With a sparkle in his eye and an infectious smile, Frank Baldassare, LMT (’91) and his dog Rowdy welcome visitors to his online cooking show “The Missing Ingredient.” In Frank’s case, the ingredient that you won’t find in his food is gluten.

According to the Celiac Disease (CD) Foundation, gluten is a common name for the proteins found in all forms of wheat (including durum, semolina, spelt, kamut, einkorn and faro) and related grains rye, barley and triticale. When people with CD eat foods that contain gluten, it creates an immune-mediated toxic reaction that causes damage to the small intestine and does not allow food to be properly absorbed.

Frank had been a trainer at a Jack La Lanne fitness center, and then head of fitness for a resort in St. Lucia, when he decided to enroll at Swedish Institute. After graduating and getting licensed, Frank worked successfully as a massage therapist in a number of locations. He was working at a spa in the West Village when he got a call from the Peninsula Spa, which was just opening on Fifth Avenue. He was hired and stayed for ten years, becoming head of the massage therapy department and being nominated “Best (massage therapist) in the business” by Vogue magazine in 1998.

A Sudden Change
Frank thought he was living a healthy lifestyle until one day he woke up with symptoms he couldn’t explain. “My illness seemed to come out of the blue,” Frank said. “The first sign was trouble with my eyes; my tears became very viscous. Things got progressively worse. I got tired, I had terrible headaches, a kind of neuropathy in my legs, and I was losing weight. I dropped 26 pounds in five to six weeks.”

He went to see specialists who ran tests, but results came back negative. Frank knew he wasn’t healthy, so he had to aggressively pursue a diagnosis.

“I went back to the basics in physiology, pathology and Shiatsu that I learned at Swedish Institute,” Frank recalled. “For instance, I used to be able to do a good straddle stretch and found I couldn’t open my legs anymore. It made me wonder if something was going on with my Liver and Gall Bladder channels; I started to think about my digestive system.”

Frank read everything he could on digestion and the immune system. “I went to one doctor who was supposedly treating conditions naturally,” Frank said, “but he just gave me a slew of vitamins. That didn’t make sense to me; if I wasn’t digesting food properly, how was I going to break down pills?”

Frank did his research and like many people with a chronic disease made the round of doctors. “Finally, I brought all my records to a doctor who had once helped me with a parasite,” Frank said. “He asked me why anyone hadn’t checked me for celiac disease. Blood work showed I had antibodies for it, and my IgA levels were high. The gold standard for determining the presence of celiac disease, an endoscopy, confirmed the diagnosis.

“With celiac disease there is a blunting of the villi in the small intestine. This is a very important area, where vitamins and minerals are broken down and absorbed. If there’s a problem here, you’ll have vitamin deficiencies that supplements alone will not fix.”

Celiac disease interrupts the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, which has a negative effect on bone and skin health. Frank had been suffering with osteoporosis, chronic fatigue, and hair and nail problems, all of which he attributes to the deficiencies created by the celiac disease.

The Solution
“Thank goodness I have dogs, because I walked every day,” Frank said about the reversal of his illness. “I took out any inflammatory foods and beverages. Following a gluten-free diet didn’t help immediately. The villi take time to heal.

“I added other therapies—regular sessions in Chinese medicine, massage and acupuncture—because when you’re fighting the inflammation, you have to get the debris out of your body. When you’re healing you need touch!”

As Frank learned more, his innate affinity for people led him to create programs to share his knowledge. “I created a show for people with food sensitivities—there are more allergies and food disorders and obesity than ever. Food Network loved it, but wasn’t ready for it. So I put it online for free at themissingingredienttv.com.

“What I learned is that there’s no one answer. It’s a mindset first. Then find the people who can help you. It does mean a lifetime adherence to a gluten free diet. Remember though, that just because it’s gluten free doesn’t mean it’s good for you.

“I’ve really gone back to a hunter-gatherer diet. The days of grabbing food anywhere are over. I don’t have any struggle to stay away from fast food; it doesn’t even enter the equation as an option anymore.”

