Health Department temporarily denies bodywork licenses over certification issues

The Board of Health last week decided not to grant two new licenses to bodywork therapists seeking to practice in Waltham.

The city defines bodywork as tissue manipulation that does not legally constitute massage. Bodywork shops are excluded from Massachusetts massage regulation and often legislated on a municipal level.

At its Jan. 21 meeting, the board discussed the qualifications of Bo Wu, who was applying to become a Tui Na bodywork therapist at Oriental Foot Reflexology. Bonnie Peng, Oriental Foot Reflexology’s owner, told the board that she has known Wu for a long time and that he’d worked for a bodywork business in Watertown for more than 10 years.

Wu presented a certificate from the National Organization for Bodyworks Therapy, which is not one of the certifying organizations that the board recognizes. Because Wu’s paperwork was otherwise in order, board members requested he reach out to an approved organization to ensure he meets their certification standards.

The board voted to require Wu to present his certification at a future Board of Health meeting before it would approve his license.

A friend of Peng’s, who identified himself to The Waltham Times as Josh, told the board that this waiting period would be a hindrance to the business because many bodywork businesses have been finding it “almost impossible” to find and hire professionals who have studied in China.

Regardless of immigration status, many qualified workers have been “scared to death to go to work because they’re afraid they’re all going to be rounded up and deported,” he said.

The board made the same decision regarding the other applicant, Renying Yi, who was certified by the same organization.

Board Chair Dr. Henry Merola presented the petitioners with a list of bodywork certification organizations approved by the city. Information at the top of the printed list seems to indicate that it was generated from a Google search, however, and only one of the businesses on the list appears to be listed in the health department’s bodywork regulations.

In response to questions about the disparity between what’s listed in the regulations and the list provided to the petitioners, a Health Department representative wrote that “the Board might consider other membership organizations/national certification commissions if they meet the previously mentioned criteria [in the bodywork regulations].”

Because the board requires bodywork shops to have an employee present at all times who can communicate effectively in English, Peng also assured the board that although Wu was not fluent in English, she or another English-speaking employee will always be on site. 

Director of Health Michelle Feeley said that no English-speaking employees were at the shop when it was recently inspected. Peng replied that she had left temporarily that day to visit a family member in the hospital but was available by phone.

Board members repeatedly asked Peng, Wu and Josh whether employees who could speak English were available onsite, even after Peng’s initial response. And Merola expressed incredulity that Wu was unable to speak fluently in English after 10 years working in Watertown. “For how many years? And he still doesn’t speak English?” Merola said.

Bodywork regulation update

The board also revisited deliberations about revising its current bodywork regulations. 

Last month it considered comparable regulations from Framingham and Watertown. At that meeting Waltham Board of Health members spoke well of Watertown’s regulations, which they said were very similar to Waltham’s but which Feeley noted had been recently “tightened up” by Watertown officials.

The board voted to authorize Feeley to ask Watertown for permission to copy parts of its regulations language into Waltham’s own regulations.

The board will hold a public meeting before making any changes to its current regulations.