Attendees at the second Wellness For Cancer roundtable last week identified steps to move the spa industry forward in treating guests who have – or have had – cancer.
The event was held on 4 May, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, US, and brought together representatives from the medical community with those in the spa industry.
Wellness For Cancer hosted its first roundtable last year in London.
Moderated by Dr Brent Bauer, director of integrative medicine at Mayo Clinic; Dr Lisa Corbin, director of executive health from the University of Colorado Cancer Center; and Julie Bach, chair of the Wellness For Cancer (WFC) Initiative, the latest roundtable’s goal was to continue WFC’s role in bridging medical evidence with cancer-aware guidelines for the spa and wellness industry.
The theme was “teachable moments, fostering healthy behavioural lifestyle choices through the cancer continuum”, and Bach said the event was eight years in the making. At the end of the day-long event, attendees identified three topics to move the industry towards being more cancer-aware.
Because many hotel brands are reluctant to train their staff in cancer-aware treatments because of perceived liability concerns, WFC will hire a third-party to conduct a risk analysis survey and provide guidelines on how to mitigate risks.
The initiative will also continue to work with leading wellness brands to enable the industry to better understand this topic as part of a brand’s wellness strategy and not a standalone “disease-oriented or cancer-care menu item,” said Bach.
