Fellowship Hall plans to expand
10-8-04
By Margaret Moffett, Banks Staff Writer News & Record

GREENSBORO — Mose Kiser's hands trembled so badly he couldn't shave without first taking a drink.

And still, he didn't get it.

Thankfully, others around him figured out those shakes were the DT's -- delirium tremens, a sure sign of alcoholism.

During a two-hour conversation in 1981, Kiser's doctor gave him two choices: Die an alcoholic's death, or spend four weeks at Fellowship Hall, a nonprofit treatment center near Hicone Road and U.S. 29 North in Greensboro.

Mose Kiser of Greensboro stands at the fourth step, which is dedicated to him, of a 12-step Meditation Trail at the Fellowship Hall in Greensboro. Residents of the Fellowship Hall are encouraged to walk the trail with a book Kiser calls “the Bible of the 12-step program.”
( Rachel Kasunic/©News & Record)

Thousands could tell a similar story. Since the clinic opened in 1971, about 16,000 people from across the country have found relief for their addictions. Whiskey. Cocaine. Vicodin. Space has been Fellowship Hall's only limitation, since counselors can treat only 48 people at a time.

"We're always full," said Mike Whaley, the center's director of outreach. "We've got a perpetual two-week waiting list. It's frustrating for the staff."
That soon will change. The state's Department of Health and Human Services has given Fellowship Hall permission to add 12 beds, which will raise its capacity to 60. Officials say 200 more people will receive treatment each year as a result.

Construction will begin in November. The work is expected to take a year, and the center won't close during that time, said Rick Redmon, director of development.
Those new beds are needed now more than ever. More than 5 percent of Guilford County residents -- about 21,700 people -- were abusing or addicted to illicit drugs in 2000, according to the Guilford County Substance Abuse Coalition.

Fellowship Hall is in many ways similar to the better-known Betty Ford Clinic in California, including its use of the 12-step treatment model. People with addictions check in for about 28 days and receive medical care, detoxification and counseling. Patients also have the option for family counseling.
The cost of a four-week stay is about $11,000. Many insurance companies cover the cost, since the American Medical Association has classified addiction as a disease.

Follow-up studies conducted by the clinic's counselors show that about 70 percent of graduates are maintaining sobriety a year after they leave.

The center has a full-time medical director, 10 counselors, dozens of support staff and hundreds of volunteers, most of whom are graduates of the program. Volunteers drive people to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, serve as AA and NA sponsors and just provide friendship.
Many staff members are recovering addicts themselves. That appealed to recovering alcoholic Gina Braxenholm when she entered Fellowship Hall in December 2002 -- just before the holidays, so she wouldn't be alone.
She found that other patients, and even other counselors, had previously been "dead on the inside, living for an open wine bottle."

"It was such a revelation to find other women like me," said Braxenholm, 44, who now volunteers at Fellowship Hall several hours a week. "I thought I was the only one."
That club-like feeling, and a healthy dose of humor, sustains people during their treatment. When a patient checks out, everyone gathers for a celebration, complete with piano, metal drums and a song: "We hate to see you leave. We hate to see you leave. We hope to hell you never come back. We hate to see you leave."
Few feel like celebrating the day they enter.

"Hardly anyone wakes up and says, 'It's a beautiful fall day. I think I'll check into Fellowship Hall,' " said Whaley, a recovering alcoholic.

Many patients, including Braxenholm, are angry when they check in, vehemently denying they have a problem. They miss their family, worry about missing work, assume all the fun times in their lives are behind them.
Then they walk the mile-long meditation path that winds through the woods. They fish in the catch-and-release pond. They cry when they realize how much they have hurt their families. Eventually, they see that their recovery only will improve their lives.

That's what happened to Kiser. On the way to Fellowship Hall 23 years ago, he passed Green's Supper Club -- a popular spot for wining, dining and dancing. Then his heart sank.
"I thought, 'I'll never be able to eat a steamed oyster again because I can't have a beer with it,' " said Kiser, a long-time board member at the center.

"Guess what: I still eat steamed oysters, and I don't have a beer."

Fellowship Hall
U.S. Highway 29 North at Hicone Road Greensboro, NC 27405
1.336.621.3381    1.800.659.3381    fax: 1.336.621.7513
fellowshiphall.com