DAYSPA Magazine - Wellness

Sustainable Investments

Looking to green your spa, but worried about the expenses?

Our upcoming Green Scene ("Mayan Marvel," August 2010) contains lots of information about cost-efficient ways to incorporate eco-friendly supplies into your spa.

HereÕs a taste to get you started:

Make investments that have a proven return.
John Vater, co-owner of Spa Adriana in Huntington, New York, says, "solar panels pay off, as long as you continue using them to save on energy costs."

Shop locally.
When Vater and his wife Adriana recently remodeled their spa, they wanted to enrich their Mayan theme by building a faade with limestone from the Yuc‡tan Peninsula in Mexico. Instead, they found a local company that manufactures precut concrete. "That way our renovation doesn't have the environmental impact that would result from shipping and trucking materials all that distance," John says. "It saves a lot of money too."

What supplies, products and materials do you employ to increase your spa's sustainability? Send your ideas to Katie O'Reilly, associate editor, at koreilly@creativeage.com.

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HEALTH WISE

By Elizabeth Vitanza, Ph.D.

Handle with Care

Why hospitals may be the next best setting for spa services.

Anyone who’s ever seen their sore muscles, less-than-clear complexion or the stresses of a tough week vanish after a visit to the day spa can vouch for its healing powers. So it was only a matter of time before the spa made its way into medical centers and hospitals. After all, who would better benefit from a spa’s therapeutic services than someone recovering from serious illness, injury or surgery?

Hospital patients are the latest clients to benefit from spa-oriented rest, relaxation and recovery. Today, you’re likely to find estheticians and massage therapists making the rounds alongside doctors and nurses. Last May, Howard Murad, M.D., the founder of Murad,opened the CHRISTUS Healthy Living Spa at CHRISTUS Hospital in Beaumont, Texas.

This trend toward pampering patients may also be SpaFinder part of a global move. Susie Ellis at recently blogged about her visit to hospitals in the Philippines. She was impressed to find that most were building or currently featured “wellness and esthetics” facilities.

As hospitals embrace this concept, day spas are uniquely positioned to benefit from partnerships with such institutions. Although the “medical spa”—or a fully integrated facility with physicians and nurses—is one way to go about coordinating traditional healthcare with spa services, there are easier ways to get your feet wet. One of them is to partner with a medical center by sending staff in during designated hours to give treatments to patients. Not only does this provide extra healing therapy to the sick and wounded, but it enhances the well-being of everyone who participates.

HEALTH WISE

View this full article in pdf format as it appears in the print magazine.

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