sort by: date | author

Definitions Add Depth to Betty Ford Center Pain Management Track
August 14th, 2011 / Programs / Betty Ford Center
Patients treated at Betty Ford Center include those with co-occurring disorders such as chronic pain. Addiction to pain medication is a frequent diagnosis, and the Center’s Pain Management Track goes well beyond the traditional approach of symptom relief. Chronic pain is a disease of the brain, and– given an optimal environment – the brain of the chronic pain patient retains the ability to heal and return to normal function. Following is a list of terms associated with the Pain Management Track as well as their definitions: Trauma Any injury, whether...

A Conversation with Dr. Peter Przekop about the Betty Ford Center’s Unique Pain Management Track
June 13th, 2011 / Programs / Peter Przekop D.O.
In 2010, Betty Ford Center staff teamed up with Peter Przekop, D.O., Ph.D., a Board-certified Pain and Addiction physician, to design a Pain Management Track . A primary diagnosis of chemical dependency is necessary for admission to the Betty Ford Center. If the patient demonstrates significant pain issues, she/he is offered a 45-day schedule to focus on both addictive disease and developing and implementing a personalized pain curriculum. Dr. Przekop was interviewed recently on the Rancho Mirage, California campus of the Betty Ford Center . Who is this program for?...

Changing the Family Legacy
May 25th, 2011 / Programs / Jerry Moe
A long-held tenet in the treatment and recovery worlds is that alcoholism and other drug addictions are a family disease. Everyone in the family, including children, gets hurt by this cunning, powerful, and baffling illness. All too often it becomes a family legacy that gets passed from generation to generation. Where does it stop? Children’s programs provide a unique opportunity to interrupt the multigenerational transmission of addiction. They can teach youth important life skills, empower adults with parenting strategies that they can include in their recovery process, and heal...

Relapse Issues Addressed in Treatment
March 21st, 2011 / Programs / Betty Ford Center
By Toni Tufo, MA Chemical Dependency Counselor Relapse Specialty Group was developed primarily to assist patients in gaining awareness and insight about their prior relapses and to educate them in an effort to prevent a future relapse. Patients are educated about the relapse warning signs and symptoms as well as the triggers. We talk about high-risk people, places and situations. They are also given valuable mindfulness techniques and tools. It is very important for me to stress that relapse begins long before the person picks up a drink or drug. A lot of...

Therapy on Four Legs
March 3rd, 2011 / Programs / Joan Connor Clark
The group therapy session began, and the woman who was reluctant to participate sat a bit apart from the others, arms folded. As the group members tried to coax her into sharing, her eye was caught by a small, furry brown presence at her feet. Toby, therapy-dog-in-training, was on the job. The Cavalier King Charles spaniel was soon cuddling in the woman’s lap, which resulted in the patient literally unfolding her arms to embrace the group’s support. This is just one instance of how helpful two-year old Toby and his three-year old half-sister, Kerry, have been when they visit the...

Lines in the Sand
February 2nd, 2011 / Programs / Mary McGraw Gordon
Setting healthy boundaries is a very real need for any family beginning a recovery path. While patients returning home must establish new and healthy boundaries to support their recovery, so too must their family and loved ones develop their own. For many, this is a daunting task, complicated by addiction's injurious impact on family relationships. To start the process as a family member, you must first take a long, hard look at yourself. Boundaries are imaginary lines in the sand with which you surround all the things you value and care to protect. The implication is that those...

Neurocognitive enhancement for the treatment of chronic pain
November 12th, 2010 / Programs / Betty Ford Center
FASCIA CONGRESS ABSTRACT Peter Przekop, DO, PhD a , b , * , Allison Przekop, DO b , Mark G. Haviland, PhD a , Matt L. Riggs, PhD c a - Department of Psychiatry, Loma Linda University Medical School, 11374 Mountain View Avenue, Loma Linda, California 92354, United States b - Department of Pediatrics, Loma Linda University Medical School, Coleman Pavilion, Room A1109 Loma Linda, California 92350, United States c - Department of Psychology, California State University, San Bernardino, California 92407, United States Abstract Chronic pain remains at...

Can Exercise Help People Stay Clean and Sober?
October 12th, 2010 / Programs / Betty Ford Center
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has given a $15.7 million award to the UT Southwestern Medical Center to explore the possibility of consistent exercise helping people abstain from stimulant abuse. The Stimulant Reduction Intervention using Dosed Exercise (STRIDE), study will be the largest NIDA-funded trial on the issue to date. More than 300 people from at least 10 clinics throughout the country are expected to participate. The trial is already under way with a second wave beginning in November. Each wave will last about 15...

Rising Above the Reality of Relapse
September 20th, 2010 / / Betty Ford Center
Many who struggle with the disease of addiction will relapse. This reality is both frightening and frustrating for family members as well as for those who relapse. “These days, it is rare that we admit patients who haven’t been to treatment before, unless they’re entering our Young Adult Track,” says Admissions Director Courtney McShay. According to a recent survey, relapse rates are affected by a variety of factors, including severity of addiction, definition of relapse, drug of choice, elapsed time from treatment discharge to assessment and length of stay in treatment. The...

