Seattle Massage School Is Now
Everest College and Everest Institute
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Before it was known by Ashmead College or its current name, Everest, massage therapy students enjoyed studying at the Seattle Massage School with a dynamic faculty on a very treatment oriented massage therapy program.
The Seattle Massage School was founded in 1974 and was purchased in 1986 by Paul Rerucha.* The school was renamed in 1999 as the Ashmead College.
According to a Seattle Times article published July 13, 1993*, Rerucha helped to change how massage therapists were perceived by lobbying lawmakers. "…By changing the way massage therapists were regulated, they were classified as health-care providers and could be reimbursed by many insurance plans."
In August 2003, Corinthian Colleges, Inc. purchased Career Choices, Inc., the owner of Ashmead College, as a wholly owned subsidiary. In December 2007, the names of the Seattle and Vancouver campuses were changed to Everest College and the Tigard campus was changed to Everest Institute.
While sports massage is more of a focus now, chronic pain workshops were a popular course with the Seattle Massage School crowd. The aromatherapy, spa specialist, and personal trainer program were added to the original massage program.
According to an instructor, hired as a Seattle Massage School instructor in 1991 and still working at Everest, "that period of time (as the Seattle Massage School) we were the premier massage school in that area. At least half a dozen faculty were considered authorities and wrote books."
Some of the books generated by that dynamic staff included:
- Diana L. Thompson, "Hands Heal: Communication, Documentation, and Insurance Billing for Manual Therapists"
- Andrew Biel, "Trail Guide To The Body (4th Edition)"
- Barbara Frye, "Body Mechanics for Manual Therapists: A Functional Approach to Self-Care"
- Anne Williams, overall counsel for Everest's massage therapy curriculum, "Spa Bodywork: A Guide for Massage Therapists"
- Ingrid Martin, "Aromatherapy for Massage Practitioners"
Many of these books are still being used as both instruction and throughout the industry. And many of those original students and faculty are now teaching at Everest's Pacific Northwest campuses: Everest College in Seattle and Vancouver, Wash.; and one in Tigard, Ore.
* Source: http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19930713&slug=1710800