Frank, because of his upbeat personality, is often asked to lecture at conferences about celiac disease and allergies. He has gone to public schools to talk about food allergies and turn young people on to tasty alternatives to wheat. He has also set up basic nutrition programs for people living with mental illness.

“People who are living with mental illness are on a budget of about $250 a month for food. So they need a way to think about food that’s simple and inexpensive. I took them shopping, showed them how to pick produce, taught them how to cut up a chicken and make five individual meals. We boiled the chicken bones to make stock, which they used through the weeks.

“I thought that a gluten free diet might also help them. It’s such a basic diet that anyone preparing food for it will not be overwhelmed. And it helps people avoid the mood swings that often come when the diet is too rich in carbohydrates, sugar and processed foods.”

Frank Baldassare does not have chronic fatigue today. He has plenty of energy and shares it freely via his television program, lectures, articles and in an upcoming DVD. It’s all part of his Healthy Entertainment empire, which he envisions as a vehicle for a wide range of creative projects which focus on helping people in their journey towards health and happiness.

The Department of Alumni Services held a special event for Swedish Institute graduates on Monday, Sept. 27, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. 

Recent and long time grads showed up to hear Robert Hellmann’s lecture on resumé writing and developing your “pitch”. Robert is a business consultant who led the class through an exercise in looking at typical resumés and then at ways to make them more dynamic. Highlight of the class: Create a summary at the top of your resumé that gives a title and clear definition of what you want to do in the future. Don’t just do a chronological summary of where you’ve been. An excellent presentation that inspired many! 

The class was followed by some snacks from Whole Foods and an open discussion with Meg Darnell, Dean of Student and Alumni Services. The first item on the agenda was about requests that continually come into the school asking for massage therapists to donate their time to various events. 

The question was posed to graduates: Are you interested in volunteer opportunities or is it time to stop the culture of free massage? Alumni liked the department’s idea of listing volunteer opportunities for events associated with not-for-profit organizations, but felt that the school should encourage corporations to start thinking about fair compensation and consideration of massage therapists as licensed health care professionals. 

Which led to the next topic: How can we stem the proliferation of unlicensed massage therapists? Meg emphasized a need to complain as much as possible to the state, to the police, to landlords. She feels that raising our voices in unison will help focus attention on this issue. Report illegal practice to the New York State Office of the Professions. 

Suggested topic for the next alumni meeting: “How will the new health care bill affect us?” 

These events give alumni an economical way to get continuing education contact hours and a chance to meet other graduates. Alumni can check for updates on our next event at the Professional Continuing Education website. Alumni also get e-mail updates, so they should be sure Alumni Services always has their latest e-mail address.

Mary Lo, LMT (’99) works on staff at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospitals Center for Comprehensive Care, a clinic dedicated to helping people with HIV/AIDS. Mary has been there for almost ten years, and has watched the clinic grow from serving 600 patients to over 3,000. It is now the largest AIDS center in the state.

She has seen other changes too, as complementary care has gained acceptance within mainstream medicine. “The hospital just renamed our department ‘Integrative Medicine’ and it is now headed by a doctor,” Mary said. “It used to be called ‘Complementary Therapy’ and the department was headed by a social worker.”

Mary is passionate about the value that massage brings to clinic patients. She is an advocate for integrative healthcare who incorporates both Eastern and Western modalities in her practice. “Massage is more than just relaxation,” Mary said. “It is an art that connects body and mind. Through massage I help patients understand the intelligence and wisdom of their body and how to work with it instead of against it.”

As an example, Mary cited a recent experience with a woman—referred by one of the mental health providers—who wanted to manage her anxiety without additional medication. “The patient told me that she had never had a massage before because she had a history of sexual abuse as a child and did not like to be touched,” Mary said.

