Integrative Touch for Kids™ developed because of the need for gentle, calming touch for children in medical settings. In 2000, Shay Beider had the opportunity to observe a child who was receiving an appendectomy. The child seemed very frightened by the experience. Because the medical staff's efforts were focused on preparing for surgery, the child's fears were not alleviated. Shay had worked as a massage therapist and felt that massage might have been helpful in calming her prior to surgery.
Shay became a community member of the Family Centered Care Committee at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. She proposed the idea of developing a massage program for hospitalized children. Shay worked along side an interdisciplinary team of healthcare providers to co-create an Integrative Touch Committee that would focus on bringing massage to hospitalized infants and children. Shay solicited the help of a local non-profit organization to bring massage services free of charge to patients. The program included massage research and evaluation.
While the hospital based program was unfolding, Shay had the opportunity to meet with leaders from TrinityKids Care, the largest pediatric hospice in Los Angeles. With the support of many, they co-created a gentle massage program for children at the end of life. Today, massage therapists regularly visit infants and children who are terminally ill in this program.
Inspired by the success of these programs, Shay went on to create Integrative Touch for Kids™, dedicated to bringing gentle massage and other integrative healing therapies to children with chronic, acute, and life limiting illness. Shay's vision is that integrative healing therapies will one day be available to all children with special health care needs.
"The most profound healing event I personally remember was being touched by a nurse when I was recovering from anesthesia following an appendectomy. The surgery was a rushed-up affair that took place in the Student Health Center at the University of Texas at Austin, when I was a senior student preparing to enter medical school. I never met the surgeon beforehand; he thought it unnecessary. Neither did I meet the anesthesiologist in advance; he was too busy. When I awakened, I was anxious, alone, and in pain. I still did not know who my physician was, or what he had found at surgery. The nurse simply held my hand. Her lingering touch conveyed to me—silently, powerfully, unequivocally—that everything was going to be all right. It was; the pain vanished, along with the anxiety and sense of isolation. This simple act is seared into my memory as a profound example of the power of compassion." --Larry Dossey, MD
