The vision of one, the mission
of many
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. Livengrin 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 Livengrin, 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 Livengrin Foundation
become a successful, nationally recognized provider
of treatment services to male and female alcoholics
and their families. Within the next few years,
Livengrin broadened its 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).
Livengrin's offerings grew along with its 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 in Doylestown, Fort Washington
(Montgomery Co.), Allentown (Lehigh Co.), and
Northeast Philadelphia. Its Lower Bucks treatment
center opened early in 2007 to meet the ever-increasing
need for Livengrin services in this densely-populated
area. 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.
The Foundation is now an education hub, where
scores of postgraduate students and professionals
come to study and intern. Livengrin 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.
The vision of one has become
the mission of many
