Palliative Touch: Massage for People at the End of Life

Cindy Spence began her healthcare career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Guatemala, returning to the US to complete a master’s degree in public health at the University of North Carolina.  She has been a massage therapist specializing in palliative care since 1999, after her father-in-law’s dying wish for gentle touch inspired her to attend massage school.  Since that time Cindy has completed over 6000 hospice massages for people with advanced and terminal illness.  These sessions have occurred in home environments, skilled nursing facilities and inpatient settings across north Texas.  She works at a Hospice Inpatient Center in Dallas. With her teaching partner, Susan Gee, Cindy created and teaches Clinical Skills for End-of-Life Massage, a nationally-certified course for massage therapists and nurses.  She contributed a chapter entitled “Sacred Time: Touch at the End of Life” to Hands in Healthcare: Massage Therapy for the Adult Hospital Patient , 2nd edition, by Gayle MacDonald and Carolyn Tague, published by Handspring Publishing.  As a pancreatic cancer survivor since 2005, Cindy believes in the power of choice and the pursuit of optimal wellbeing at all phases of life, particularly during advanced illness and the dying process.  She has written Palliative Touch as a resource for others who feel called to provide caring presence in the form of skilled touch.