WAYSIDE HOUSE HELP DRUG ABUSERS LIVE CLEAN AND SUCCEED

Stephanie Ramos of Boca Raton started drinking and smoking pot when she was 15.

By college, she had moved on to hard drugs, and by 21 she had dropped out
of school, lost her job and was living at home in New York with her parents.

After awhile, they got tough with her, telling her not to return until she
stopped using drugs. So she tried a succession of drug treatment programs.
"I wasn't sure if I was ever going to get clean," she said.

Then she moved to Florida and learned about Wayside House, a treatment
center for women in Delray Beach. "I really give credit to them," she said.
"I felt really safe for the first time, and Wayside made me look at myself.
I was very grateful to be there."

Ramos, now 27, is married, has a beautiful home, a job where people depend
on and trust her, and a wonderful relationship with her parents. She has
been clean since February 2001.

"People can hardly believe it when I tell them I used to be a drug addict,"
she said.

On the last Thursday of each month, residents, family and friends gather at
the Wayside House to help graduates celebrate their sobriety anniversary.

Each graduate shares her poignant story, but before she speaks, she gives
her name and says, "I am an alcoholic" or "I am a user." Each time those
words are spoken, the emotionally charged room breaks into applause, heads
nod in agreement, and shouts of "amen" fill the air.

No one cheers louder than the residents of Wayside House who are working
toward the day that they, too, can celebrate the number of years they have
been clean or dry.

On a recent evening, 12 women were celebrating from one to 17 years of
sobriety. At the celebration, Jill Reece, who became executive director of
Wayside House in August, awarded wings to two women who had achieved their
first year of sobriety. They said the wings were especially meaningful
because the butterfly is the Wayside House symbol.

Wayside House is a nonprofit, long-term alcohol and drug abuse treatment
program for women 18 and older. It was founded 30 years ago by Susan B.
Anthony, great-niece of the noted women's rights crusader, and Phyllis
Michelfelder. Both women were recovering alcoholics. "They realized that
addicted women had nowhere to go," Reece said.

The original two-bedroom cottage has had additions, and 23 women share
eight bedrooms. They average in age from 35 to 45, Reece said.

Residents are busy from when they wake up at 7 a.m. until lights out at
11:30 p.m. They are responsible for maintaining the home, with the
exception of a full-time cook, who assures the women eat healthy meals. An
annex at the back of the house allows 65 more women to be treated as
outpatients, and no one is turned away because of lack of money, Reece said.

When the women arrive, they are usually sick from the disease of alcoholism
and "many of them have lost everything -- their kids, their jobs, their
homes. Sometimes the only things they have left are the clothes on their
back," Reece said.

They also face a social stigma. "The cultural image of a woman is seen as a
mother and a wife and she should be more responsible," Reece said.

Lin Considine is a part-time counselor at Wayside House. She has been clean
and sober herself since June 1987. She sees 10 to 15 women a week, many of
whom have other issues with relationships, eating disorders, money
management and careers interrupted by addiction.

The path back to recovery is tailored for each woman and structured. "It is
often three or four months before they are ready to move to Phase II,"
Considine said.

Programs for children and other family members also are available.

Most women are ready to move on to a sober house within four to six months,
but residents can stay as long as they need. "It's typical to relapse,"
Considine said.

After they graduate, they continue to need support and are strongly
encouraged to come back weekly for aftercare.

Boynton Beach resident Pamela Fritz is a Wayside House success story. But
when she first went there, struggling with an addiction to prescription
drugs and alcohol in December 2002, "things weren't working for me. I
started losing everything I cared about, even my 4- year-old daughter," she
said.

Fritz now has her daughter back and is employed as a hairdresser. "I didn't
always know there was hope. I didn't always know there was a way. Wayside
saved my life," she said.

Mildred "Nim" George, 79, has been a fixture at Wayside House since its
inception and was a good friend of co-founder Michelfelder. "Until World
War II, nobody thought that women drank. It wasn't an open subject at all,"
she said.

George has seen women get their lives back, advance their education and get
their children back. "We call these Wayside miracles," she said.

Private donations cover 54 percent of the $1.2 million it takes to run the
center. It costs $115 a day per bed or $41,974 a year, said Joan Reedy, 54,
director of development and quality improvement.

Florida provides 30 percent of the budget and Palm Beach County funds 8
percent. "The needs of our clients continue to increase, but funding from
the state and county government remains the same," Reedy said.

For more information on Wayside House, call 561-278-0055.