At Tully Hill Chemical Dependency Treatment Center, an 8-year-old shih-tzu named Coco holds a place of honor. Walking and feeding the fluffy pup is a coveted chore for residents of the drug treatment facility, and in her travels throughout the building, patients often stop to fawn over and pet her.<\/p>\n
Coco provides a little bit of unorthodox therapy for those who\u2019ve come to Tully Hill, the private ,nonprofit rehabilitation facility hidden away in southern Onondaga County, for treatment of alcohol and drug addiction. She belongs to the center\u2019s executive director, Cathy Palm, who has been with Tully Hill since its inception in 1988.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have the best job in the universe,\u201d Cathy said. \u201cI love what we do because I know we\u2019re making a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cathy was asked to join the board at Tully Hill before the facility was even built. Her own life having been touched by addiction, she served on the board of the Council on Alcoholism (now Prevention Network) with Francis Petro, then the president of Crucible Steel. Petro was among several approached by real estate attorney James \u201cZeke\u201d Spaulding to develop an alcohol treatment facility in Onondaga County. Spaulding was a co-conspirator in a kickback and bribery scheme directed by former Syracuse Mayor Lee Alexander and spent nearly a year and a half in a federal prison; he blamed his behavior on alcohol abuse and said he wanted to atone for his misdeeds by building a rehab facility.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Spaulding put together all of the players to build and run the facility, as well as the property on which it would be built. Among those players was Petro, who asked Cathy to join the board because of her experience as a certified public accountant. She agreed, and Tully Hill opened with 56 beds in 1990.<\/p>\n
With changes to the insurance industry, Tully Hill faced a number of challenges in its early years.<\/p>\n
\u201cManaged care hit the East Coast in the 1990s,\u201d Cathy recalled. \u201cBy the mid-\u201890s, we were really struggling with insurance companies being willing to pay for treatment and denying treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cathy was still involved with the board, and she\u2019d just left a job with a family-owned manufacturing company. She was asked to take over leadership at Tully Hill.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018You know what? Maybe it\u2019s the perfect job for me,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cI have the business background, and really, being touched by addiction, know that treatment can benefit the person dealing with it and the families.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the time, Cathy refused to sign a long-term contract, agreeing only to stay for two years. That was in 1996.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere I am,\u201d she laughed. \u201cWe\u2019re making a difference, we\u2019re saving lives, we\u2019re changing lives, we\u2019re changing families and we\u2019re helping the community. And I believe that. That\u2019s why I stay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tully Hill uses the 12-step model followed by such programs as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Families Anonymous and Al-Anon, and encourages participation in those programs. The center offers both intensive outpatient and short-term inpatient treatment. Treatment plans are highly individualized to address circumstantial, educational or age-related needs, and family education is a huge part of Tully Hill\u2019s operation. More than 17,000 patients ages 16 and up have come through its doors for treatment of addiction to alcohol, methamphetamines, cocaine, prescription drugs, hallucinogens and, of course, opioids.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us here, about 30 percent of our patients would be addicted to opioids,\u201d Cathy said.<\/p>\n
But really, the opioid crisis is just one in a long line of addiction emergencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s this drug out there or a category of drugs that’s causing a lot of people [harm], some people die. So it’s serious certainly,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it’s just a different drug for now. It’s going to be something else. [This crisis], it’s brought visibility to that drug, but I want to make sure it brings visibility to addiction, because that drug’s going to become expensive or unavailable and it’ll be something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
The majority of Tully Hill\u2019s patients are there for alcohol addiction, but the drug of choice varies. What\u2019s important is that addiction can happen to anyone, any age, any socioeconomic background.<\/p>\n
\u201cAddiction is the disease,\u201d Cathy said. \u201cIt’s progressive, it’s chronic, and it’s nondiscriminatory. It’s going to hurt educated people, ones that are not as educated. It’s going hit working people, nonworking people, rich poor. Doesn’t matter. It’s non-discriminatory.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why education is such a huge part of Tully Hill\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey’re not bad people,\u201d Cathy said. \u201cThey’re people that have a disease and what we don’t like is their behavior. We’ll talk to loved ones about you can still love the person and hate their behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n
The staff, as well, is dedicated to providing that education. A little under 100 full-time employees, many of whom have been at Tully Hill, share the same commitment to the facility\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goals here are always to be excellent,\u201d Cathy said. \u201cWe always want to be getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of that commitment to excellence is constant professional development. Cathy is on the board of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP); she currently serves on the Strategic Planning Committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s been a huge help to Tully Hill,\u201d she said. \u201cI have relationships with executives all over the country. That\u2019s been huge to help me develop as a better leader, to know what others are doing to resolve issues and deal with different drugs or whatever they might be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cathy has also made numerous connections in the community\u2014she\u2019s served on the boards of the American Red Cross, Hiawatha Seaway Council Boy Scouts of America (\u201cThe Boy Scouts\u2026 really teach young people leadership,\u201d she said), the United Way, and the Syracuse Opera, among others\u2014and earned numerous honors for her work, including the NAATP Commitment to Leadership and Advocacy award, M&T Bank\u2019s Nonprofit Executive of the Year, MVP Healthcare\u2019s Women in Business honor and the Boy Scouts of America\u2019s Silver Beaver Award.<\/p>\n
But she doesn\u2019t do what she does for the accolades. She does it for the results.<\/p>\n
\u201cAddiction is a tough disease,\u201d Cathy said. \u201cIt’s really about helping them go through that … And it’s a transformation from the time they walk in the door till they walk out. And it’s just all this good medical care and good clinical care to help them be in a different place by the time they walk out the door.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At Tully Hill Chemical Dependency Treatment Center, an 8-year-old shih-tzu named Coco holds a place of honor. Walking and feeding the fluffy pup is a coveted chore for residents of the drug treatment facility, and in her travels throughout the building, patients often stop to fawn over and pet her. Coco provides a little bit…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,101,126],"tags":[741,743,742],"class_list":["post-2212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-features","category-health","tag-cathy-palm","tag-opioid-crisis","tag-tully-hill-chemical-dependence-rehabilitation-center"],"gutentor_comment":0,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/mdg20181130-32.jpg?fit=1440%2C1800&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3275,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=3275","url_meta":{"origin":2212,"position":0},"title":"Cover Story: Cathy James – Care, support & research at the heart of Alzheimer\u2019s Association mission","author":"Alyssa Dearborn","date":"September 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"By Lorna Oppedisano When she was younger, Cathy James, chief executive officer of the Central New York Chapter of the\u00a0Alzheimer\u2019s Association, didn\u2019t often hear the term Alzheimer\u2019s. 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