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In 1966, a Philadelphia-area advertising executive and entrepreneur, Standish Forde Hansell, was finishing renovations to a fifty-year-old "country estate house" he'd purchased on what had been the Brice Farm in Bensalem. His plan was to open a retirement community, where gentlemen of means could continue a pastoral lifestyle and "live and grin" into their golden years.

Instead, on the advice of a few trusted friends (and, according to one account, outspoken actor Orson Welles), he turned his 46-acre property into one of the very first non-hospital facilities in Pennsylvania to treat alcoholism.

This was a courageous decision for Mr. Hansell. It was long before the time when public figures such as ex-First Lady Betty Ford helped bring a cultural acceptance to alcoholism and drug addiction as medical diseases (rather than failings of will power and morality). There was no marketing research that said this was a good business idea, no insurance firms willing to pay the bill for treatment, and no public outcry that alcoholics were in need of compassion and assistance.

Mr. Hansell believed in his heart that there was a tremendous need in the region for a nonprofit organization to extend an offer of help to the many people that had been disenfranchised from the health care system, and in some cases, society itself.

The often-whimsical Hansell, with his advertising pro's sense of what's catchy, kept the Livengrin name.

In the ensuing years, the Foundation became known as a trailblazer. Throughout the 1970s, numerous innovations were launched, such as a unique Family Education Program and extensive Aftercare and Outpatient Services. A "breakthrough" change came in what had become the traditional 28-day residential treatment model. They launched its new "21-day program," maintaining that it could provide intensive and cost-effective care in a shorter period of time, followed up by a longer-term commitment to outpatient counseling.

This approach was clearly years ahead of its time. It helped us, in the 1980s, to pioneer shorter-term residential treatment programs and thus meet the specifications of (and the challenges posed by) provider-based managed care services for health maintenance organizations in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

The organization also worked effectively with the business and labor communities, which began to identify chemically-dependent people within their workforce and, instead of firing them, offered them opportunities for treatment, recovery, and a return to a productive lifestyle.

Standish Forde Hansell died in February 1983, having seen his beloved organization become a successful, nationally recognized provider of treatment services to male and female alcoholics and their families. Within the next few years, we broadened the scope of services to include expert treatment for drug addiction, codependency and dual diagnosis (for those with mental health issues as well as chemical dependency).

Our offerings grew along with the surroundings. The original location in Bensalem, just north of Philadelphia, served the rapidly-expanding "commuter communities" of Bucks County. The Foundation grew into a network of Pennsylvania counseling centers throughout Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware, Lehigh and Philadelphia Counties. The main campus is also centrally-located for the I-95 corridor between New England, the New York-Philadelphia-Baltimore-D.C. metropolitan region, and the southern states.

New programs have been created to respond to emerging needs, such as the healthcare professionals' track that assists nurses, pharmacists and physicians. An education hub, we host scores of postgraduate students and professionals who come to study and gain real-life experience. They helped launch the successful Mid-Atlantic Addiction Training Institute (MAATI), which provides educational opportunities for healthcare and education professionals to learn more about addiction and its pervasive effect upon our society.

In 1966, Standish Hansell probably did not imagine the extent to which the seeds he planted would take root and grow into the caring, professional, and progressive organization that exists today. But he did have the belief that he and his colleagues were making a positive contribution to the community and the public, and he had the courage to follow through with his convictions.

Interior photos courtesy of Evening Bulletin/ Temple-Paley Archives