"I had been a nurse for almost 30 years," Termini said. "I began to think of how I could incorporate more of my philosophy of working with the natural process of a person's body, how we are continually going through transitions, how our lives are about change, into a career where I could support myself and others through the natural changes in our lives."
Colombia RPCV Paula Termini opens Transitions Massage as a natural extension of her nursing career in women's health, labor and delivery, childbirth education and community family education programs
Paula Termini dedicated to caring for others
DONNA WRIGHT
Herald Staff Writer
[Excerpt]
Paula Termini's life is in her hands.
Termini knows the power of touch. She understands how the hands can be an extension of the heart to soothe a crying baby, to ease an expectant mom's pain and stress in delivery, to help a pregnant mom communicate with the child within her to let it know the power of love even before it is born.
Opening her Transitions Massage service a year ago was a natural extension of her nursing career in women's health, labor and delivery, childbirth education and community family education programs.
Termini, who also works as a nurse for Hospice of Southwest Florida, knows the power of touch to help the dying face the end of their days.
"My work has run the gamut," said Termini. "I have worked in intensive care, cardiac care and the emergency room, driven by the excitement to save everyone, and now Hospice."
Her 50th birthday three years ago was an epiphany.
"My mother died at the age of 59," Termini said. "I began to think 'What if I only have 10 years left?' "
She wanted to take her work of caring for others to another level, one that would help her incorporate what she had learned at patients' bedsides in health-care service which would help them face change.
"I had been a nurse for almost 30 years," Termini said. "I began to think of how I could incorporate more of my philosophy of working with the natural process of a person's body, how we are continually going through transitions, how our lives are about change, into a career where I could support myself and others through the natural changes in our lives."
Therapeutic massage provided Termini the outlet she was seeking.
"I could still work, hands on, with moms, using my experience in labor and delivery to do the teaching I love, and yet offer myself an environment that is more nurturing and balanced," Termini said.
In August of 2003, Termini completed her training and exams to become a licensed massage therapist with certification in pre- and perinatal massage therapy and medical massage.
Although she now is a businesswoman, Termini is greatly involved with community work through Healthy Start Coalition of Manatee County to help at-risk moms.
Fluent in Spanish, she is well-known in Manatee County's Latino population for her care and compassion, working with families to help them raise healthy babies who can achieve their full potential.
"Our clients say that 'Paulita' (as they call her lovingly) tiene un corazon grande (she has a big heart) and this sums it all," said Luz Corcuera, Healthy Start's program director. "Paula has a long-standing partnership with Healthy Start. She has provided her services to help us deliver the prenatal education and support program, the breast-feeding, folic acid and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome education programs for the Hispanic Latino and African American families."
Termini recently received funding through the Massage Therapy Foundation to design, implement and evaluate a program, "Special Care for the Childbearing Year: Perinatal Massage," to provide 65 perinatal and 15 infant massage sessions to high-risk pregnant and new mothers.
She will recruit the moms for her study through Health Start and the Manatee County Health Department.
"People transfer their own experiences in how they touch children," Termini said. "But some adults are afraid of touching children because they think of touch only in sexual terms. I want to show them ways to break that cycle of fear - to learn how to use touch to comfort and soothe."
Termini teaches moms to let their feelings flow from their hearts to their hands.
"I focus on the compassionate touch," she said. "I teach them to let their feelings guide their hands. I teach pregnant moms how to send their love right through their hands down to their babies in their wombs."
Corcuera said Termini's grant will help many at-risk moms who don't have access to massage therapy learn about its benefits for relaxation.
Ever since her childhood, Termini has been caring for others.
Out of seven children, Termini and her twin brother Paul, who lives in Oregon, are in the middle. When their mother died, Paula was 30. She and her sister Becky, then 33, took over raising the youngest sibling, Mary Francis, who was then 14.
The underlining themes of her life come from that childhood home setting, said Termini.
"From my mother, I learned to take a more natural approach to life," she said, "learning how to make bread, soups and food from scratch. I learned the value of sitting around the table, working on projects or just having a nice cup of coffee."
But the homebody is just one side of Termini's multifaceted personality.
A world traveler who finds adventure wherever she roams, Termini served in the Peace Corps from 1977 to 1978, first in Colombia and then in Costa Rica, where she met Rodrigo Valverde, whom she later married. The Valverdes later divorced after their son Alberto grew up.
Alberto, now, 25, lives in Washington, D.C., where he works for the government.
