Betty Ford Inspired Female Addicts To Seek Help

Margo Addeo is a recovering alcoholic.

“I crippled a man drinking and driving,” she said.

Now, she works as a substance abuse counselor at ABC Recovery Center.

She celebrated being sober 13 years ago when she enrolled at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage and met the former first lady.

“[Betty Ford] always says, ‘How you doing? What’s going on with you?’ She was really down to earth,” Addeo said. “Talking to her was like talking to a friend.”

Ford was best known — and admired — for her public battle against alcohol and prescription pills.

Some say she also changed the perception that addiction was a man’s disease.

“One of the things she did that she thought was important was to find a way to treat women in a way women understood,” said CEO Recovery Center David Likens.

A woman identified only as “Dolores L.” said she sought help for her dependence on alcohol and prescription pills — just like Betty Ford.

“We are so free to take another woman under our wings and say, ‘It’s ok,'” she said.

The number of women at ABC Recovery Center nearly equals that of men. As a result, the center provides “women only” housing.

The center also provides a nursery for mothers.

Ford opened her famous treatment center in 1982. Many people were astonished that she founded it only three years into her sobriety.

“Not a lot of people think about other people when they’re that new in their recovery,” Addeo explained.

Likens said a huge treatment center boom occurred in the 1980s and a lot of it had something to do with Betty Ford lifting the stigma on addiction.

She wasn’t just the first lady, he said. She also was the first champion of having others face their demons.