Betty Ford Center launches $30 million expansion and renovation

Abstract

The Betty Ford Center broke ground for its most significant expansion since opening four decades ago this month. The $30 million expansion and renovation of the Rancho Mirage, California, facility will enable the program to meet an increasing demand for services, including mental illness. “We have been honored to provide healing and hope to thousands of individuals and families at the Betty Ford Center, and with the continued generosity of grateful alumni and other donors, will build upon Mrs. Ford's legacy by transforming the campus and expanding access to quality care,” said Mark G. Mishek, president and CEO of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. “The impact of substance use and mental health disorders is growing due to a number of factors, including the tremendous stress and strain of the COVID‐19 pandemic,” Mishek added. “Amid record‐high overdoses, and the daily pain experienced by millions of families struggling through the chaos of addiction, it is imperative that we build capacity to help more people; create more flexible ways to engage with services; provide healing spaces that reflect the dignity and respect all health care patients deserve; and amplify the attractive, stigma‐busting reality that treatment is effective and recovery works.” Mishek, who is retiring at the end of June, and incoming President and CEO Joseph Lee, M.D., were among those at the groundbreaking event May 4, along with Hazelden Betty Ford Trustee Susan Ford Bales — daughter of President and Mrs. Ford — and special guests. “I am so heartened to know my mother's legacy and impact continue to grow,” Ford Bales said. “The Betty Ford Center is a special place to thousands of people already, and my mom would be thrilled to see our caring community open its arms to even more people.” The project, which is expected to be finished in 2025, will increase the bed count to 240 from 184, with many more slots for outpatient care. The campus will grow from 137,200 square feet to 170,000 square feet. The first phase of the project, approved by Rancho Mirage city officials last fall, includes construction of a new, one‐story, 22,748‐square‐foot Day Treatment Pavilion that will accommodate flexible treatment options for 44 patients and include offices for counselors; group rooms for treatment; and an auditorium for lectures, education and training. Phase 1 also includes updates to landscaping and parking spaces, as well as the development of a convenient, new entrance to the campus. The Betty Ford Center currently has four residential buildings with 20 beds each, plus a fifth 20‐bed building for medical stabilization and other services, as well as 84 sober living units on nearby Daisy Lane. Phase 2 of the expansion, planned to begin in 2023, will include removing two of the existing residential buildings and constructing a new two‐story, 20,935‐square‐foot residential pavilion with 46 beds. A second, similar residential treatment pavilion will be constructed in Phase 3 (2024), replacing the other two existing residential buildings.