massage has suffered the misregulation of being joined together with massage offered for purposes of adult entertainment. Therapeutic massage is personal care, health care, and small business. It most definitely is not adult entertainment. However, the enactment of SB 577 in 2002 may already have laid the groundwork for change.

With the enactment last year of SB 577, California law now recognizes the professional legitimacy of complementary and alternative (CAM) health care practitioners within the Business and Professions Code (Sections 2053.5 and 2053.6). A welcome side-effect of this regulation could well be that local agencies will have to regulate massage done under SB 577 as health care. Let's look at the legal precedents.

In Lancaster v. Municipal Court [6 Cal.3d 805], The Supreme Court of California noted that:

The Court went on to declare invalid a Los Angles ordinance limiting the commercial practice of massage to members of the same sex, noting that the action of the law was to regulate sexual conduct, an area already preempted by the state.

It seems clear that SB 577 has changed the Business and Professions Code to specifically permit the practice of unlicensed health care which, by a number of measures, includes massage therapy. The act of SB 577 contained the language [Section 1(c)]:

In the above, there is a clear if implicit expectation on the part of the legislature that such practices will be reasonably regulated locally as health care practices to enable access to such practitioners. We can also conclude that massage therapy is a practice belonging under SB 577, substantiated by 1) the inclusion of massage in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) indexed literature 2) by a number of recently published books on orthopedic massage treatment (see letter on SB 77), 3) by a number of studies and insurance reports indicating extremely low likelihood of harm to clients from massage at any level of training, and 4) that except under SB 577 it is technically illegal for massage practitioners to claim therapeutic or preventative effects..

It appears likely that, in enacting SB 577, the state has preemptively defined therapeutic massage as unlicensed health care, separating it from less savory applications of massage. While this consideration of SB 577 has not been tested in the courts, it provides a reasonable motivation for the massage profession to work cooperatively with cities and counties to better define and regulate massage therapy as a CAM practice. Cooperation is less expensive and far more satisfying than litigation, which now seems to have a reasonable legal basis if required.

Differentiation of therapeutic massage from other uses of massage requires some basis for decision. There is ample precedent for the use of a preponderance of the evidence in other California regulation. San Bruno uses this criterion for licensing of gambling clubs and amusement facilities. The Bay Area Rapid Transit District uses the criterion of a preponderance of the evidence for denial and removal hearings. The State of California uses the criterion for day care center licensing. The California Department of Social Services uses the preponderance criterion in licensing actions. The California Respiratory Care Board uses the criterion for disciplinary actions. Preponderance of evidence is thus seen as a legally valid criterion by which local agencies can differentiate an intent and capability to practice under SB 577 from massage in the context of adult entertainment, thus avoiding rigid requirements.

Where such a differentiation can be made, a local ordinance would be in direct conflict with the state law implemented by SB 577 if it attempts to reclassify the practice as something other than unlicensed health care, attempts to set fixed eligibility requirements more strict than provided for by SB 577, or attempts to entirely forbid massage practice under SB 577. The court was clear in Sports Committee Dist. 37 A.M.A., Inc. v. County of San Bernardino [113 Cal.App.3d 155]:

None of the above precludes local regulation of the procedural conditions under which massage is practiced as unlicensed health care. I suspect that it will be years before the above plays out legally, but it creates an extra incentive to see how SB 577 can be leveraged before concluding that its effects were insufficient.The responsibility to regulate therapeutic massage as health care seems clear.

There also seem to be some interesting, if more specific and technical effects of SB 577 on local ordinances. From what I have heard, the southern California city of Garden Grove is known for the restrictiveness of its licensing. Yet, the city ordinances for massage contain the following phrase (5.12.030 Exceptions): "The licensing provisions of this chapter shall not apply to: (a) those persons licensed by the state of California to perform barbering and cosmetology pursuant to Business and Professions Code Sections 7300 et seq., or (b) any treatment administered in the course of the practice of any healing art or profession by any person licensed or permitted to practice such art or profession under the Business and Professions Code." Since the Business and Professions Code now specifically permits unlicensed health care practices, it would seem that the exemption would apply.

