BCC Massage Therapy Students Volunteer at Community Events

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Massage therapy students at Berkshire Community College (BCC) provided free massage therapy sessions at various locations in the Berkshires and beyond during the spring semester, in addition to their full schedule of classes. 
 
On April 17, BCC massage therapy students and faculty traveled to the Boston, joining a team of massage therapists to provide post-event massages to the Dana Farber Boston Marathon Team.  Runners reported that knowing there would be a massage at the end of the race helped keep them motivated.   
 
On April 22, during BCC Wellness Day, massage therapy students joined physical therapist assistant, respiratory and nursing program students and the BCC community, along with a variety of Berkshire County businesses, for a day of wellness awareness, including a 5K run and a walk.  Massage therapy students provided chair massages and raised more than $300 for the Berkshire Environmental Action Team.  
 
Finally, on May 19 at the Kimball Farms Wellness Fair, massage therapy students provided seated massage for independent living residents. The well-attended program kept students and faculty busy for the entire event. 
 
Participating in community events provides massage therapy students with the opportunity to interact with a variety of people across multiple settings, introducing them to possible future clients, explained Judy Gawron, Massage Therapy Program Advisor. 
 
"Volunteering at community events facilitates a volunteer mindset, an important part of a professional attitude," Gawron said. "While in the program, massage therapy students learn to balance volunteer activities with their other academic and personal commitments — a key skill for longevity as a licensed massage therapist."  
 
"I've enjoyed all of the volunteering opportunities, though it's always nerve-wracking leading up to it. I think my nerves have
 finally settled when it comes to?working with the public as I'm learning to trust myself," Massage therapy student Mary Adriance said. "Frankly, I was starting to get a little bored of working with the same six bodies in lab over and over again." 

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Child-Care Providers Want Mental Health Support, Better Wages

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler and Early Education and Care Commissioner Amy Kershaw host a listening session on early child care at BCC on Wednesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Local child-care providers called for mental health support and equitable pay at a listening session with state officials this week. 

"We don't provide resources for our educators so that they have a strength in the classroom. They're putting out fires constantly. How are they educating? How are they teaching?" said Elise Weller, senior director of child care services at 18 Degrees.

"The social-emotional development of these children is so important."

Katherine Von Haefen, director of community impact at Berkshire United Way, said a single parent with school-aged children needs to make between $70,000 and $80,000 annually just to meet basic needs and a great many local parents are not making that mark — including teachers.

"Just over half of our population now in Berkshire County is considered to be economically challenged, working yet still struggling to make ends meet. Too many of our local educators are part of this economically challenged population," she said.

"Frequently we hear directors sharing stories of staff refusing raises or bonuses so that they do not lose out on key benefits. This is not OK. Early childhood compensation is truly a very complicated issue and one that frankly, has not yet been fully successfully addressed across the country. It's one that's complicated yet, we still need to look at a variety of possible solutions. Multiple solutions that can be piloted and road tested before engaging in large-scale efforts."

Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler and Early Education and Care Commissioner Amy Kershaw hosted the childcare listening session Wednesday at Berkshire Community College. The panel also included state Outdoor Recreation Director Paul Jahnige, Alvina Brevard of the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, and Undersecretary of Education Mark Reilly.

"We know that there are some really difficult barriers facing this particular field: accessibility, affordability for families, opportunity, and so we will be discussing, I'm sure, all of that," BCC President Ellen Kennedy said.

"I am particularly committed to this. I am the parent of a son who is now in his thirties with a son who was at a child-care center but my son went in at eight weeks old and I have shared on one or two occasions that it was the professionals in the child-care center that made me a better parent, that actually taught me how to parent, and I am forever in their debt for the ways in which they helped me help my son."

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