Soothing outlet for cancer sufferers

by Marlon Madden

One company in Barbados is seeking to help cancer patients and survivors better deal with their associated stresses one touch at a time.

Through the increasingly popular touch therapy massage for cancer care, SRB International Spa has been helping cancer patients to have an easier time as they deal with the side-effects associated with treatment.
Cancer survivors have also found a safe haven at the spa as they too experience a great deal of relaxation through touch therapy massage.

SRB International, which also offers a variety of international certification, boasts of being the first in the Eastern Caribbean to offer touch therapy massage for cancer care, also known as oncology massage.

SRB International also provides a confidential mobile service for individuals who are terminally ill or unable to leave their location.

Roseita Coble is one of the directors of SRB International Training Spa and Spa. She told Barbados TODAY that touch therapy massage for cancer care was strongly needed in Barbados especially given the high number of cancer diagnoses annually.

Since it started in October last year, the Holetown, St James facility, which also offers hair, make-up and nail services, has been catering to a number of people who have had to deal with cancer.

Coble said the aim of SRB International was to help people feel better as they battle the dreaded illness but it is a wellness spa for just about anyone. “We are just dealing with a way that we can help them in terms of feeling better. It doesn’t help cure you of cancer,” she pointed out.

“The touch therapy helps with lymphatic drainage, it helps with relaxation of the client and it helps to bring some peace and happiness to some of the clients,” said Coble.

“It is a place where people can come, not only cancer patients, and get this treatment to relax. I am happy we are offering it to the public. On top of that, we have the school so we are training a number of students so when they graduate they can go and spread that throughout Barbados,” she added.

Coble said her wish was for cancer to be taken more seriously in Barbados.

“I think we need to really have a full oncology area that is designed where everything is quick because cancer does not wait for you.

We need to have a full facility that has everything to deal with you from the day you are diagnosed and have to do all the necessary tests, surgery and the chemo and radiation. I hope the day will come that there is a facility that can cater to everything under one umbrella,” she said.

Pointing out that it was not easy starting the spa during the coronavirus pandemic, she said she was happy SRB International was filling a gap.

“I decided to get into it because of my love of people and I want Barbados to be right up there with the rest of the world in terms of the best treatments out there, and educating us to have that high standard when it comes to service and spas here,” she added.

Lisa Deterville is a cancer survivor and a member of the women support group Sista Sista. Though she has been in remission for the past six years, the 52-year-old told Barbados TODAY she was over the moon to have found SRB International.

Deterville has been enjoying the therapeutic massages since June of this year. She said it provided her with a lot of inner peace.

“It is very relaxing. It has been a blessing,” she declared.

Massage therapist Kesha Gaskin is currently undertaking the oncology massage therapy programme with SRB International.
She said she was encouraged to do this course because of the number of cancer patients and people who have had to deal with cancer in Barbados.

“It makes cancer patients feel great. They have been through so much and just need a form of relaxation and to get away from all they are going through and just feel good. I find in Barbados we have a lot of cancer patients.

When we first did massage therapy it was a no-no to massage cancer patients because of the risk factors. But to now actually give a survivor and somebody actually going through it as a form of relaxation that is it for me,” she said.