“Before we started the session I discussed the massage protocol with her. Treatment consisted of CranioSacral work on the neck and head, with guided breath work. I suggested to the patient that she verbalize whatever she was feeling during the session and that she had the power to terminate the session at any time. She stayed for the duration of the session and when we finished she said she felt very relaxed, in a way she never had before.”

Mary feels that stress reduction is something to be taken seriously. She is sent every year to the Integrative Medicine Conferences where she says there is always a great deal of discussion about the importance of reducing stress hormones. The recognition of integrative therapies in disease prevention has led to another recent change Mary has observed within the hospital: more invitations to participate in educational forums.

“Last year we had a staff spa day for the first time and our team, Integrative Medicine, was asked to make presentations,” she said. “This past May, during Women’s Health month, we talked about PMS and menopause and I demonstrated lymphatic breast self-massage.”

There’s Something about Mary’s Hands
Before going into massage therapy, Mary was a designer making jewelry using gold, silver and imported beads. “I did pretty well,” she said. “The Smithsonian catalog division was one of my customers for a while. But it was so stressful. I wouldn’t sleep if an order was delayed or held up in customs. I started to get digestive problems.

“In the meantime, I often found myself massaging my friends’ shoulders. I said I wished I could do more and a friend asked, ‘What’s stopping you?’ I had to think about that. Then I realized; I am stopping myself. A few days later I found a course on foot reflexology. It was the closest thing to massage I could get to at that point. When we paired up in class to do the foot massage, the minute I put my hands on the feet, I felt an immediate sense of peace. I felt—I am home. “

The reflexology teacher, Sande Rosen (also a graduate of Swedish Institute), pointed Mary to the school to further her studies and get licensed. After graduating from Swedish Institute, Mary soon realized she wanted to work in medical massage. She started out, as many alumni do, in spas like Elizabeth Arden and the New York Sports Club. Yearning to do more, she took a continuing education class in CranioSacral Therapy. She loved it. Mary asked the instructor how she could get her foot in the door working in the hospital.

“The instructor said they were writing grants and they might be looking for volunteers,” Mary recalled. “A few months later she contacted me, and I applied for a position.” Mary worked at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt as a volunteer from 2001 to 2003. At that point, she was offered a paid position and has been working there ever since. Patients at the clinic do not have to pay for services, which are provided through private funding. Therapies offered include massage, acupuncture, yoga, meditation, Mindful Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and natural foods and nutritional consult.

Today, Mary works three days out of a week at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospitals and the rest of her week in her private office on Fifth Avenue where she sees clients as part of her Synchronicity Massage Therapy and Bodywork practice. Her last client appointment is at 6:00 pm, and she does not work on weekends. In this way she keeps her life in balance and maintains time for fun. (She just finished doing a showcase in ballroom dance.)

In order to further hone her deepening passion to be an agent of change for others and to promote healing through the spiritual aspect of the “whole,” Mary has also studied at the One Spirit Interfaith Seminary and was ordained as an interfaith minister.

The choices Mary makes about her life are a conscious extension of the explanation of synchronicity posted on her website (quoted in part here):

Every Being must choose some course of motion.
On this path of motion, we come in contact with others,
perhaps on different paths, yet all leading to the same destination,
the path to the True Self from which our energies flow.

This energy of the universe within, we call Spirit.
It is the essence of peace. It is what we all seek,
and it is what we knowingly or unknowingly dedicate all things to.

Fanny Mandelberger, LMT (’83) opened a business called Massage On Broadway after she graduated from Swedish Institute’s Massage Therapy Program. Having been a performer herself, Fanny’s vision was to provide backstage therapy for dancers, actors and singers who often have physically challenging roles. When she moved to Florida, Fanny renamed her business Massage Off-Broadway. Now she lives in Washington, DC, and is facing start up challenges once again.

She was fortunate enough to get some free advice from a business columnist for The Washington Post about how to market herself to prospective employers. Columnist Asher Epstein, managing director for the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland's business school, suggests ways Fanny can convince a show’s producers to include her services in their costs, The article appears in the Capital Business section published on June 14, 2010.

