Photos by Ruth Heide TSJC Massage Therapy Department student Jessica Thomas, left, relieves the stress of a volunteer who has been helping Alamosa through its water crisis.

Massages

appreciated



STAFF REPORT

ALAMOSA — Students from Trinidad State Junior College’s massage therapy program on Monday massaged the tired shoulders and backs of volunteers helping Alamosa survive its water crisis.

“They came here to volunteer,” said Marcia Heusted, the instructor of the massage therapy department. “It’s strictly a volunteer effort.”

She said the program’s 10 students would be graduating in May after completing a 750-hour, one-year certification.

The students set up portable massage chairs at the Methodist Church in Alamosa on Monday and worked the kinks out of the backs, shoulders and arms of folks who have been volunteering in various ways during Alamosa’s salmonella outbreak and subsequent water crisis.

Heusted said she received a call from the Red Cross that prompted the massage event.

She and the massage therapy students thanked volunteers for their efforts, and the volunteers were appreciative of the pampering.