DORIS LEFFLER, NURSE, 61, HELPED FIGHT ADDICTIONS

Doris Leffler, 61, a nurse who wrestled with her own addiction before
helping others in their fight, died Sunday of emphysema at
Pennsylvania Hospital.

Mrs. Leffler, a psychiatric nurse and a recovering alcoholic with 24
years' sobriety, was the director of the Alcoholism Recovery Program
at Friends Hospital until late last year, when she became too ill to
continue. She had worked at Friends since 1980.

She founded the Philadelphia Recovering Nurses Association, a support
group for chemically dependent nurses, in 1982. She also was a
consultant to Pennsylvania's Impaired Professionals Program, a state
organization she helped form.

"Nurses think they should never be sick," Mrs. Leffler said in a 1988
Daily News interview. "They are the universal caretakers. The health
system does not allow us to really take time to take care of
ourselves. So you do the quickest, the easiest thing. And then, if you
have the disease already, even though you may not know it, then you're
hooked."

Mrs. Leffler got hooked on sleeping pills while in nurse's training at
the School of Professional Nursing at Beth Israel Medical Center in
her native New York. Later, she turned to alcohol.

She managed to keep her problem hidden for years while functioning as
a wife running a household, a mother raising three children, and a
nurse caring for patients.

Then one day a fellow nurse, also an alcoholic, committed suicide. The
event forced Mrs. Leffler to honestly examine her own life; soon, she
went into recovery.

From that moment, Mrs. Leffler dedicated her life to helping
chemically dependent nurses find recovery. She also worked tirelessly
to convince nursing and hospital administrators that addiction was a
serious problem in the health-care field, and that it could be handled
through recovery programs.

"That was what she was all about," said Stanley Leffler, her husband
of 41 years.

Mrs. Leffler, a Center City resident since 1979, was a certified
addictions counselor who often wrote and spoke about addiction at
workshops and seminars. She was a member of many nursing
associations.

In 1991, Hahnemann University Hospital recognized her with its
Outstanding Contribution to Nursing award.

Besides her husband, Mrs. Leffler is survived by son Jay; daughters
Julie and Lisa; and seven grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at Friends Hospital,
4641 Roosevelt Boulevard. Burial is private.