She Works At Reputation As Soft Touch

Jeane Plastino accidentally watered part of her neighbor’s lawn while he was mowing his grass. So, he beat her up. He knocked her flat on her face and sat on her back while he choked her and punched and twisted her head.

The attack left Jeane broken, distrustful and bitter at 25. During the next few years, she quit her travel agent job, divorced, retreated into seclusion.

“It was one of the most positive things that ever happened to me,” she says now, 15 years later. “It opened up a whole new world of understanding for me.”

As Jeane recovered, she developed a fascination with the field of medicine. Medical school took too long, and nursing school was full. So Jeane enrolled in a massage therapy program.

It was almost more than she could handle. She could practice on the male students but shrank from their hands when they needed a practice partner.

“They were all nice guys … ” she says, her voice fading. “There’s something very powerful in touch.”

Jeane correctly believed that she wasn’t the only abused person afraid of being touched. Her touch was pleasant and gentle, she realized, and might help other victims remember how valuable a calming hand or a caress can be.

Jeane earned her national certification and began practicing in Coeur d’Alene three years ago. Her clients are primarily battered men, women and children.

“I put them in control and let them know they can say, ‘Don’t touch there,”’ she says. “Giving a person control has a phenomenal effect.”

Now, Jeane’s hands calm trauma patients heading to the hospital and hyperactive children in her office. She plans to open her own massage therapy school in Coeur d’Alene in January.

But massaging trust back into abused women and children has helped the most with her own recovery.

“Help other people, help yourself,” she says, smiling. “We’re battery packs for each other. We need touch or we die.”

In the dark

Coeur d’Alene’s Charlene Pugh had reason to doubt her May marriage to Dan was a blessed event. First, her church didn’t have enough room for all the guests. So Charlene moved the ceremony to the Iron Horse Restaurant.

Then, the bridesmaids’ dresses arrived in a different shape and color than she’d ordered. Her friends swallowed hard, wore them anyway and were grateful when the third disaster occurred. Halfway into the ceremony, the power went out.

Someone opened a door and a few guests flicked their Bics, but it stayed dark enough for the best man to mix up the rings.

“I laughed about it the whole night,” Charlene says.

Luckily, Charlene and Dan have seen the light since their wedding. “It’s been wonderful ever since,” Charlene says.

Bodyworks

Dancer Katja Biesanz will do more for Post Falls than twist, point, leap and twirl in masks. She’ll teach teens and adults how to get more from their bodies with movements from dance and martial arts. Her secrets could work for rock climbers as well as couch potatoes.

The workshops are Wednesday and Thursday in Ponderosa Elementary’s gym. Katja’s performance is at 7 p.m. Friday at Ponderosa. Call 777-9278 for details and tickets.

Likely excuse

I’m not very creative or tactful when it comes to excuses. But I appreciate good ones when I hear them. What outrageous stories have you heard when homework was late, work wasn’t done or curfews weren’t met?

Drop those big excuses on Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814; fax to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo