Complaint Review: A Road to Recovery

I find it very sad that people are allowed post such serious and  slanderous allegations against a facility with the finest of reputations without ANY proof of validity whatsoever.

Virtually every statement this gentleman made is either untrue, inaccurate or a total fabrication. First let me point out that ALL arrangements and/or negotiations made with our staff in regard to the client entering our facility for treatment were made by and with the client’s mother who made it a point to tell our staff that she did NOT want the father to know that She was paying for her sons treatment. Furthermore, the client never signed a release allowing us to even speak to the father which legally precludes us from doing so.

Thier son is an adult male of legal age who's confidentiality is protected under HIPPA Regulations. I'm sure in the day and age we are all aware of patient confidentiality and the seriousness HIPPA places on protection of confidentiality. Nobody from A Road to Recovery was ignoring the gentleman’s calls regarding his son. What was explained to him numerious times that he seems to fail to realize is that we ARE NOT ALLOWED to speak to him as his son did not sign a release allowing us to do so.

A Road to Recovery is a facility with the finest of reputation for putting the client first and foremost and providing the highest level of treatment possible to its clients and doing so at rates affordable to clients and thier families, for which we have impeccable reputation for doing so. This can be easily verified by simply checking with The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) which is the state agency we are Licensed and Governed by and is where any Valid claims or complaints would be filed and INVESTIGATED by, to which we hold an impeccable reputation.

Fact is, this gentleman’s son still has a bed at ARTR paid for, ready and waiting for him should he want to seek the help that is waiting for him. A Road to Recovery is a strictly voluntary program designed to provide help to those who have the want and desire to seek recovery from addiction. We ARE NOT a locked ward facility designed to keep those in who do not want to be here.

That being said, and to show how misinformed and or fabricated this gentleman’s complaint is, I will close by outlining the FACTS of our encounter with his son.

First and again, all arrangements and negotiations of cost were done with the clients mother. Mom was a very capable negotiator and was anything but distraught or emotionally distressed. In facilitating her sons admission, mom dealt with Brian who is our head Admissions Coordinator, NOT a "finance manager" as the complainant refers to him as, and Tom Z who is our Outreach Manager and a person the complainant does not mention at all.

Important to note is that throughout the many phone calls with our staff, Mom never once indicated her son to be of a behavioral problem. She also never made any mentions of her sons Aggressive and Violant behaviors. She did express her concern about her son not completing treatment and not wanting to lose her money if her son left prior to completion. Once  being made aware of our no refund policy, the same policy most every facilty in our field maintains for many obvious reasons, she gave our staff a very hard time in wanting to furhter negotiate an already rediculiosly low fee and also seeking for us to change our paperwork and agreements.

Our no refund policy is the same as most facilities in our field and basically states that; "all fees for treatment services must be paid prior to or upon admission (no different than any physician’s office), should a client leave prior to completion of treatment or is administratively discharged for cause (such as displays of aggressive or violent behavior, smuggling in drugs or alcohol, etc.. basically major rule infractions), any and all discounts or scholarships provided are null and void with clients days in treatment being billed at the regular and listed rate with any possible remaining monies to stay on account for up to 1 year to pay for clients future treatment upon clearance for re-admission".

Very simple and easy to understand, however still, Mom made no mention of her sons violant behavior. She did however get Tom and Brian to agree to (after they consulting with myself) to make another major concession in allowing her son to be admitted with mom paying ONLY 50% of treatment cost upon admission with the balance to be paid by the end of the clients second week of treatment. Another serious discrepancy in the "fathers" complaint, as he refers to our "demanding payment IN FULL of $5,000 up front".

It is common knowledge today that national average costs for 30 days of substance abuse treatment starts at $15,000 and goes up from there depending on the facility. In our efforts to keep treatment affordable, we agreed to accept $10,000 for 30 to 40 days of treatment as the mother stated that is all she could afford. As previously mentioned we agreed to make another major concession in accepting only half upon admission, again because mom expressed major concerns that her son might not finish treatment. In that our purpose and goals are to provide help in recovery to those who want it, NOT keep theirs or their family’s money, we agreed to accept this partial payment.

As to Wire Transfers vs Credit Cards, given the already reduced prices we charge our clients and the high fees often associated with credit card payments, most especially with such large amounts of money, our policy is to accept Cashier’s Check or Wire Transfers only as forms of payment.

Before ending by finally detailing our experience with "our client", I must point out that had the complainant been given copies of or had access to the financial agreement that the mom read, agreed to and signed, he would have full knowledge of all I have written above. Most importantly of which is that there is still a bed waiting here at A Road to Recovery for his son should his son decide he wants the help that is available here for him. I also must point out that at No Point in Time did any of our staff members state that "we are equipped to deal with ANY type of behavioral problem", as I said we are a voluntary program where clients need to be at a certain level of functionality to be appropriate for our level of care.

Immediately upon one of our facility drivers picking up "the son", our client, at the airport he began to exhibit very aggressive behavior. For the entire 45 minute ride back from the airport, our driver, being female, was subjected to constant sexual comments and propositions. so much so, that this very experienced transport professional, was visibly shaken and upset upon returning tothe facility. Never has a client picke up for admission behaved so constant in this manner. So much so that he seemed to derive perverse pleasure by seeing how uncomfortable he could make our staff member.

Upon arrival to the facility the client immediately became non-compliant basically refusing to participate in his intake process. The client quickly became aggressive, threatening and violent towards the two male staff members trying to calm him down and coax him into complying with the admissions process and filling out the necessary paperwork with our staff. All to no avail as client refused to comply screaming at staff that "he did not want to be here". The client continued to scream obscenities and often threatening bodily harm to staff members.

At the point in time where the client punched a glass picture, shattering it to the floor and cutting his hand, Police were called. Staff attempted to contain the client while waiting for police to arrive at which time client got up and ran throught the facility offices claiming to "be looking for a bathroom" as he threw open every door he came to. Upon entring our copier room which also houses our Computer Network and Internet Hardware, Client began ripping at and unplugging network wires from our network routers. This action alone took our network and internet down for days before it could be repaired at a cost of a few thousand dollars. After destroying this equipment client went outside and sat on the grass as if nothing happened. Fortunately Police arrived at this point as this client was quite a sizable person who refused to comply with staff constantly threatening to do bodily harm to them.

Thankfully the Police chose to have the client, their son, committed to a local psychiatric facility for monitoring and observation.

To further show the extent ARTR Staff went to in order to make every effort to work with this out of control client, when the psychiatric facility called a day or two later to let us know client was ready for release, rather than have him criminally charged as we probably should have given the thousands of dollars in damage he caused, we rather instead sent our Program Director and Head Admissions Coordinator there to interview him. It was our hope that after a day or two to settle down, the client may have had a change of heart and would be open to the idea of accepting the help being offered to him.

Unfortunately, this was not the case and the client was very clear that he did not want to be here and his behavior would be even worse than it was should we try to admit him again. The mom was notified and upon her request ARTR staff gave him a ride back to the airport, obviously this time the driver was a large male.

In closing I would like to add that not only did the mother apologize for her sons behavior and the damage he did, she acknowledged that she knew we did all we could to try to help him. Our only comment was that we would have appreciated being warned of his behavior.

Likewise when the father started calling, she also apologized for his behavior and explain to us that he did not have all the information and that she would speak to him. Sad she has to also apologize for the father’s behavior as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read this full response.