Betty Ford Center Now Offers Pain Management Track
September 17th, 2010 / / Betty Ford Center
John Schwarzlose, CEO of the Betty Ford Center, recently announced that a newly developed pain management track is now included in the list of services provided by the facility. “We saw a need to help more patients and found a physician who is highly regarded in this field,” said Mr. Schwarzlose. Dr. Peter Przekop, D.O., Ph.D., designed the program to target those areas of the brain that have been affected by chronic pain and restore them to normal function (adaptive plasticity.) “Studies have shown an intricate relationship between chronic pain, a history of traumatic...

Betty Ford Center Teams with Southworth Associates to Provide Monitoring Program
July 30th, 2010 / Programs / Betty Ford Center
An organized monitoring program is now offered to all patients who complete at least 90 days of treatment at the Betty Ford Center. The new service is contracted through Southworth Associates, an organization with over 15 years of experience in this field. It is designed as an extension of residential treatment and is intended to help patients follow through with their aftercare recommendations. Accountability is a valuable component of the monitoring program and a critical part of recovery from alcoholism...

$400,000 Grant Received for Science-Based Evaluation
July 29th, 2010 / Programs / John Boop
On May 21st, the Foundation was notified that the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation had awarded Betty Ford Institute a grant of $400,000 to evaluate the effectiveness of the Betty Ford Children’s Program. Working with the independent research organization, Treatment Research Institute (TRI) located in Pennsylvania, the goal of the project is to understand whether, to what extent and how, the Betty Ford Children’s Program disrupts the intergenerational cycle of addiction. This two-year evaluation research project strives to achieve three specific objectives: Document the degree to...

Young Adult Men Receive Specialized Treatment at Betty Ford Center
June 21st, 2010 / / Betty Ford Center
Its formal name is the Young Adult Track. In Betty Ford Center-speak it's referred to by its acronym, "YAT." Whatever it's called, why does California's licensed addiction hospital offer specialized treatment for young men, ages 18 to 25? According to Lead Counselor Patrick Smith, there are three reasons. "First," he says, "these young men inevitably are not your garden-variety alcoholic or addict, if there is such a thing. They often come to us cross-addicted, to a potent mix of drugs. Even after they've been here two or three weeks, some patients are still not substance-free –...

Women: Overcoming Barriers to Treatment
December 1st, 2009 / Programs / Betty Ford Center
Traditionally, treatment for alcoholism and other drug addiction was all about – and for – men. Almost all the research conducted on addictive disease was based on male patients. The famous Jellinek Chart describing the progression of alcoholism was based solely on its effects on men. And then along came Betty Ford -- and the entire thinking about this disease underwent a sea-change. Betty Ford founded her famous Center not only as a state-of-the-art hospital devoted exclusively to the treatment of addictive disease, but also as an oasis, a refuge for women alcoholics and addicts...

90-Day Treatment Program Launched At Betty Ford Center
December 1st, 2007 / Programs / Betty Ford Center
Last summer the Betty Ford Center launched a new treatment program for persons addicted to alcohol and/or other drugs, which lasts for three months. The growth of the 90-Day Program has been dramatic. At its inception, there were five patient participants; in January, 2007, 30 patients are in the program. While the Center has for several years offered treatment beyond the basic 30-day inpatient stay, what’s significant about the 90-Day Program is that patients in that program now make a full 90-day commitment upon admission. According to Drew Paxton, who directs the new program,...

BFC Childrens Program Expands in Colorado
June 1st, 2007 / Programs / Betty Ford Center
The Betty Ford Center’s acclaimed Children’s Program is now being offered up to 14 times a year in Colorado. The content of the Colorado program is virtually identical to what is offered at the main Betty Ford Center campus in Rancho Mirage, California and the long-running Children’s Program in Dallas/Ft. Worth, but operationally the Colorado program is quite different. There is no campus, no office, no full-time Denver-based staff (although a part-time marketing/outreach person has just been hired). Instead, staff travel from Rancho Mirage to Denver to conduct the four-day-long...

Superior Customer Service Supports Excellent Treatment At Betty Ford Center
December 1st, 2006 / Programs / Betty Ford Center
Note : Content in this article may be dated and include staffing and program information that is no longer current. The Betty Ford Center is continually identifying ways to improve addiction treatment. One essential aspect of addiction treatment is creating an atmosphere where patients feel safe and cared for while balancing the need for a structured program with rules and boundaries. According to the Center’s president and CEO, John Schwarzlose, “Not only can these two seemingly contradictory things work together, but when done well, they can dramatically improve...

Betty Ford Center Collaborates With Partners On Science, Research Projects
June 1st, 2006 / / Betty Ford Center
The Betty Ford Center is first and foremost a licensed addiction treatment hospital for persons addicted to alcohol and/or other drugs. But the Center is also working with scientists and addiction researchers who are conceptualizing and seeking to refine treatment protocols for addiction. The intersection of science, research and the Betty Ford Center occurs on many fronts. NIDA/UCLA. In 2001, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) formed the Community Treatment Network (CTN); under CTN’s auspices several U.S. research facilities teamed with treatment providers to jointly...

