In February ’17, my staff and I were invited to present a hands on training workshop to Operating Room staff at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Center on safe removal of body jewelry. Funding through a Family CARE (Care Advancements Recommended by Employees) Grant, we were also able to secure piercing removal equipment that can be used by trained staff to safely extract piercings.
Our education session was facilitated by myself, with the help of my apprentice piercer. It included a power point presentation to hospital staff (topics covered included sterility and cross contamination, safe and best practice, jewelry removal, retainer insertion, and social/psychological considerations to ensure patients are treated with compassion), provision of educational resources and a hands-on workshop where participants were able to safely try out and use tools, get to know and handle different types and styles of body jewelry and practice their newly learned skills. Hospital staff completed their first jewelry removal at the end of February, and all feedback has been extremely positive! We provided the hospital with the tools and retainers that they now use and we will continue to support this new relationship with our local hospital.
We’d love to be able to share our experience with others in the body modification and healthcare world. Contact us!
Matt Bressmer
Owner and Professional Piercer