“Hey, why don’t you get a checkup by the doctor?” So there’s no better way than to directly confront it. I’d prefer that if you have somebody that’s been through the process it’s always helpful just like me being part of many family interventions, I can talk about … I was sitting on that side of the table, 25 years ago that was me. If my mom and a few other friends of mine didn’t love me enough to confront me I would be dead, there’s no doubt about it. There were people in the room when I was confronted that were in recovery themselves. That’s a way to do that, there are many many resources available. Just in most communities, Alcoholics Anonymous has 800 numbers nationwide and there’s a number of those support groups that would be willing to be part of that process. Then the other thing that we pride ourselves on here at Valley Hope and many treatments do is that we have trained professionals to answer the phone, to help answer questions and to make it less threatening.
We’ve been working nationally to remove the stigma. I knew I needed help, but I couldn’t quite verbalize that. I couldn’t quite raise the white flag and say, “Help.” By bringing it up it’s scary, but I can tell you from my own point of view that I appreciated those that have the courage to come to me and say, “Hey, we love you enough. We think that you’ve got a problem and we want to help you.”
Neil Howe: The second main question, once people decide or have been convinced that they need help and they need to check in is about the money. Obviously, it takes a lot of money to be able to treat these people, but what are the solutions? I know there’s insurance or some government programs. What kind of solutions are there for people that needed the rehab?
Pat George: Great question Neil. There’s a broad spectrum of help available from both the local and state-funded facilities. I’ve done national work, every state offers some level of treatment. Then everywhere in between, you have the high-end facilities that run anywhere from 30 to 60,000 for 30 days of treatment to those … Valley Hope is a non-profit charitable organization and we have 700 employees and they want to get paid, and we have lots of need to constantly upgrade our facilities that we do. But we like to think of ourselves as being available to anyone, and we treat people that don’t have any means to those of very high net worth. An average treatment period at Valley Hope, we actually have a traditional program that we call it that’s 25 days and the cost of it is a little under $11,000.
So if you think of a hotel room that you pay two or $300 for, that’s what we’re charging. Plus you get meals, doctor care, nursing care, counseling. But one of the things I’m most proud of is that we provided over $20 million in charity care last year. A lot of times if you have some means we’ll use charity care to help cover part of the cost. You mentioned insurance. More and more carriers cover for treatment. There’s over a billion dollars extra was allocated through the Federal Government and we see that figure only going up as there’s more and more attention being drawn to addiction. As we talked about the cost, well the same as the savings. I think policy makers are realizing that an investment to help people suffering from addiction is a wise investment.
Neil Howe: Definitely. Well, Pat George, I appreciate you talking with me today. We could talk for quite a while about this subject, there’s a lot of questions there’s a lot of stuff that we haven’t answered yet. But leave me with this, people that are listening to this and know that they need help or family members that know that they need to take some action, what are the steps that they need to take and specifically how do they reach out to you and contact Valley Hope?
Pat George: Valleyhope.org. Our 800 number is 800 544 5101 and I encourage you to make that call or to research online. You can also reach us electronically, chat features, email us. But people ask me about the time, they always say, “There’s never a good time.” There’s no better time than the present. Just like any other disease the sooner you can start treating it the better the result. I encourage those that maybe have been hesitant to reach out to help somebody or to yourself, that you know that you have a problem and you just haven’t been able to get on top of it yourself. Don’t hesitate to reach out, to do the research at Valleyhope.org or give us a call at 800 544 5101.
Neil Howe: Well thanks very much. You’ve been listening to the President and CEO of Valley Hope. Pat George, thank you very much, Pat, for sharing your time and your expertise with me.
Pat George: Thanks, Neil.
Neil Howe: To our listeners, if you like what you hear hit that like button, share and we’ll see you next time on the show.
