U OF A STUDENTS SHIP OFF TO BETTY FORD CLINIC

Doctors In Training Hope To Gain Experience In Addictions Treatment

Ozzy Osbourne has been a guest there.

So have Elizabeth Taylor, Keith Urban and David Hasselhoff.

Now eight University of Alberta medical students are heading to the
Betty Ford Center in California to experience the same treatment
given to rich and famous celebrities.

Of course, the students aren't attending to get clean and sober, as
Kelsey Grammer and Billy Joel did. Yet they'll go through the same
therapy sessions, workshops and lectures for a first-hand look at
addiction recovery from the patient's perspective.

"Basically you do the program with the patients and their families,"
said Phil Bach, a third-year U of A med student who went to Betty
Ford last August.

"You go through everything they go through, spending the whole day with them."

That time spent with the patients, rather than shadowing the centre's
staff, is what makes the program a unique learning experience, said
Laurie Mereu, an assistant dean with the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry.

"The students will be able to follow patients from start to finish," she said.

"It'll give them a broader insight as to what's involved with
treatment. The training should allow them to be more compassionate
and understanding physicians in their future careers."

The eight U of A students, joined by a group from the University of
Calgary, will spend five days at Betty Ford starting March 30.

To go, the students had to receive scholarships from the Norlien
Foundation, which is covering all their travel, accommodation and
tuition expenses.

There were no visits from Drew Barrymore, John Daly or other
celebrities during Bach's time at Betty Ford, but he said it was
still an educational treat to be at one of the world's most famous
addiction facilities. "I'm interested in gastroenterology, which can
deal with liver disease, and one of the major causes is alcohol
abuse," he said. "So it made sense for me to go and look at a patient
population that could make up a significant portion of my practice."

Students are assigned to one of three programs at the facility,
including the basic inpatient program and a special program for
professionals who work in safety-sensitive jobs such as lawyers,
pilots and nurses.

Bach was placed in the centre's family program, which treats the
relatives of chemically dependent people. Many of the sessions
focussed on coping skills, handling confrontations with an addicted
relative, avoiding enabling behaviour, and getting over feelings of
guilt and shame.

"The family members we saw were very open with us and shared a lot of
personal stories," Bach said. "When you're looking at overall patient
treatment, treating the family is something that can't be ignored."

One of the most interesting experiences for Bach was talking to
physicians who were patients at the centre. "It's easy to feel immune
to any disease or addiction, but meeting people similar to us and
hearing their stories made me realize it something we have to watch
out for," he said.

"You've got highly driven, high-achieving people who go decide to go
into a discipline impossible to master and comes with high levels of
stress. And a physician has the means to sustain an addiction that a
layperson does not have."

One drawback of the program was that most guests at Betty Ford seemed
to be wealthy, and it would have been nice to hear the experiences of
a more diverse patient group, Bach said.

The Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., southeast of Los
Angeles, was founded in 1982 by the former U.S. first lady.