Focused Continuing Care: One-Year, Extended Care at Betty Ford Center
March 1st, 2006 / Programs / Betty Ford Center
Focused Continuing Care at the Betty Ford Center began as a pilot program in 1997. Every seventh patient was invited to participate. Upon discharge from formal treatment, individuals were contacted by telephone on a regular basis by a counselor, with whom they had met prior to completing primary care. Based on extremely positive early results, this additional level of care was expanded shortly thereafter to include all patients. Since 1997, an astonishing 22,500 “check-in and check-up” calls have occurred between Focused Continuing Care counselors and over 4,000 patients. In...

Clinical Diagnostic Evaluation Program Scores Major Gains
December 1st, 2005 / Recovery News / Betty Ford Center
The Clinical Diagnostic Evaluation (CDE) program began four years ago at the Rancho Mirage, California-based Betty Ford Center as a service for health professionals. Essentially, persons who enter the program undergo an intensive three-day-long physical and psychological examination which determines whether or not they are addicted to alcohol and/or other drugs and, if so, what type of treatment is indicated. Most – but not all – CDE participants work in safety-sensitive and/or professionally-licensed jobs. They come to the program at the urging – or insistence – of state or...

Betty Ford Center Takes in Hurricane Victims for Treatment
September 1st, 2005 / Recovery News / Betty Ford Center
Note : Content in this article may be dated and include staffing and program information that is no longer current. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which struck the Gulf Coast with devastating fury in early September, the Betty Ford Center has taken in six persons from the area whose treatment for alcohol/drug addiction was interrupted by the storm. The patients came from New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. According to Hope Networks, a treatment/recovery advocacy group in Baton Rouge, even before the hurricane, Louisiana offered a dearth of treatment options for...

Betty Ford Center Works with Drug Endangered Children Organization
March 1st, 2005 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
On a Thursday morning in mid-May, Jenny Gomez of the Betty Ford Center Children’s Program in Dallas went to work especially early, at 4:30 a.m. Jenny joined 80 law enforcement officers from four different agencies as they gathered for a briefing prior to serving arrest warrants on 40 individuals suspected of operating methamphetamine labs. The 80 officers split into 10 groups. Jenny went with a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) team, because the location they were targeting was known to have children living on the premises. Jenny watched from a safe distance as the agents, dressed in...

BFC Children’s Program Evaluated in First-Ever Scientific Study
December 1st, 2004 / BFC Insights / Betty Ford Center
Results have been released of the first-ever scientific examination of prevention/education programs in the U.S. aimed at children who live in a family environment in which the disease of addiction to alcohol and/or other drugs is present. The study surveyed 149 young people, age seven to 13, who participated in the Betty Ford Center Children’s Program in Rancho Mirage, California, between October 2002 and October 2003. The study was designed and conducted by Dr. Jeannette Johnson, Professor and Director of the Research Center on Children and Youth at the University at Buffalo/SUNY....

Stress Management Activities Help Patients at Betty Ford Center
September 1st, 2004 / Programs / Betty Ford Center
Yoga. Massage. Acupuncture. Biofeedback. Meditation. Physical exercise. They may seem unusual treatment tools for persons addicted to alcohol and/or other drugs – but they are tools used with increasing frequency and effectiveness at the nation’s leading addiction treatment hospital, the Betty Ford Center, located in Rancho Mirage, California. Activities such as yoga, massage, acupuncture, biofeedback, meditation and physical exercise are components of the basic treatment program at the Center and, according to Dr. Scott Davis, Addiction Medicine Physician at BFC, they are effective...

Betty Ford Center Tests Back Use of Buprenorphine for Detox
June 1st, 2004 / Programs / Betty Ford Center
In November, 2003, clinicians at the Betty Ford Center began using buprenorphine – a new prescription drug that relieves symptoms of opiate withdrawal like agitation, nausea and insomnia – for detoxification of incoming patients addicted to heroin or painkillers, such as Oxycontin and Vicodin. According to Dr. Scott Davis, the Center’s Addiction Medicine Physician, results have been extremely positive. “We’ve found that under this detoxification protocol, patients admitted in opiate withdrawal become more comfortable much faster than previously. This allows them to engage in...

Betty Ford Center Old-Fashioned? Yessir!
June 1st, 2003 / Programs / Betty Ford Center
Last week, while on the road, a fellow professional in the addiction/treatment field approached me and said he had a question. “Is the Betty Ford Center old-fashioned?” he wondered. For a nanosecond, I was a little taken aback. But then the answer came quickly, “I certainly hope so!” If being “old-fashioned” means that the customer (ie, patient) comes first, then I’m mighty proud to say, we are indeed old-fashioned. If being “old-fashioned” means we’ve been steadfast in focusing exclusively on our 20-year-long quest to treat persons addicted to alcohol and/or...

Addiction, Treatment and Recovery

Programs

Help is available. So is hope.