Wellness Today
Guidelines for wellness centres
New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) In order to promote wellness tourism, government today issued guidelines for defining the roadmap for the industry as well as accreditation of wellness centres in the country.
“The guidelines will be applicable to all wellness centres across the country,” Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahai said here at a workshop on wellness tourism.
The new guidelines would be looking into aspects of functioning of wellness centres like identifying and correcting unhygienic service delivery practices and laying down a system for continuous monitoring of quality of services being provided.
Defining the concept of wellness, Sahai said, “It has been interpreted from several perspectives and we in India should relate it to our ancient system of living the tradition that is still preserved namely the constant, conscious pursuit of living life to its fullest in harmony with the environment.”
He said India has an ancient heritage of healing but is facing severe competition from several destinations who are positioning themselves as leading destinations for wellness tourism. “We should put our acts together and promote wellness tourism aggressively in the international and domestic markets,” he added.
Making a distinction between the health and the wellness aspects, Minister said medical tourism involves those visitors with medical conditions who travel for treatment of ailments.
A person who travels for wellness is generally healthy but seeks therapies to maintain his or her well-being.
The accreditation standards are prepared by National Accreditation Standards for Hospitals and Healthcare providers and approved by Department of AYUSH.
Only the accredited service providers would be eligible for any assistance from Tourism Ministry.
Among others, the guidelines will also look into the hygienic issue to prevent catching infections from the staff or the other customers by ensuring cleaning and disinfection practices for linen and equipment.
Centres have to display services and tariff list that the spa is providing to ensure uniform pricing policy, as per the guidelines.
Taking note of mushrooming of massage parlours, Sahai said, “There should be a mechanism to check whether all prescribed norms are being followed or not.”
On the implementation of guidelines, he said, “I think it should be mandatory as we are dealing directly with tourists and they should have good experience.
“But initially we are seeking voluntary implementation.
Later on we may opt for enforcing the guidelines.”
The Ministry is developing Haridwar-Rishikesh as well as Puducherry as wellness centres to give visitors a complete experience which is physically healing, spirituality enriching and mentally rejuvenating.
Troubled Wellness and World Music Festival dealt new blow
The producer that Desert Hot Springs paid $250,000 to put on a twice-delayed festival has not paid his associate producers, who have now backed out of the controversial project.
Baruch/Gayton Entertainment Group of Burbank wrote a Jan. 4 letter to producer Tony Clarke stating they would no longer be associated with his company, an e-mail the city released Monday shows.
“There have been financial problems with Tony. He owes us money. He owes others money, who we have brought into the project,” Wayne Baruch told The Desert Sun.
Clarke, who has been paid the entire $250,000 over seven installments to put on the Wellness and World Music Festival, did not return a message Monday. Tresed Ventures spokesman Ed Smith declined to comment.
The departure of the accomplished producers shook the confidence of several city leaders, including City Manager Rick Daniels, who still continued to voice optimism about the festival.
The city council has met in closed session at least three times to consider taking legal action against Clarke, whose claims of being an internationally known producer were never verified by the city.
The council will meet again today to discuss a lawsuit in closed session.
“I think we get a step closer there every day,” Daniels said. “The longer this stays an open issue, the longer it continues to be a problem.”
The producers’ departure is the latest in a series of blows to the festival, which is nowhere close to showtime more than 14 months after the council approved the contract.
The contract, which expires in June, specifies there is no guarantee the festival must happen, and producers have yet to announce a new date, music and performing acts or ticket sales.
The contract was drafted in part by city attorney Ruben Duran, who works for the Oakland-based Meyers Nave.
Duran is still accepting financial documents Clarke had been asked to turn over to the city by Jan. 18 to show his progress on the festival. Four weeks after that deadline, Duran also has not completed his review of the paperwork.
Duran said Monday he has received “quite a bit of information,” but declined to say when he expects to finish his review or what he would advise the council to do.
Mayor Pro Tem Russell Betts, who was the lone vote against the December 2009 contract with Clarke, said the unraveling of the festival frustrates him and he hopes the city could reach an informed conclusion soon.
“My confidence isn’t real high now at all, and the problem is we’re still reviewing these documents — three, four weeks later,” Betts said.
Friendship Elementary putting weight on wellness program
Teachers at Friendship Elementary are replacing classroom chairs with exercise balls as part of a new wellness program.
The school recently began an initiative that couples its academics with a focus on health and wellness.
Friendship Principal Berry Walton gave the Hall County school board an update at the Monday work session.
“I hope that this will become a program of choice,” he told the board. “Our goals are to focus on childhood obesity, nutrition and academic performance.”
Walton said childhood obesity is a growing epidemic. Georgia has the second-highest rate of childhood obesity in the United States.
“About 24 percent of third-graders are obese in the state,” he said. “We’re starting to see elementary school students with Type II diabetes, not Type 1, Type II.”
Friendship developed a committee last summer to research programs and best practices.
The school recently implemented strategies to improve nutrition such as offering healthier snacks. At a Valentine’s Day party, a teacher served smoothies rather than candy, Walton said.
The staff are also learning about fitness. Twice a week about 20 teachers work out with a personal trainer after school.
At the meeting, Walton showed the board members a Pilate ball, which is being used for classroom seating.
“It’s called active sitting,” he said, adding that it helps strengthen core muscles.
The school will measure their success using Fitnessgram, a district wide program that provides a fitness measure for each child. The school will also evaluate test scores, Walton added.
Down the road, Walton said the school hopes to add after-school activities such as karate, dance and gymnastics for a fee.
Superintendent Will Schofield said it has been exciting to watch the initiative build.
“We look forward to seeing where this takes us,” Schofield said.
In other business, the school board heard an update from the Early Language Development Center, established last year.
Lois Myers, who heads the center and is principal at Lyman Hall Elementary School said the program serves at-risk language students.
The center is housed in the former Jones Elementary School, and students learn half of the day in English and half of the day in Spanish.
She said students are progressing well, but a longer immersion experience will help students become more successful when they get to high school. The school is hoping to add pre-kindergarten and Head Start programs next year.