DRUG, ALCOHOL FACILITY SET IN OKLAHOMA

Clinic At Hissom Center To Mirror Betty Ford Site

TULSA, Okla. -(AP)- A proposal to set up a world-class drug and alcohol
treatment center in Oklahoma could solve a dilemma about what to do with the
old Hissom Memorial Center in Sand Springs.

An Oklahoma City legislator approached the famed Betty Ford Clinic more than
a year ago to see if the Palm Springs, Calif.-based program would be
interested in opening a center in the state.

While the Betty Ford Clinic has refused requests to open a second Betty Ford
center somewhere in the country, State Sen. Ben Brown, D-Oklahoma City, did
persuade the clinic's officials to work as consultants and help the Oklahoma
Department of Mental Health set up a treatment facility that would mirror
Betty Ford's success.

While it won't officially be a Betty Ford Clinic, experts from Betty Ford
will design the Oklahoma program, hire and train the staff for the facility
and advise state officials on how to operate it, Mr. Brown said.

They have done such consultant work before in several countries around the
world but never inside the United States, Mr. Brown said.

"They've agreed to let us have the first 'Betty Ford clone' in the country,"
he said. "What that means is, we're going to have the best possible
treatment program right here in Oklahoma."

That left the only question of where to place the facility. Hissom seems the
logical answer, Mr. Brown said.

He and a group of Tulsa-area officials, including state Rep. Russ Roach,
D-Tulsa, Tulsa County Commissioner John Selph, Sand Springs Mayor Mike
Burdge, Chamber of Commerce President Donnie Cox and other business leaders
traveled to Palm Springs last week to meet clinic officials.

Sand Springs is struggling to turn part of the campus into an industrial
complex, and the Legislature has set aside $1.35 million in bond money for
improving the campus' infrastructure. But officials have always hoped to
preserve the main part of the campus as some kind of medical facility.

"Hissom even kind of looks like the Betty Ford Clinic; it's designed in a
very similar way," Mr. Brown said. "It makes sense to use an existing
facility, and I can't think of one more suitable than Hissom."

Betty Ford officials will tour the site Wednesday. If it meets their
approval, Mr. Brown still will need permission from the Greater Sand Springs
Trust Authority to move ahead with the project.

It is unclear who would operate the facility, but one likely scenario would
have a nonprofit agency in charge, possibly with a contract with the state.