LIFE AFTER DRUG ABUSE

Sequoia Center At El Camino Hospital Offers Successful Program To Bring Most
Addicts Back Into The Real World

Drug and alcohol addiction doesn't discriminate between poor and rich, black
and white. "We have patients from all walks of life -- addiction is an equal
opportunity group," said Therese M. Cleary Whiting, a spokesperson for the
Sequoia Center at El Camino Hospital.

In fact, the misguided assertion that drug abuse doesn't happen among
"normal people" actually leads to more serious addiction problems among the
upper classes because the addict, family and friends stay in denial.

The Sequoia Center deals with substance abusers in a variety of conditions
- -- from severe, in which the patient gets 24-hour observation, to those who
need periodic guidance and counseling to stay away from their addictions.
The center also has a branch in Redwood City.

"A lot of what this place does is education," spokesperson Angie Deacon
said, "... what people can do to get help for the disease."

Dr. Barry Rosen, the Sequoia Center's CEO and medical director, said the
goals of treatment are twofold: to get patients through the denial problem
- -- "that they don't have a problem," Rosen said, "and connect with the
emotional reality of their addiction."

How pervasive is substance abuse? Rosen threw out some eye-opening and
disturbing statistics: 28.6 percent of all school-age children in the nation
come from alcohol-impacted homes; 60 percent to 70 percent of all domestic
violence cases are related to substance abuse disorders; 70 percent of all
women with substance abuse disorders have been abused.

Rosen said the image of homeless, disheveled addicts lying in alleyways
applies to only about 3 percent of the total addicts. Sequoia personnel have
treated respected professors and even those "wealthy enough to buy this
building."

Rosen said famous icons such as Walt Disney and Winston Churchill were
addicts.

But getting such people past the denial stage can prove difficult.

"It's conceivable O.J. (Simpson) really didn't remember (murdering two
people) because he blanked out from alcohol abuse," Rosen said.

Deacon said people can get more quickly addicted to drugs such as heroin and
cocaine today than they could decades ago. "Heroin is 10 times stronger than
it was years ago," she said. "If you're a dealer, you're going to give (the
customer) the strongest dose so you can get them addicted right away."

The Sequoia Center, formed in 1975 in Redwood City, offers an integration of
a 12-step program and various psychological therapies.

Experts work with people at any stage of their disease and support them as
they enter the world of conscious, sober living.

Medical detoxification, in a hospital setting, is available for those with
the most severe addictions.

The next step is 24-hour supervision in licensed homes near the treatment
center.

Other services include: day treatment, for people in a safe home environment
who still need daylong structure and treatment; an evening outpatient
program for primary treatment of the earlier stages of addictive disease, as
well as secondary treatment for the late stages; and family support groups
for adults who live with addicts or alcoholics.

The support groups are designed to help families learn about the disease,
how their lives have been affected and how they can begin their own
recovery.

With continuing care treatment, patients can successfully complete treatment
by having access to support groups for up to one year.

An alumni group of former addicts also meets to talk over experiences.

The Sequoia Center's success rate, after tracking patients over a year's
time, is about 70 percent.

The staff, who have made a career out of treating addicts, also attend
process groups. "The staff want to change people -- they can be at risk of
co-dependency," Rosen said, which he described as, "when the nonessential
becomes essential."

"Staff can suffer the same damage (as addicts) -- depression. They measure
their own self-worth based on how they're doing," Rosen said.

He advises staff to take a clinical, nonpersonal approach to avoid such
problems.

Sequoia, in place only about a year at El Camino, is getting ready to launch
its day treatment program within a few weeks.

The residential care program is dependent on the center's ability to
purchase two residential homes located near the hospital.

The treatment programs are covered by most insurance companies, Rosen said.

For more about the Sequoia Center at El Camino Hospital, call 940-7250 or
log on to www.sequoiacenter.com .