This week alumnus Trey Casimir, LAc, (’99) won the primary for a seat in the Pennsylvania State House and he will represent his party in the November election. Trey lives in Lewisburg, PA, a place where he grew up and now lives with his wife and three sons. His love of the slower pace of life and nearby Susquehanna River prompted him to return there with his family after he graduated from the Acupuncture Program. Today, he runs a successful acupuncture practice and is involved in local politics in addition to raising his family. As part of his platform, Trey and his family toured the watersheds of the district by canoe to emphasize connections with nature that transcend political barriers.

Being in politics has primed Trey to “bark when my tail gets stepped on” as he put it. His sensibility recently led to an appearance on a local PBS television program called Call the Doctor. “My sharp-eared wife, Amy, heard an ad on the radio about a local television show about acupuncture. The featured guests were going to be two chiropractors and an osteopath,” said Trey. “So I called the television station—WVIA—and told them I was disappointed that they were having a program on acupuncture without an acupuncturist participating! So the producer invited me to be on the panel.”

The show was scheduled to be broadcast live that night at 7:00 pm. Trey promptly cleared his schedule for the day. “I called the American Academy of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AAAOM) and Pennsylvania’s Association for Professional Acupuncture (APA), to notify them about what was happening and to get advice about what I should or should not say on air,” Trey recalled.

One of the main reasons Trey wanted to go on was to highlight the differences in certification for acupuncture practice. Apparently, because the show is named Call the Doctor, it focuses on getting “doctors” on the show; in this case, a doctor of chiropractic and a doctor of osteopathy. How does that qualify them to speak authoritatively about acupuncture?


“It is possible for some other licensed practitioners to practice acupuncture after only 100 hours of training,” Trey explained. “However, I had about 3,000 hours of training, which gives me a much more substantial understanding of the many pathways and functions of acupuncture. If I hadn’t been on the show, the acupuncture discussion would have been more mechanical, taking a more symptom-relieving approach to treatment. For instance, using acupuncture points for low back pain or headache.”

The host of the show quickly realized that Trey was the go-to expert, and turned to him first for responses to callers. “There was a broad range of questions,” he said. “One woman said that two years ago she lost her sense of smell and taste after a bad cold. I told her that I was currently treating someone with sinus problems and acupuncture was helping. Another woman wanted to know if acupuncture could help Tourette’s syndrome. I explained that I hadn’t treated that particular condition, but that acupuncture had been helpful for a number of other neurological issues.

“All of us on the panel acknowledged that there is some kind of acupuncture treatment for anything that can affect a human being.” Trey felt the show went well overall and compared it to the fifty or so educational talks he’s given to organizations in the area.

However, his sense of principles didn’t allow him to rest, since the chiropractors had been allowed to represent themselves as “acupuncturists” on the show. “After the show I let the producer know about the credentialing issue and I notified the APA . I think the APA is going to contact the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Board to take a disciplinary action against the chiropractors.” It’s an important stance to take for the profession, which continues to need to clarify its educational process, credentialing and benefits to the public. Something someone like Trey Casimir is uniquely qualified to do.

Trey Kay has many stories to tell. His experience at Swedish Institute is one of them.

This 1995 graduate of the Massage Therapy Program just won both a prestigious Peabody Award and an Edward R. Murrow award for his radio documentary, The Great Textbook War. Although he is now a journalist full-time, there was a period when Trey juggled work as a massage therapist, journalist and paralegal. Freelancers know what that can be like!

After earning a college degree in theater, Trey had travelled to New York to pursue acting. He found that he wasn’t as interested in taking on a role as he was in creating his own work. He had been let go from the law firm where he was working, and was trying to develop an idea for a radio show while he was on unemployment. As Trey considered what to do next, a mentor suggested that he might consider massage therapy as a way to supplement his income and explore career options.

