Taichung City Government seeks to continue its effort in assisting the visually impaired massage therapists in strengthening their professional skill and marketing capacity through holding training programs and subsidizing for the establishment of massage clinics with improved environment. Mayor Lin Chia-Lung visited 2 massage clinics at QiWu on 23rd July to show his support of the visually impaired massage therapists and hear their voices. He turned himself into the “Best Brand Spokesman” and experienced the massage therapy given by the visually impaired therapists. The massage clinics run by the visually impaired therapists are safe under government supervision, and the therapists are professionally trained, said Mayor Lin. They deserve the support of the public. Indeed, massage therapy helps to sooth tension and stress and at the same time it is also an act of social charity. The city government will continue its assistance to these therapists in different ways.

Accompanied by Director Huang Ho-Ting of Taichung City Bureau of Labor, Mayor Lin first visited the Coast Line Massage Center of the Visually Impaired to hear the request from President Tseng Hung-Ching of Taichung welfare promotion association for the disabled. Mayor Lin responded to the questions one by one. He also showed his support for the visually impaired massage therapists, felt the environment of the center, and experienced massage therapy. He then visited the nearby Kang Li Deh Massage Center. Taichung City Councilors Wang Li-Jen and Yang Tian-Chung also expressed their concern.

The visually impaired massage therapists can make a living and support their families by providing good quality massage service, which is a good cause that deserves our salute, said Mayor Lin. Each visually impaired massage therapist has been licensed by the government and is qualified as the technician in professional standing. It is safe to receive their service. He himself also visited these clinics frequently for massage service, and could guarantee with his own experience. He urged the people of Taichung to make appointment in advance, which can help them to sooth their tension and contribute to social charity.

The government will continue to do marketing for the visually impaired massage therapists through different promotional channels, and will encourage the enterprises to foster specific massage clinic for their companies, or the massage clinics can engage in special joint venture with shops so as to provide better benefits for the employees and offer more job opportunities for the massage therapists, said Mayor Lin. This will be a situation where all participants are winners and also the manifestation of corporate social responsibility. Mayor Lin also promised to subsidize the rental expenses for the massage clinics in favor of the therapists as per the request of President Tseng of Taichung City Association for the Welfare of the Blinds through coordination with the Bureau of Labor for a higher budget. He thanks for the common concern of the City Councilors.

As of the end of June, there were 199 massage parlors, massage convenient stores and massage clinics of the visually impaired in Taichung City, and there were 489 massage therapists, said Director Huang of Taichung City Bureau of Labor. Taichung City Government has assisted more than 48 venues for massage therapy in making improvement of software and hardware since 2015, and has supervised the groups of the visually impaired to set up 14 massage convenient locations and 2 massage therapy centers of the visually impaired with 71 jobs created. The massage convenient locations at the City Office Building at Taiwan Boulevard designed in this year will be officially opened in August.

According to Taichung Bureau of Labor, there was only the Coast Line Massage Center at QiWu in the past. Three massage therapists from this center opened the Kang Li Deh Massage Center last year. Now, there are 2 massage clinics in this district. The government provides supervision in starting up the operation and running the operation. Through on-the-site visit and hearing to the needs of the visually impaired therapists, the government provided consultation services including the analysis of the location for the massage clinics, financial planning, equipment procurement, decoration and motion line design. Follow-up action will be taken. Furthermore, experts and scholars will be invited to give recommendation on the operation to assist the development of the business into an enterprise. Training programs have also been provided to strengthen their competitive power.

According to Taichung City Bureau of Labor, the government will continue to organize promotional events for massage service so as to enhance the visibility of massage service provided by the visually impaired therapists. The government will also set up a website for this purpose at http://msg.taichung.gov.tw/. The public can search for a nearby massage clinic or center on the site. In addition, enterprises are also encouraged to employ visually impaired therapists and foster massage clinics of the visually impaired therapists. With the integration of corporate resources in the promotion, there are 20 enterprises using 22 massage therapists and 15 enterprises have fostered massage clinics. These will help to cut down the cost of opening a massage clinic and help the massage therapists with stable job.

Professional cleaning service providers are employed to help cleaning the environment of the massage clinics for the first time in this year. Cleaning service of 1 to 2 hours once every other week will be available for each massage clinic on request. Up to 12 instances of services could be requested in one year. In addition, each massage clinics may request for large scale cleanup for 4 hours once every other month up to 3 times a year. This will help to turn the massage clinics into a more comfortable zone.
Taichung City Bureau of Labor is the first in Taiwan that introduced the “Massage Clinics of the Visually Impaired Evaluation Scheme”. The scale of rating runs from level 1 to level 3 in 10 aspects, namely, environment, equipment, sanitation, hygiene, skill, and service. This system aims at helping the massage therapists to make improvement through self-inspection. This also served as reference for the consumers to choose massage clinics of good quality. This policy will be pursued from this year onward with the on-site visits of the supervisors for advocacy. Formal evaluation will be conducted next year after trail running at the massage clinics of the visually impaired.