While what I've presented above is consistent with the legal cases I've looked at, those contemplating a law suit based on the above should first have my arguments and the specific local ordinance under question examined by a lawyer. Ultimately the courts make the distinctions between state and municipal affairs and determine if a conflict between state and local law exists.

 

14 July 2003

Ways to Reduce Violation of Boundaries in the Practice of Massage

While advocates of licensure tout protection of the public, they often ignore three straightforward approaches to reducing the infrequent but still most common form of public harm; violations of ethics and boundaries. Here's the three.

• Awareness training in the psychological impacts of trauma and abuse. The motivation is better recognition of when a response to prior trauma is occurring followed by a supportive response by that massage practitioner. Peter Levine's Waking the Tiger is one starting point. Articles on Levine's Trauma Healing site are another.

• Encouragement and awareness of peer supervised practice. Julie Onofrio provides a good discussion of supervision. Even making the committment to using supervision can greatly influence a practitioner's later actions.

• Creation of a centralized database of complaints against practitioners that can be accessed as part of a background check. One model for this is the medical National Practitioner Databank.

 

11 July 2003

Therapeutic Massage in the News

Recently, two stories on the use of massage to treat the swelling of lymphedema have been in the news. Massage away Lymphedema was released by News 8 in Austin, Tx. The story contains tips to avoid swelling and a link to a video clip. WISTV 10, Columbia, SC has up Dawn Mercer's Health Alert: Massage for Lymphedema. It includes two stories of women helped by lymph drainage massage and also has a link to a video clip by the therapist involved. Both are great examples of positive public education.

More generally, massage is a positive means of managing stress. Statistics show that stress costs the US economy $300 billion per year in reduced health, loss of productivity, and increased violence and litigation. Availability of stress-relieving massage at reasonable cost is adversely affected by high licensing fees, adverse zoning laws, and educational requirements whose need is not evidence based. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has a good pamphlet, Stress at Work, available online.

 

10 July 2003

The Toy in the Cereal Box — Are We There Yet?

Sometimes when we palpate our way through and around other tissue to a particular muscle or attachment, we might remain a little uncertain that we have really reached the correct spot. There's an easy way to check.

Sometimes you sink through the abdominal tissue to the iliopsoas, a major hip flexor. Or perhaps you've sunk in just below the axillary onto the subscapularis, a medial rotator of the humerus at the shoulder. Or perhaps you're just seeking the attachment of the rectus femoris on the anterior inferior iliac spine (AIIS). One quick trick for testing your position is to have your client activate the muscle by pushing very gently against your free hand. For the iliopsoas and rectus femoris, this would be a resisted hip flexion; for the subscapularis a resisted internal rotation of the shoulder. By having your client resist and relax several times, you will feel the muscle under your fingers contract and relax. When you feel that, you know you're in contact with the muscle. If not, search a little more. You want to keep the client's effort very small, so that only muscles for the specific motion are activated. Happy palpations.

("The Toy in the Cereal Box" is a semi-regular practice-oriented feature of the MPS. )

 

09 July 2003

California Supreme Court Supports Local Differences in Regulation

In ruling on Cohen v. Board of Supervisors, the California Supreme Court clearly recognized that different cities may have different needs in regulating the conditions under which a business is practiced. It is also clear that The Court viewed the role of state regulations as meeting the needs of "all of its territory and all of its people" rather than just those of the more densely populated municipalities.

The surrounding context of the ruling also reinforces the concept that municipalities can regulate the conditions of practice even in a legal area in which the state has preempted determination of the right to practice. I've previously commented on the Supreme Court's ruling in The Pines v. City of Santa Monica that sets out that

Taken together, these statements by the Court strongly imply that any state licensing law would, at most, affect only the training and competence assessment requirements for eligibility to practice. Business license fees, requirements for health tests, limits on hours of operation, and requirements for building configuration and location would remain local options. Many times, it is these very operating conditions, rather than training requirements, that most irk massage therapists subjected to them. It doesn't appear that state regulation of massage would contain much benefit, especially given its likely negative impact on many rural areas of the state in raising costs and lowering availability of services. On the other hand, in an upcoming posting we'll take a look at why last year's SB 577, coupled with prior Court precedents, will likely require local agencies to regulate therapeutic massage as health care.

