Betty Ford Center

The Betty Ford Center is widely recognized as the premier treatment center in the world for alcohol and drug addiction. Located at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, this place has been helping people overcome chemical dependencies since 1982.

Throughout the years, they have helped treat almost 50,000 people to date. They base their program upon the 12 Step Philosophy, with the underlying assumption that the key to long-term recovery is spirituality.

They also focus heavily upon not only the patient being admitted, but their family as well. After all, it does seem fairly obvious that diseases like drug and alcohol addiction affect the family of the patient almost as much as they do the patient themselves.

It is true that the Betty Ford Center attracts a lot of celebrities. Let's face it, celebrities do tend to battle, or in a lot of cases embrace, addiction a lot more often than the average person. Partying like a rock star isn't only a phrase. The Betty Ford Center gets more than its fair share of celebrities likely for two main reasons. First off, it's in California. I shouldn't need to explain this one.

And second off, it's the best, and celebrities can afford to pay for the best. Despite the fact that this is a non-profit organization, care of this caliber doesn't come cheap. Inpatient treatment at the center is $1,250 per day for the first 6 days, and then $550 per day every day after that. Addiction isn't exactly something you can fix in a few days, and that isn't exactly chump change. Most celebrities, however, don't tend to be poor.

The history of the Betty Ford Center can of course be traced back to Betty Ford, wife of former President of the United States, Gerald Ford. Long before she became the First Lady, in 1964 she developed a pinched nerve in her neck, for which doctors prescribed painkillers, to which she became addicted. Also sometime in the 1960's, she became dependant upon alcohol as well. These problems only worsened after her fight with breast cancer, which she won, in 1974.

In 1978, after an intervention by friends and family, and after she and her husband had left the White House, she underwent a successful rehabilitation program at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Long Beach, California. During this, she realized the need for an addition program that catered to the unique needs of women battling addiction.

After discussing it with friends, and a great deal of legwork I'm sure, she and her friend Leonard Firestone co-founded the center in 1982.

Oh and regarding catering on the needs of women battling addiction, the center saves exactly half of its space for women and half for men, and the two sexes reside in different halls while staying at the facility.

For more information regarding the Betty Ford Center or for admission, visit www.bettyfordcenter.org or phone 1-800-854-9211.