Hawaii Spa Association

Tag: covid-19

  • Our COVID-19 Response

    Address from Hi-Spa President Cecilia Hercik:

    On behalf of the Hawaii Spa Association, as President I’d like to kindly address concerns related to COVID-19, aka the coronavirus outbreak.

    Within our interconnected network of facilities, companies, management and members across the Hawaiian Islands, we strive to be in contact with each other to control any further spread of the virus, along with making sure to stay connected and informed within our industry. I’d like to bring up that first and foremost, sanitation has always been a number one daily priority for those within the spa industry, not something that is only taken seriously during times of apprehension and distress. The Wellness Industry has always had strict sanitation standards, not just for the guests we provide for but for our employees as well, and each employee that treats with guests is a highly trained professional with the utmost regard for cleanliness and health.

    At Hi-Spa we’re all making sure to do our part to provide the most we can to our members and to everyone affected. If you read further you’ll find incredible sanitation protocols, tips and useful websites from our Information Specialist Shawn Hallum, comforting words of wisdom from Treasurer Darryll Leiman, and helpful connections provided by Vice President Jennifer Holzworth.

    It’s important that we take the time to educate ourselves as much as possible without being swept into the mass unease stirred by other forms of media exposure.

    In these times of distress, remember that your health is ultimately within your control, and stress and anxiety also play an enormous part on the state of your immune system. So from your local team of wellness professionals, remember to breathe, relax, and find calm in the moments you can while taking those extra steps to maintain your health and wellbeing.

    Mahalo, Cecilia Hercik & Hi-Spa Board

    Address from Hi-Spa Vice President Jennifer Holzworth:

    Aloha Members & Team,

    I am proud to say that we of the Hi-Spa Board not only prioritize the health and protection within our own facilities, but we also feel strongly that we need to be setting an example for all spas and wellness centers out there. In addition to this letter the Board has created to address the concerns of COVID-19 to our members, we have also included helpful resources and best practices to observe and use in your own facilities or homes.

    The changes we can be making don’t have to be earth shattering, they can be small directional shifts that help everybody take small steps in the right direction towards maintaining our health; for example we have been working to adjust the verbiage of our local cancellation policy to state something along the lines of: “Please be prepared that if you are experiencing any flu like symptoms, your services may need to be rescheduled for a later time.” Simple words like this added to the health waiver at sign in can make all the difference in the world.

    While stress is high and the days are rough, we will continue to work hard to be as genuine and kind as possible during these troubling times. Rosa Say, one of our strongest resources, gives us some valuable words of advice to those of us who are in a place of management on truly Managing with Aloha during this state of unrest.

    Mahalo for your support, and we hope this letter provides insight and perspective to all who need it.

    Jennifer Holzworth & Hi-Spa Board

    Address from Hi-Spa Treasurer Darryll Leiman:

    Aloha Hi-Spa members:

    We are certainly living in unprecedented times…. Who would ever think that cruise ships around the world could be quarantined at sea, the sudden drop in air travel, hotel occupancies down internationally, double-digit drops in the stock market and whole countries in a precautionary lockdown all because of a tiny virus causing so much angst worldwide.

    It is especially now that we in the spa industry need to be a beacon of calm and grounded-ness, an island of tranquility in this sea of uncertainty that surrounds us. As we watch and monitor the situation, we need to keep focused on our mission, revisit our protocols and procedures, and continue doing what we always do. Safety, health and wellbeing is the goal we strive for every day. We always sanitize, wash our hands, keep our areas immaculately clean, and offer the simple oshibori or cleansing treatment. That is what we are trained to do, and that is what we always do. We need to set the example, keep focused and remain the professionals we are all trained to be, taking care of the wellbeing of our guests and team members.

    As Rudyard Kipling might have said….If you can keep your head when all others around you are losing theirs…..you are a “spa” leader, my colleagues.

    Please note too, our scheduled “Practice What You Preach” event for Spa Directors has been put on hold until such time as we feel it is safe and appropriate to hold such an event. We will reinstate as soon as possible.

    Thank you, Darryll Leiman & Hi-Spa Board

    Address from Hi-Spa Information Specialist Shawn Hallum:

    Please review the updated in-house protocols to be used within your facilities to help protect against the COVID-19 outbreak.

    Hi-Spa COVID-19 Protocols

    Employee:

    • Any employee experiencing the symptoms of COVID-19 (including fever, sore throat, persistent cough) should not come to work. Employees are reminded to follow the protocols for calling out sick.
    • Employees should avoid contact with sick people, maintaining a six-foot distance whenever possible.
    • Cover your coughs and sneezes with tissue.
    • All employees to wash hands with soap and hot water for 20 seconds (or use a hand sanitizer that is at least 60% alcohol) after any interaction with a guest or employee. Therapists must include washing forearms (to elbow).
    • All employees should minimize touching their eyes, nose and mouth.
    • Therapists refrain from handshake during welcome/departure with guest. Utilize a welcome gesture or bow instead.
    • Therapists must verbalize to guests that they have washed their hands prior to the commencement of service and that the treatment room has been sanitized in accordance with industry standards and CDC
    • recommendations.
    • All employees must wear disposable gloves when handling towels, linens and other items that go in the laundry. Dispose of gloves after each use. If using reusable gloves, those gloves should be dedicated for cleaning and disinfection of surfaces for COVID-19 and should not be used for other purposes. Clean hands immediately after gloves are removed. If possible, do not shake dirty laundry (this will minimize the possibility of dispersing virus through the air).

    Guest:

    • Offer every guest the opportunity to wash their hands prior to the commencement of treatment
    • Confidently respond to any questions or concerns you receive from guests about the actions we’re taking to keep everyone healthy, including our protocols for sanitization.
    • Guests who have health conditions for which spa services are contraindicated will be rescheduled when they have fully recovered. This includes guests who disclose that they are feeling ill or if a potentially contagious illness is apparent to employees. Obvious symptoms include coughs, fever, and shortness of breath.

    Facility

    • Massage therapists and estheticians should continue to follow our standards for sanitization, which include disinfection of tables and equipment after each use.
    • Fitness Centers should schedule a full time person to non-stop sanitize all the equipment, yoga mats, foam rollers, blocks, weight bars, dumbbells, kettlebells, sandballs, etc.
    • Beauty Salon should allocate extra time between services to sanitize the entire station ( instruments, scissors, combs, flat irons, brushes, chair, capes, counters, etc).

    COVID-19 Facility/Equipment Sanitation Procedures

    • All surfaces susceptible to human contact must be cleaned after each guest use or every three hours, whichever comes first. These surfaces include, but are not limited to:
    • All door handles to all interior and exterior doors o Lounge chairs
    • Water dispensers
    • Sinks and countertops
    • Locker doors
    • Shower controls
    • Sink controls
    • Pens
    • iPad surface
    • Telephone ear piece, mouth piece and buttons on Computer keyboard(s)
    • Receptionist countertops
    • Workstations
    • Employee Microwave and Refrigerator handles
    • If surfaces are dirty, they should be cleaned using a detergent or soap and water prior to disinfection.
    • Household cleaners and EPA-registered disinfectants should be used, following all label precautions.
    • For disinfection, diluted household bleach solutions, alcohol solutions with at least 70% alcohol, and most common EPA-registered household disinfectants should be effective.
    • Diluted household bleach solutions can be used if appropriate for the surface. Follow manufacturer’s instructions for application and proper ventilation. Check to ensure the product is not past its expiration date.
    • Never mix household bleach with ammonia or any other cleanser.
    • Unexpired household bleach will be effective against coronaviruses when properly diluted as follows:
    • 5 tablespoons (1/3rd cup) bleach per gallon of water or
    • 4 teaspoons bleach per quart of water
    • Products with EPA-approved emerging viral pathogens claims are expected to be effective against COVID-19 based on data for harder to kill viruses. Make sure to wear disposable gloves when cleaning.
    • Launder items as appropriate in accordance with our laundry vendor’s protocols. Note that dirty linens from an ill person can be washed with other people’s items, so there is no increased risk of transmission when the laundry is washed properly.
    • Clean and disinfect clothes hampers according to guidance above for surfaces. If possible, line the hampers with a bag that is either disposable or can be laundered.

    Information

    In addition, we encourage you to proactively educate yourself on any new developments. We also found the following links that you may find informative and helpful:

    Mahalo and safe and healthy regards,

    Shawn Hallum & Hi-Spa Board

  • The Role of the Manager, Redesigned and Reconstructed

    ** The following is from Rosa Say’s weekly newsletter, to get these directly to your inbox please go here **

    Aloha mai kākou, let’s talk story. One can easily view the world in two camps right now, those who want to return to how things were pre-pandemic as quickly as possible, our ‘old normal,’ and those chomping at the bit for the creation of a ‘new normal.’ I’ve made no secret of where I sit: I want a new normal which is better, in that it’s more sustainable and equitable, not just safer. Truth is, the pandemic didn’t create my views, it simply fortified them: I’ve been on a soapbox talking about management reconstruction (the profession) and business model reinvention for a long time, years which predate my publishing of Managing with Aloha. I’ve written about it as my latest essay for Ke Ola Magazine.

    Ho‘ohana Conversations

    In my Series 3 essays for Ke Ola Magazine, I committed to a focus on work’s detail via Managing with Aloha’s 9 Key Concepts. I’ll add the series introduction link below in case you missed it. The May Through August 2020 issue was distributed earlier this week, and it presents my 5th article for the series as its Business Feature. Here it is for you, in full so you need not click away:

    (A copy is also archived on RosaSay.com: The Role of the Manager, Redesigned and Reconstructed.)

    The Role of the Manager, Redesigned and Reconstructed

    People ask me, “What’s a good jump-start to help me deep dive into a Managing with Aloha practice?”

    First, read the book for an overall picture of what the philosophy is all about, and read it with purpose: What are your goals? Freshly articulate them.