“When I showed up at the Swedish Institute, I was like a lot of the students there,” Trey recalled on a recent visit. “I wasn’t interested in just learning how to give a ‘back rub’; I was looking for my life’s work.”

In order to pay tuition, Trey had to apply for a loan and ask his father, a lawyer, for financial help. Though Trey was apprehensive, his father was surprisingly supportive. “I went back home to West Virginia at Christmas to tell him,” Trey said. “It turned out to be the best meeting I ever had with him.” When Trey started school in January, the law firm also called him back to work part-time. Everything was falling into place and felt right.

“I was in my early 30s at the time, and was wondering if I would be able to reconnect with learning, especially with the scientific stuff. It turned out to be incredible, because I saw science in a whole new way; I saw how it could be useful. To understand the body was a big deal to me, in part because I didn’t have to be passive with medical professionals anymore, I could get into the conversation with them.”

Being a student at an unconventional school where students have many different backgrounds and are a wide range of ages added a surprising element for Trey.

“You have to reposition yourself in the ‘dance’ of how you are in school,” he reflected. “In high school I wasn’t achieving all that well, and as a result I often got angry, or would try to blow off a class if I was having trouble. But when I enrolled at the Swedish I didn’t want to be the rebel anymore. I decided I was going to show up and learn something.”

He studied hard, taking part in two study groups and making a commitment to himself not to get romantically involved with any women in his class. “I saw what I was doing here was possibly changing my life. It was more aligned with my strengths than anything I’d been doing before. It was important for me to do well.”

Becoming Radio Active

Just as he was completing his studies at Swedish Institute, Trey’s idea for a radio program got funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Two careers were launched!

“A lot happened that year,” he said. “I also met my future wife (not at the school). It was a waxing and waning time, but I felt like I was finally stepping into my own power and talents.”

He continued to work in both fields for about five years. He had his own massage practice, worked at spas like the Peninsula, and at a chiropractor’s office, all while doing radio interviews. He loved massage and had only one complaint. “You can’t multi-task when you’re with a client,” he joked. “When I was working at the law firm, I could be typing on the computer and doing an interview with Norman Mailer.” Not possible with massage.

Though Trey says he loved providing massage and the relationships it builds, he missed the sense of “glory” that comes with interviewing and creating something that reaches more people. For him, the call to work in the communication field finally won out. In order to follow his heart, he had to put all of his effort into the fundraising and dedicated effort that would take him to where he is today.

The Great Textbook War, a one-hour radio documentary, took two years to produce. It aired in October 2009 on public radio in West Virginia—where the confrontation over the schoolbooks had taken place in 1974. “It was the first time I’d done anything this long,” Trey said, “and I wasn’t sure anyone would air it nationally. But as soon as it started to play, we got strong reactions to it.”

The program tells the story of how a routine school board meeting turns into a community upheaval when one of the members starts to challenge the language in some of the books being considered. It was part of Trey’s goal to document the passion on both sides, without judging them as right or wrong. “I feel like one of the things I’m doing now is using my people skills to figure a way to engage in respectful dialogue. That’s what we need in this country. There were good people on both sides of that argument, and there are good people on both sides of the political divide we’re witnessing now.”

That he succeeds is clear to peers in his field. The Peabody Awards, which recognize outstanding achievements in electronic media, including radio, television and cable, cite The Great Textbook War as a, “thoughtful, balanced and gripping radio documentary” that foreshadows the "culture wars" taking place today. Competing entries for these awards are extremely high and winners are considered “the best of the best”.

All of us here congratulate Trey on his achievement and thank him for taking the time to stop by to say hello. Perhaps an opportunity will arise to bring his two paths together again. When asked if he might tell a story about massage one day, Trey replied, “I’m always looking for the next story.”

Anyone have any suggestions for a documentary about massage? Send ideas to theswede@swedishinstitute.edu.

