Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 4, 1994 TAG: 9401040056
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
It's been more than two years since Faustine Settle traveled halfway across the globe to help some of the thousands of orphans struggling to survive in Romania.
Images of the struggling infants are branded into her brain. She still can't talk about her experiences without getting teary-eyed.
"It was just devastating," she said. "Everything was just gray - the people, the clothing, the buildings."
In the orphanage she saw child after child lying naked on urine-soaked sheets. "There were no diapers - none," she said. "They had never heard of diapers. People didn't know any better."
Settle remembers a tiny room crammed with 16 beds, two toddlers sleeping in each one. Children as old as 7 who had not yet learned to sit up. The gangrene-infected foot of a little girl who had suffered frostbite inside the poorly heated orphanage.
Yet, despite "the harshness of the orphans' reality," Settle pushed down the huge lump in her throat and went to work.
Settle is a massage therapist. She volunteered in May 1991 to spend a month with a Free Romania Foundation team in a rural orphanage where 115 handicapped children lived.
In that 100-year-old building Settle witnessed miracles that instilled in her a sense of importance and pride about the work she and other massage therapists do. "Touch is healing," she said. "We're not talking about what is pleasurable. Touch is food for the body."
Her trip was inspired by an ABC "20/20" TV segment about atrocities committed by former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
Ceausescu wanted to increase the country's work force. Abortions and birth control were outlawed.
Parents who couldn't afford to support babies abandoned them in hopes that the government help. Many children born with birth defects were sent to government orphanages that had bad plumbing and little clothing or bed linens.
Most of all, though, "They are starving for love," Settle said.
On a typical day, she spent five hours administering therapy that ranged from passive touch to a full-body massage.
"We saw miracles happen in a very short time," Settle said. Lethargic children who had spent nearly all their lives in cribs suddenly were sitting, standing and even beginning to walk. Such results verified Settle's belief in the importance of her work.
Settle, who studied art and psychology in college, first discovered the benefits of massage in the early '80s. She was working as a training supervisor at a residential facility run by the Montgomery County (Ohio) Board of Mental Retardation.
Many of the children she worked with had rigid bodies that would not relax.
Settle, already responsible for brushing the children's teeth and combing their hair, began gently rubbing their arms and legs.
"At that point it was coming strictly from an intuitive sense," she said. "We weren't doing anything therapeutic at the time."
Stiff bodies began to soften.
"That work was so valuable that I decided I wanted to do it for a career," Settle recalled.
She enrolled in a 22-month program at a medical massage school near Dayton, Ohio. After graduating and receiving a license from Ohio's medical board, Settle began to focus her therapy on children or adults with life-threatening illnesses. She also began teaching massage techniques at the school where she was trained.
Settle is used to folks raising an eyebrow or snickering when she starts talking about her career.
Many people hear "massage" and automatically think of seedy parlors. "That really ticks me off," Settle said.
She figures part of the problem is that massage therapists are subject to different standards in every state.
In Ohio, she was licensed by the medical board. Virginia has no accreditation requirements, although some massage-school directors are working on that. On the other extreme, massage therapists in North Carolina must apply for an entertainment license.
Settle has had little time to rest since her family came to Blacksburg in March when her husband, Ted, was named Virginia Tech's continuing education director.
In addition to the private practice she runs out of her home, Settle goes to Charlottesville twice a week to teach at the Virginia School of Massage. And she gives a day a week for volunteer therapy with New River Valley Hospice patients.
Alison Limoges, hospice director of volunteers, said Settle's therapy is a great addition to that group's services. "It's a great way to help a patient relax," Limoges said. "All of the feedback I've gotten on Faustine has been extremely positive. I have no qualms about sending her out anytime, anywhere."
Settle, 50, said her massage techniques help hospice patients and family members. "When a person is dying, it's not uncommon for people not to touch them," she said. "When family members see me touching, it gives them permission to touch as well."
Settle said massage therapy also helps increase circulation so morphine and other medicine can travel through the system faster.
An exuberant woman, Settle gets excited when talking about her work. "I'm strongly committed to the profession," she said. "I really think we make a difference."
by CNB