Addiction, Treatment and Recovery

Last May, Betty Ford, co-founder and chairman of the Betty Ford Center, announced that she planned to “pass the chairmanship torch” to her daughter, Susan Ford Bales, in January, 2005. That historic moment occurred at a Betty Ford Center Board of Directors meeting on January 25, 2005. Does Mrs. Ford plan to fade quietly into the night? Absolutely not! She remains an active board member and, with her new title of Founding Chairman, she’ll continue to be an advocate for every alcoholic and addict in the world. She’ll also continue to be a frequent visitor to our Rancho Mirage, California, campus. I’d be surprised if – health allowing – she didn’t continue meeting with patients, and sharing with them her own personal, inspiring story of treatment and recovery. I’d also be surprised if she didn’t continue to roam our 20-acre campus, with its nine buildings, making sure everything’s ship-shape.

Mrs. Ford always reminds us how important it is that when new patients arrive at the Center, everything looks – and is – first-class. First impressions count for a lot, she’s fond of saying. And heaven help the person who moves any of the paintings that adorn the walls! She’s personally selected those paintings over the past 23 years, and supervised the hanging of them. Her keen eye never misses a thing! It would be an understatement to say that Mrs. Ford has been a “hands-on” chairman for our first 23 years!

Susan Ford Bales will also be hands-on. She was elected to the BFC Board of Directors in 1991 and has served as Chairman of the Finance Committee for the past eight years. She is a seasoned spokesperson for the causes of both breast cancer awareness and research and alcohol/drug treatment. She especially likes to address the family nature of the disease of addiction. Susan, as the only daughter of President and Mrs. Gerald R. Ford, initiated the intervention that resulted in her mother entering treatment in April, 1978. How appropriate that now, a quarter century later, she steps in to ensure that her mother’s legacy lives on, and thrives.

The Betty Ford Center Board of Directors has 13 dedicated members. They will help us stay focused on our mission: to remain the nation’s leading non-profit, licensed, addiction treatment hospital. We will also responsibly grow our vital research and teaching activities. Addiction to alcohol and/or other drugs remains the major public health problem in this country. It results in enormous economic and social upheaval, to say nothing of the personal and family devastation it causes. But as Susan Ford Bales told viewers of the Today Show recently, thanks to treatment there is hope – for individuals and families.

We remain committed to continuous quality improvements in all of our treatment programs, recognizing that we will always be firmly rooted in the 12-Step traditions. Does that mean we turn a blind eye to new treatment protocols? Not at all. We just believe that the effectiveness of those protocols needs to be carefully examined and discussed by experienced clinicians and researchers. Meanwhile, I hope all of you reading this in the alcohol/drug treatment field will join me in welcoming Susan Ford Bales to the chairmanship. And join us in prayers for our founder and inspiration, Betty Ford. May she be with us for many years to come.

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