    Second, identify your core values personally and professionally: Understand which beliefs and convictions propel you forward, for they drive your life and your work when pursuing Ho‘ohana, the value of worthwhile work. Identifying your values is the first step to harnessing their energy; get them to help you feel the work you do is for you and on you as your ethos.

    Third, start doing the Daily 5 Minutes immediately, the conversational practice described in Chapter 11 of the book on ‘Ike loa, the value of learning. It will help you become a “good receiver” practicing no-agenda listening as it keeps you connected to the practical relevancy of your everyday work and essential relationships. If you do not have direct reports, do it with your peers. I cannot overstate how useful this is: your Daily 5 Minutes helps you prioritize and “keep it real” with right task/right time focus, illuminating the action steps you need to take each day thereafter as it simultaneously strengthens your partnerships.

    Finally, commit to Key Concept 4, The Role of the Manager Reconstructed, for that’s where the magic of true “with Aloha” management for the better happens. This is the key which opens the door to all 9 concepts. Let’s examine this part of the Managing with Aloha jumpstart more fully.

    Can you guess who has the worst, most useless Job Position Description (JPD) in every company universally, and no matter what the mission and vision of that company may be? Managers.

    They often have no JPD at all, for managers are largely expected to write it for themselves—to show up where needed, and then be there as stopgap or emergency valve. They babysit—everyone cringes when I use that word, yet if they’re honest, they’ll admit that’s what they mostly do. They aspire to leadership by neglecting its foundation in good management.

    Therefore, when we at Say Leadership Coaching take on a coaching project, we initiate the same jumpstart just recommended to you:

    We identify that company’s mission and vision; we identify the core values we need to align all our recommendations and actions with; we teach and coach the Daily 5 Minutes to involve people immediately with difference-making participation; and we take steps to reimagine, redesign, reconstruct and then implement a renewed role for all managers in the company as quickly and as comprehensively as possible.

    Are JPDs a traditional tool in your company? Keep using them IF you continually revise them to ensure they’re relevant and useful. JPDs should be personalized to the mission of your company and to a person’s Ho‘ohana when seen as their professional mission statement. Therefore, I can’t propose a draft for you. Yet I can give you the guideline we share. Use this in your Key 4 reconstruction as goal-setting: Is this result what your JPD would achieve?

    “Managers must own workplace engagement and be comfortable with facilitating change, creative innovation, and development of the human asset. The ‘reconstruction’ we require in Managing with Aloha is so this expectation of the Alaka‘i Manager is both reasonable and possible, and so they can channel human energies as a company’s most important resource, they themselves having the time, energy, and support needed in doing so. Convention may work against us, where historically, people have become managers for reasons other than the right one: Managing people is their calling. A new role for managers must be explicitly valued by the entire organization as critically important to their better success: Managers can then have personal bandwidth for assuming a newly reinvented role, one which delivers better results both personally and professionally, and in their stewardship of the workplace culture.”

    Managers should be creative initiators, coaches and culture stewards. Realistically, they may become babysitters, stopgaps and emergency valves at times, but those become very rare and short-term conditions in reconstruction—even ‘temporary’ and ‘acting’ is unreasonable and unhealthy in workplace cultures managed with Aloha—correct course and/or fill your vacancies quickly.

    The role of the manager has become crucial in our time, when Human Resources is no longer the manager’s stopgap, emergency valve or resource, primarily focused as they are on laws, regulations, benefit costs and negotiation.

    I say, bring it on. I have the utmost faith in Alaka‘i Managers as those who can do ‘human resources’ better than it has ever been done before.

    We ho‘omau kākou.

    Ke Ola Series 3 to date:

    Quote sticking with me lately:

    “In the David-versus-Goliath battle between big and small businesses in America, COVID-19 is, contrary to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s recent assessment, no “great equalizer.” It’s a toxin for underdogs and a steroid for many giants.” —Derek Thompson sums up my fears in his article for The Atlantic: The Pandemic Will Change American Retail Forever, one of the best post-pandemic-projection commentaries I’ve read in both content (it’s not just about retail) and due to Thompson’s exceptional writing.

    “Because the pandemic pauses the present, it forces us to live in the future.”

    Have a great week, we Ho‘ohana Kākou, Rosa Say Leadership Coaching | Managing with Aloha | RosaSay.com

  • Test Your Protocols: Town Hall

    Disclaimer: Hi-SPA is not endorsing this product specifically but shares support to our members to feature opportunities that may benefit others.

    The Hawaii Spa Association Team would like to invite you to a Town Hall we are having on November 17th. Everyone is spending more time and money implementing sanitation plans throughout their facilities. How can you tell if your plan is working? ATP Tests are the benchmark that medical, food service and hospitality industries have used for years. This easy to use technology will let you know if your plan is working and possibly if you can spend less in time and on material.  

    Daniel Wing and Cheyenne Adams from Hygiena will be joining us to discuss this technology and best practices. Hygiena delivers rapid microbial detection, monitoring, and identification solutions to a wide range of industries, including food and beverage, health care, hospitality, pharmaceuticals, and personal care.

    Nov. 12, 2020