Friends Village 2019 Community Service Grant

Posted:Monday, March 30, 2020

The Massage Therapy Foundation (MTF) is pleased to have awarded Friends Village at Woodstown (FVAW), of Woodstown, NJ, with a 2019 MTF Community Service Grant for their Comforting Connections project. FVAW is one of five 2019 MTF Community Service Grant recipients which were originally announced in September of 2019 and which are currently ongoing.

This $4,475 enables Friends Village at Woodstown (FVAW) retirement community to launch a new program, “Comforting Connections,” that will provide seniors with therapeutic massage over a 12-month period. FVAW residents are adults over the age of 62 with a disability that prevents them from living independently, including Memory Support residents with a disability involving memory loss.

As part of this project, residents receive therapeutic massage to decrease pain, inflammation, anxiety, and social isolation, increase circulation and flexibility, and improve communication with caregivers. Most FVAW seniors utilize their fixed income to pay for their health care and residential needs and would not normally have access to the benefits of therapeutic massage that this program will provide.

FVAW’s skilled massage therapists use gentle, restorative massage techniques to provide comfort, care, and healing. A comforting touch helps seniors with memory loss feel safe and grounded in their bodies within a world that is often confusing and overwhelming.

Massage therapy for seniors disabled by memory loss is rooted in scientific research. Affirmed benefits of massage therapy include the reduction of pain, inflammation, anxiety, and numbness
as well as an increase in flexibility, nerve stimulation, circulation, and relaxation. Massage therapy can assist in the alleviation of many of the chronic disease symptoms that are affiliated with arthritis, tendonitis, bursitis, and Alzheimer’s.

Therapeutic massage addresses some of the most concerning issues when caring for the elderly in a setting such as FVAW. The physical connection that massage therapy provides for seniors, especially those diagnosed with memory loss is a relatively inexpensive approach that is proven to reduce confusion as is strengthens nerve synapses and encourages periods of alertness. Massage combined with aromatherapy and calming music involves three of the five senses, making the activity twice as effective than other memory support program options that engage only one or two of the senses.

MTF is proud to provide funding to this program, which increases the well-being of seniors in need through the benefits of therapeutic massage.

This grant is sponsored by a gift from Biotone

Click here to read about MTF’s other 2019 Community Service Grantees

Learn more about the Friends Village at Woodstown at www.friendsvillage.org.

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