 

08 July 2003

Florida Hours Increase Beaten Back

According to sources in the Florida Association of Massage Educators (FLAME), they have signed a settlement agreement with the State of Florida to withdraw the rule that would have increased required hours from 500 to 700. Part of the settlement agreement is that the Board of Massage will form a task force to look at the hour issue. They must review current information and hold hearings around the state as to the current level of training required to perform massage therapy. The board will not make any rule for at least 18 months and are directed to listen to the task forces recommendations. It is an issue that FLAME will watch very carefully to insure that any proposal to increase hours has justification.

 

06 July 2003

Florida Massage Board Provokes Court Challenge

A legislative article in the July/August issue of Massage Magazine (p. 168) notes that an action by the Florida Massage Board to increase required training hours from 500 hours to 700 hours has provoked a court challenge from the Florida Association of Massage Educators (FLAME). The controversy is based on a board attempt to arbitrarily shape massage in a medical image. With extremely low likelihood of harm from massage and a regulatory board already in place to handle issues of mal intent, the board action strikes me as serving no publicly useful purpose. As a profession, we have yet to develop clear guidelines for different subpractices, including inclusion in integrative medical practices. Without clear and evidence-based objectives, extra hours of training are an extravagant and disrespectful waste of students time and funds. Moreover, issues of training for medical inclusion are more efficiently addressed by voluntary advanced certification than by professional entry requirements.

As a Federal Trade Commission report by Cox and Foster discusses, The net effect for the public will be decreased access to basic massage services at higher cost. Morrison, in Webs of Affiliation, also discusses how professions increase requirements to public detriment in pursuit of a grander self-image . The action by the board seems to be in clear conflict with the legislative intent for regulation expressed in the Florida Sunshine Act. This situation makes a good case for not giving boards the power to change eligibility requirements, something we've noted before as a deficiency in California's proposed AB1388. We wish FLAME success in its court proceedings.

Massage Therapy Activist's Resource Page Updated

I've once again updated The Massage Therapy Activist's Resource Page. It now has more links than ever to guides to activism and communication skills and to reports and information pertinent to massage regulation.

 

05 July 2003

JAMA Paper Adds Tacit Capabilities to Medical Competency

Two recent papers address the need for a definition of medical competence that includes more than objective measures of knowledge. The paper by Epstein and Hundert extensively discusses this issue. The editorial by Leach underscores the importance of the issue and the paper by Epstein and Hundert. Access to both papers can be individually purchased online from JAMA ($9 Epstein & Hundert, Leach free with registration). I believe that the developing awareness of the larger picture of competence in medical practice has an even stronger case in massage practice, being highly dependent on kinesthetic and interpersonal skills and presenting an extremely low likelihood of physical harm.

Because of the extremely low likelihood of harm, evidence-based assessment of competence in massage therapy must correlate with effectiveness of practice rather than protection of the public. As a profession, we have not adequately defined the training, experience, and aptitudes required for effective practice in the different subpractices of massage (see my article, Swimming Upstream Toward Effective Practice).

Here's the article information:

Epstein RM and Hundert EM, 2002: Defining and assessing professional competence. JAMA, 287(2), 226-235.

Leach DC, 2002: Competence is a habit. (editorial) JAMA, 287(2), 243-4.

The editorial by Leach mentions the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition which includes the stages of novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert.

 

04 July 2003

The Toy in the Cereal Box — Writing Good Copy

With thoughts of national independence and fireworks in the air, it's a good time to think of the personal independence of running your own business. One thing that's clear with fireworks is that they get attention. Whether its political advocacy or marketing, it's also clear that you have to get the other person's attention and then quickly make your point. The art of writing promotional material is called copywriting. I recently came across a book by Robert Bly, The Online Copywriter's Handbook, that's a good reminder of the skills of writing persuasively. Bly also provides a number of online articles. For those of you who are considering seeking funding for massage research or for nonprofit community outreach, take a look at the book and website of Joseph Barbato and Danielle Furlich's Writing for a Good Cause. Have a great 4th.

