Betty Ford Recognition

I wanted to take some time to do a small post on someone really big in the chemical dependency counseling community...Betty Ford! She died this month in Rancho Mirage, the place she started the Betty Ford treatment center. Please take some time to give this deserved recognition to someone who played a huge role in so many lives and provided inspiration to people to take a look into the chemical dependency counselor career.

"Betty Ford was one of the most influential First Ladies of the 20th Century, known for honesty, candor and courage in her battles with breast cancer, alcoholism and prescription drug addiction

On July 9, former first lady Betty Ford died at the age of 93 in Rancho Mirage, California.   Her legacy includes the Betty Ford Center for the treatment of chemical dependencies, which she founded in response to her own problems with addiction.
Betty Ford was a dancer and model when she met Gerald Ford, a lawyer who had served in the Navy in World War II.  Two weeks after they were married in 1948, he was elected to his first term in the U.S. Congress as a Representative from the State of Michigan.  Mrs. Ford continued to dance until 1964, when she suffered a pinched nerve while trying to raise a window.  It was then that she began to take prescription painkillers.

Family Dynamics and Chemical Dependency

The Fords settled in Virginia and had 4 children in a period of 7 years.  With her husband putting in long hours in Congress, Mrs. Ford was faced with playing the role of both mother and father.  In 1973, Gerald Ford was appointed to the position of Vice President following the resignation of Spiro Agnew.  A short time later, Mrs. Ford, consulted a psychiatrist about her feelings of loneliness and depression.  She began to rely on alcohol and tranquilizers to cope with pressures of life as the wife of a high-profile politician, later confessing to Barbara Walters that she took up to 30 pills per day.

When Gerald R. Ford was inaugurated as the 38th President in 1974 following the resignation of Richard Nixon, he became the first person to hold the office without being elected as either president or vice president.  Although Betty Ford never expected to become First Lady, she assumed the role with grace and enthusiasm.  During her husband's short term in office, she spoke out in support of women's rights and women's health.   

Two months after becoming First Lady, Betty Ford was diagnosed with breast cancer.  The year was 1974, and cancer of any type was still a taboo subject.  Breast cancer especially was kept secret even from a woman's family and friends.  Mrs. Ford not only announced that a tumor had been found in her breast and that she would be undergoing a radical mastectomy and chemotherapy, but she also talked openly about her progress.  She fostered public discussion about the disease and its treatment.  She spread the message that breast cancer could happen to any woman, causing a sharp rise in the number of women who sought cancer screenings and mammograms. 

In 1976, President Ford ran for re-election but was defeated by Jimmy Carter.  After leaving the White House, Mrs. Ford began taking prescription sleeping pills in addition to painkillers and tranquilizers.  In her 1987 memoir about her chemical dependency, Betty: A Glad Awakening, she says she was taking "pills to counteract the side effects of other pills."  She was also consuming several drinks of vodka or bourbon per day.  She realized later that her condition was not a secret since her behavior included forgotten appointments, slurred speech and accidental falls.

A week before Mrs. Ford's 60th birthday in 1978, her family staged an intervention.  With a medical team present, she was confronted by her husband and children.  One by one, her family members told her how she was destroying herself and hurting those who loved her because of her addictions.  Mrs. Ford was able to admit that she had a problem and announced that she would enter the Long Beach Naval Hospital for several weeks of rehabilitation and addiction therapy.  

The Betty Ford Center

Treatment was a success for Mrs. Ford.  She then took on the challenge of creating a facility that would cater to the treatment of chemical dependency for both women and men.  She raised $5 million and in 1982 opened an 80-bed treatment center in Rancho Mirage.  The Betty Ford Center was one of the first treatment facilities of its type to provide gender-specific treatment for men and women in separate programs, as well as support programs for the families of patients.  Mrs. Ford remained active on the board of the center well into her 80s.   She often met with groups of patients and spoke as one recovering addict to another.  She continued to be a champion of increased education, public awareness and treatment for alcoholism and chemical dependency.

Following the announcement of Betty Ford's death, President Obama paid tribute to her work in the area of addiction treatment.   "Mrs. Ford helped reduced the social stigma surrounding addiction and inspired thousands to seek much-needed treatment."

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