The reception area for the treatment rooms, called the "Cloud Room," features a "blue sky and clouds" d'cor, with both walls and the ceiling conveying this theme. Fresh flowers and comfortable couches give this room a "living room" feel. Everything is very laid back and subdued. This room is often used by families and friends of patients, who sometimes must wait for hours while a loved one is being treated.
 
The treatment rooms are small, but have small stereo systems and lighting controls, so that each patient can enjoy an environment he or she prefers.
 
My hostess during my visit was Kathleen Clayton, a licensed massage therapist (and a long-time member of the American Massage Therapy Association) who has been with Sloan-Kettering since July, 1999, and was one of the first massage therapists hired to work at the new IMS facility.

"This is a very rewarding place to work," she says. "You can definitely tell that you are making a difference in patients' lives when they come over here."
 
Clayton, a 1982 graduate of the Swedish Institute of Massage in New York City, has an interesting background. "I developed massage programs at different spas in New York for several years, and then I worked as a massage therapist at the University Club for five years," she says. 
 
"Although I have 18 years of general experience, working on cancer patients is a different ball game. There are very few classes on this subject, so much of my knowledge has come from on-the-job experience," she says. 
 
"However, to make it easier for other massage therapists to learn how to treat cancer patients, Sloan-Kettering will be offering seminars on this subject this October as well as two next year," Clayton adds. (See bar below.)

Before any massage treatment is started with a new patient, Clayton consults Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Disease Management System, a computer database (originating from the main hospital on York Avenue) that gives a complete medical history of that patient. "All massage therapists here are taught how to read medical charts, and understand medical vocabulary," she says. "Once we examine the patient's condition, we determine the best forms of treatment. Some forms of massage can harm a patient, so we have to be very careful about how we treat them."
 
Before seeing a patient for the first time, Clayton will call up that person's chart from the database, and do some homework. "Most of the time, the information is self-explanatory, and the treatment plan obvious," she says. "If I have any doubts about the information on the chart, or from statements made by the patient himself, I will call his doctor directly, to consult about the treatment options."
 
Her job has both immense rewards and acute disappointments, Clayton says. "The most satisfying part of my job is when a patient comes back to me with better results, and says something like, I can now walk around the block.'"
 
"I recently had a young boy in here from Venezuela, who had testicular cancer. I showed his mother how to do a foot massage for him, to help relieve his constipation. I still keep in touch with them; he is now in remission, since it was caught early," Clayton adds.