Bruce Baltz, LMT (’93), has a long background in clinical massage as well as in deep tissue stone massage and active, isolated stretching. Today he is Massage Program Director for Oasis Day Spa. The spa has two locations in Manhattan and one in Dobbs Ferry, NY.

The American Massage Therapy Association survey, released in the current issue of Massage Therapy Journal, shows that this year medical reasons tie with stress reduction as the top reason consumers seek massage therapy. Do people come to the spa looking for pain relief? “Yes, definitely,” Bruce replied in a recent telephone interview. “I understand and appreciate the spa massage as well as the clinical massage. We are committed to having therapists who are capable of responding to both of these needs.

“Something brand new at Oasis,” he continued, “is a program that will evaluate our therapists in clinical massage and pre-natal massage. If a therapist working for us wants to provide this modality, they will have to take and pass a basic written exam that we give them. (This program will be starting in a few months.)

“We have a substantial commitment to continuing education at Oasis,” he continued, “but a certificate of participation isn’t enough when working with chronic conditions or prenatal clients. I want to know that the therapist can answer some detailed questions based on these topics. For instance, ‘what muscles are you going to address if someone has discomfort with external rotation of the shoulder?’ How the therapist would approach it will depend on their training, and that’s OK, but we want to up the ante for our therapists.”

About potential employees at the spa who say they know a half dozen modalities Bruce says, “They are most likely proficient only in two or three. Because even one modality can be a full-time study; we’re looking for the people who have a passion for continuing education moving forward with our program”.

In addition to his work at Oasis, Bruce is founder of SpiriPhysical and has launched a skin care line for massage therapists. He provides continuing education lectures around the country and in Canada throughout the year.

He notes that the higher education levels of massage therapists in Canada may be one reason why they are more successfully integrating into medical care.

“Some people in the New York area who recently left medical practices, said they were able to work only ten or fifteen minutes on a patient,” Bruce explained. “They were getting paid $17-20 an hour, while the insurance company was getting billed $90 for a half hour or more. I see this as a part of our broken medical system. It undermines the work of the massage therapist, it doesn’t use massage therapy to its full advantage, and it does not serve the patient’s best interest. That’s why I left the traditional clinical environment over ten years ago and turned my attention toward the spa industry.”

In addition to all of the work he does as a professional, Bruce still finds time to volunteer for a good cause. He was one of the principle organizers of the recent Healing Arts for Haiti benefit that raised $20,000.00 for Haitian relief.

Read posts from alumna Stephanie Maceiras, LAc (’09) as she journeys to Nicaragua to provide community acupuncture.

January 11, 2010
I forget where I left off yesterday. I think I had just arrived at the finca. It’s so beautiful here. Last night after a shower and getting settled, a group of us took a 30-minute hike up to Totoco, which is an eco-resort very high up the volcano that we are on.

When we got there, we sat around and enjoyed the most beautiful sunset. We stayed for dinner, dessert and tea. The food was some of the best I have had yet. There were 10 of us, including the couple that own and run the place.

We stayed until about 9: 30 and then headed home. It was incredibly windy and pitch black, so we all put on our headlamps and headed down the volcano side. Then, we got lost.

A 30-minute hike turned into an hour and 15-minute trek. I have to admit I was scared. I was mostly afraid my headlamp was going to die out and I would have no light for myself; luckily that did not happen.

We all slept well after having had such a long trek.

I woke up this morning around 7:00 am and had a cup of tea, then began to do some work around the farm. My job consisted of watering some chili peppers. Everyone had a task (watering plants, killing termites, kitchen duty, etc). At 8:00 am we had breakfast - egg salad, rice and peppers, and fried plantains.

Then back to work for the crew while I accompanied Michael on a tour of the farm that he was giving to a group of college students from Ohio. After that, some reading time and then I got down and dirty—doing my laundry!

Tomorrow is going to be adventure filled, as we plan a morning hike up the volcano to a waterfall, lunch at a local hostal/restaurant, and then kayaking!

Going to make sure I get a good sleep tonight.