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McLean Hospital
to open rehab facility
in Western Massachusetts
(May 2006
Issue)
By Jennifer Chase Esposito
Upscale rehabilitation facilities featuring ocean- or mountain-edge
views, good food and nearly one-to-one attention have peppered Western
states for decades as an option for recovering substance abusers
who can afford longer recoveries in nicer places, yet the East Coast
has offered very few in comparison: until now.
By mid-June, New Englanders recovering from drug and alcohol dependency
will have a tony alternative for where they do it, as McLean Hospital
in Belmont prepares to open New England's first longer-term elegant
rehab facility.
Fernside, formerly Fernside B&B in Princeton, Mass., will allow
patients who desire a longer recovery program to get it without
traveling across the country. Located in a bucolic part of Western
Massachusetts, the former inn circa the early 1800s is located on
land offering 75-mile, 180-degree views of Mt. Wachussett replete
with walking trails and plenty of outside activity. It will have
only 10 beds and offer state-of-the-art group and individual therapies;
private bathrooms; a 24-hour staff of psychiatrists and psychologists,
and substance abuse counselors; and physical activities like yoga
and lifestyle management.
It may sound like a fabulous five-star hotel, but facilities like
Fernside were prominent in the 1960s and 70s when McLean and other
hospitals across the country subscribed to the popular 28-day rehab
model. They offered a place for patients to go once finished with
any inpatient detoxification or medical treatment for their addictions
and while there, could enjoy personalized or group therapies, wellness
programming and exercise.
When the late 80s surfaced, questions from insurance providers
about who was paying for patients' long recoveries, four-week stays
plummeted to an average of only one in spite of an underlying feeling
by professionals that more time healing was better than less.
"It was a very radical change," says Philip Levendusky, Ph.D.,
ABPP, vice president of Network Development for McLean Hospital.
"[Just] because you're stable medically doesn't mean people are
provided with the ability to cope with the challenges of maintaining
sobriety.''
So when a former patient of McLean's once 28-day substance abuse
program recently returned to Boston to celebrate 25 years of sobriety,
she was upset to learn that it no longer existed. According to Levendusky,
the patient, who has not been named in any publication about Fernside,
said she never would have recovered in the four or five days now
allocated to most people's post-detox treatment because she wouldn't
have been able to get to the root of her problems. So she made a
gift to the hospital to see if McLean could re-create the model.
"[Fernside] is filling a niche in patient care that's not readily
available" in New England, says Levendusky. As a satellite of McLean
Hospital, "in our program, we're going to emphasize quality in an
attractive environment as opposed to an attractive environment that
happens to be a rehab facility."
The model certainly isn't for everyone. For one, only a small patient
population could afford the $25,000 to $30,000 price tag. And it's
not meant as an alternative to detox or any other acute medical
treatments for patients - two things Fernside absolutely will not
provide. However Levendusky believes Fernside will be a good companion
for people who have gone through detox in hospitals. And it will
be especially good for those who years down the road suffer relapses
in their therapy and say "if I'd only had more time."
"It just makes sense," says Levendusky. "This model seems to be
the most successful."
Fernside is likely to open in early summer.
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