News from: Chakra Esthetics Day Spa
To Whom It May Concern;
My name is Angela Rafferty and I am the proud owner of Chakra Esthetics Day Spa located in Riverside County in Palm Desert, CA. I’ve been a dual-licensed Esthetician, Massage Therapist and Spa Educator. I truly would not be happy doing anything else as my career has been my shining light of joy for the past 20 years.
I’m reaching out to express my frustration with being out of work for the past 6 months due to the pandemic. Firstly, I AM A BELIEVER IN SCIENCE. Secondly, we should be responsible for coming up with solutions. Any good business owner would pivot and solve problems…we’re good at it. WE JUST NEED OUR SOLUTIONS TO BE HEARD.
When the pandemic began for us on March 13th, upon directives from Governors Newsom’s office I closed down my business and hunkered down with the rest of the world. Two weeks into it, I was frantic and busy online trying to locate PPE for my out-of-state sister who is a Funeral Director and Embalmer. Obviously she needed the nation to help her industry stay safe in this line of work. This got me thinking… how am I and other spa professionals going to return to work?
IDEA #1 www.plexi-face.com
So being accustomed to problem solving, I got to work. I saw a news story of a local hospital doing a story on the pandemic and saw an infant incubator in the background. This got me thinking about medical barriers and how I could design one for myself to use with my clients.
An industry leader in my profession encouraged me to go bigger and offer them to estheticians and massage therapists. So I quickly did by hiring a local acrylic vendor in the Coachella Valley to help and it was a hit! Soon local news, online news and radio in Los Angeles was reporting on my idea, and I was soon a featured online story at American Spa Magazine (which is the holy grail of spa publications).
The Plexi-Face Medical Barrier was doing well and there obviously is a need despite the political discontent of wearing masks and safety. I designed it as a helpful barrier for accidental sneezes and aerosols that float during speech. Since it’s a clear material it’s great for claustrophobic clients. Clear acrylic is much like what you see everywhere now in retail outlets and offices. It can be viewed with video demo’s at www.plexi-face.com.
This device could help spa professionals return safely to our spas and businesses along with our PPE and sanitation steps.
IDEA #2 www.cplabsafety.com
The next idea was controlling the microscopic aerosols in the air when a clients removes a
mask, which is what health officials are worried about. As I was working on my first idea, my husband’s dentist expressed needing a medical barrier for is practice. I worked on an idea just for him and created it for him to assist him in his practice..
While I was working on his customized dental barrier, I ran across an idea the dentist shared with me knowing how vulnerable certain professions like mine actually are. He showed me a video of a piece of equipment (made for the dental industry) that is called a Microdroplet Aerosol Extractor.
The machine hovers a few inches from the clients mouth and is shaped like a cup on a long arm. Every time a client breaths or speaks, all particles (including colds, flu and covid) are sucked up the arm of the machine. The other smart thing about this machine is that is has a setting on it that will extract all aerosols with a room in 15 minutes. How smart is that between clients? Please review the demo video’s of how it works for Covid19 visit www.cplabsafety.com.
In closing,
I will be using this machine and the Plexi-Face Medical Barrier with EVERY service I provide to my clients. Covid19 will not be going away anytime soon. Cold and flu season is something to consider as well. I anticipate using these devices for years to come…
THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE COUNTY AND MY CITY MUST
ALLOW US ALL RETURN TO WORK IMMEDIATELY
When spa professionals were allowed to return to work a couple of months back for 3 weeks something amazing happened. In California we performed over 511K beauty/spa treatments… with no major breakouts of Covid19 from the beauty industry. Why? Proper PPE use and Covid19 protocols.
So our reward for doing things right was to shut us down from the safety and sanitation of the inside of our spas and salons, and tell us to work outside??? In 120 degrees in Palm Springs? Next to dumpsters and homeless camps? Seriously? Most of us could not open and daily businesses are closing.
Except HAIR, of course. Why the preferential treatment of this licensee only? Is it because of the big lawsuits that hair groups were filing? Esthetician’s did NOT go down this route because we are hoping to work this out like adults and the professionals that we are. Estheticians are rule and followers by nature, but my God! At what price? We are all a body of licensees under the same Board of Cosmetology. We may be a quieter part of licensee’s, but we matter too and need to be heard! We are being ignored and feel the state seems against us, which is what happens when there is NO COMMUNICATION.
Unfair and totally UNACCEPTABLE – especially when I’m giving health, state and local officials safer SOLUTIONS…But no one is listening! My question is, will YOU?
We are loosing an entire industry and the battle wounds for most are not recoverable. Please stop the bleeding of our livelihoods, lost leases and business bankruptcy’s. It’s cruel.
I IMPLORE YOU TO LISTEN TO OUR IDEAS AND SOLUTIONS. YOU NEED THESE SOLUTIONS TO RETURN US BACK TO WORK.
Peacefully,
Angela Rafferty, LE, CMT, PMU, Owner
Chakra Esthetics Day Spa
73200 El Paseo Park Plaza, Ste 2A
Palm Desert, CA 92260
(760) 537-1211
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.chakraesthetics.com
Web: www.plexi-face.com