Groundbreaking On $30M Betty Ford Center Expansion Set For May 4

RANCHO MIRAGE, CA — The Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage is getting set to launch its most significant expansion since opening almost four decades ago, it was announced Tuesday.

The four-year, $30 million project — to include construction of three new buildings and updates to the grounds — will break ground May 4 and is slated to transform the treatment center founded by former First Lady Betty Ford and former U.S. Ambassador Leonard Firestone in 1982. The center is the nation's largest nonprofit system for addiction treatment and co-occurring mental health care, recovery and related prevention and education services, according to Betty Ford officials.

"We have been honored to provide healing and hope to thousands of individuals and families at the Betty Ford Center, and with the continued generosity of grateful alumni and other donors, will build upon Mrs. Ford's legacy by transforming the campus and expanding access to quality care," said Mark G. Mishek, president and CEO of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.

"The impact of substance use and mental health disorders is growing due to a number of factors including the tremendous stress and strain of the COVID-19 pandemic," Mishek added. "Amid record-high overdoses, and the daily pain experienced by millions of families struggling through the chaos of addiction, it is imperative that we build capacity to help more people ... ."

Mishek and incoming President and CEO Joseph Lee, MD, will be among those at the groundbreaking event, along with Hazelden Betty Ford Trustee Susan Ford Bales — daughter of President and Mrs. Ford — and special guests.

"I am so heartened to know my mother's legacy and impact continue to grow," Ford Bales said. "The Betty Ford Center is a special place to thousands of people already, and my mom would be thrilled to see our caring community open its arms to even more people."

When the project is finished in 2025, the Betty Ford Center campus will grow from 137,200 square feet to 170,000 square feet. Bed capacity will increase from 184 today to 240. Many more beds will also be available at the day-treatment level of care, which is less intense than residential care, according to the organization.

"Betty Ford was a beacon of hope to others, and this historic expansion will enable her light to shine brighter and longer at a time when more people are lost in the pain and isolation of addiction," said Chris Yadron, Ph.D., vice president of Recovery Services for Hazelden Betty Ford's West Region and administrator of the Betty Ford Center.

The first phase of the project, approved by Rancho Mirage city officials last fall, includes construction of a new, one-story, 22,748-square-foot Day Treatment Pavilion to accommodate flexible treatment options for 44 patients and include offices for counselors; group rooms for treatment; and an auditorium for lectures, education and training. Phase 1 also includes updates to landscaping and parking spaces, as well as the development of a new campus entrance.

With the new entrance, the Betty Ford Center will no longer rely on a shared entrance with its neighbors at Eisenhower Medical Center and will, for the first time, have its own unique address.

Once approved by the U.S. Postal Service, the address will likely be 39407 Vista Del Sol—407 selected in homage to Mrs. Ford's April 7 sobriety anniversary, officials said.

A Phase 2 expansion of the campus is also expected to break ground in 2023. It will include removing two of the existing residential buildings and constructing a new two-story, 20,935-square-foot residential pavilion with 46 beds. A second, similar residential treatment pavilion will be constructed in Phase 3 (2024), replacing the other two existing residential buildings.

"The generosity of our supporters, many of whom initiated their own recovery at the Betty Ford Center, is paving the way to a new era of healing and hope for the next generation and beyond," Yadron said.

The groundbreaking will be held on-site, with virtual viewing open to the public (register for the Betty Ford Center groundbreaking here).