("The Toy in the Cereal Box" is a semi-regular nonpolitical feature of the MPS. )

 

03 July 2003

Make a Difference in Contra Costa County

For those in California's Contra Costa Country or its environs, here's a chance to speak up and make a difference.

First read this Contra Costa times article: Law Irks Massage Therapist, then get irked yourself and contact Stephen Dexter (mentioned in the article), who is County Supervisor Gayle Uilkema's chief of staff. The office phone is (925) 335-1046 or use his e-mail is sdext@bos.co.contra-costa.ca.us.

Let Dexter and your county supervisor know politely and firmly that massage therapy is personal care, health care, and small business, but not adult entertainment. State clearly that you don't appreciate the connotation and want to see that changed in Contra Costa regulations. Let your colleagues and client's know also. Consider sendingTom Lochner, the author of the Contra Costa Times article, a copy of what you send to Dexter and your supervisor. Lochner canbe reached at 510-262-2760 or at tlochner@cctimes.com.

Again, be clear, polite, and professional.

Here's a few facts that might be helpful:

• It's estimated that stress costs US business $300 billion a year. Regular relaxation massage goes a long way towards relieving stress and aiding quality of life. Given the Bay Area economy, commute issues, and state deficit, these are stressful times.

• With the 2002 enactment of SB 577 (Burton), massage therapists are now treating postural problems and minor injuries to muscles, tendons, and ligaments as unlicensed health care practitioners.

• In enacting SB 577, the state modified the Business and Professions Code to explicity recognized the existence of unlicensed health care professions, thereby implicitly setting a legal expectation for their regulation as such.

• There are 193 state approved massage schools in California. A growing number of these schools, and their students, are organizing under the auspices of the California Alliance of Massage and Bodywork Schools (CAMBS), partly to have more focused input to the political process.

• There are at least 22,000 practitioners of therapeutic massage in California
  (11,000 IMA Group members, 7500 ABMP members, 3500 AMTA-CA members).

• Many students of massage are adult learners, making career transitions, seeking work meaningful on a human level, and carrying a lot of experience and a proactive outlook They are often learning massage and starting to practice while juggling multiple job and family responsibilities (See my Massage Today column: Half a Mind).

Thanks for caring.

 

02 July 2003

California Health Freedom Coalition Will Oppose Practice Acts Affecting Right to Practice Under SB 577

On June 7, The California Health Freedom Coalition (CHFC) issued a statement of their continuing commitment to maintain the scope of practices covered by SB 577.

California Charter Cities Have Muscles to Flex in Assessing Fees

California has two types of cities, General Law cities and Charter Cities. Charter cities derive their rights to regulate directly from their charters, as provided in the California constitution. In effect, charter cities are "home rule" cities. In comparison, general law cities are, as a class, given their rights to regulate municipal affairs by specific state statutes.

In their 1981 ruling on The Pines v. City of Santa Monica, the Supreme Court of California reaffirmed the right of charter cities to assess local licensing fees —even for state licensed professions. The court's opinion was that the taxation power is vital and is granted to charter cities by the Constitution. Their ability to impose revenue taxes can be curtailed only by the charter itself or when in direct and immediate conflict with a state statute or statutory scheme. This places substantial limits on the ability of any massage licensing act to circumvent local licensing fees.

As a footnote, this case also notes that the United States Supreme Court has declared that a tax may not be unconstitutional even though so burdensome as to render a business unprofitable or even destroy a business enterprise (Pittsburgh v. Alco Parking Corporation (1974). Given all this, high fees charged by some localities may succumb to public education, as difficult as that can be, more readily than they will succumb to attempts at legislation.

Court cases can be searched and viewed by registering with Findlaw. A list of the 177 California charter cities and more information on this is available at the Charter City Project.

Massage Politics Sheet Entries for March through June Archived

The MPS entries for March through June are now in their own archive file. There's also a link to the archive index page on the navigation bar to your left.

 

 

Copyright by Keith Eric Grant — The Ramblemuse^SM — Last revised Tue 27 May 2008

Masthead and border based on the photo Knight by Elvinstar.