VENTURA : Abuse Center Gets Badly Needed Funds

A residential treatment center in Ventura for women recovering from alcohol and substance abuse received $6,000 from an anonymous donor Monday, allowing it to continue operations until the new year, said Mary Beth Martin, executive director of Miracle House.

Miracle House operates three facilities for women in various stages of recovery in Oxnard and Ventura, including a financially troubled six-patient residence in Ventura that was started in April with federal and county funding and the expectation that two of the women who would be admitted would have insurance coverage.

But financial problems developed because the Ventura intake center has not had one insured patient and the federal grant has ended, Martin said. She said that despite the $6,000 donation, the future of the center is uncertain and another facility in Oxnard could also be closed.

In the last week, financial problems have forced Martin to reduce the paid staff at the residential facilities in Ventura and Oxnard from eight to five, with the rest taking pay cuts. The residential center in Ventura still needs $30,000 to make it through June, Martin said.

Martin has been marketing the center to medical groups and insurance companies, two of which--Blue Shield and Aetna--have signed it on as a provider. Costs for insured patients would be $4,500 a month contrasted with the $18,000 to $30,000 for a month spent in some hospital programs, she said.

The residential treatment center in Ventura is the first segment of a 90-day recovery program sponsored by Miracle House. At the center, at 152 N. Dos Caminos Ave., women participate in a month of workshops in drug and alcohol education, therapy and recovery.

This is followed by 60 days in the Oxnard residential recovery home, where patients undergo vocational training, including the more practical skills of how to dress for a job and fill out applications. Miracle House also has a nearly self-supporting co-op home in Ventura, which houses women who have gone through the early stages of recovery and who have enough income to pay rent.

Martin said about 200 women have gone through Miracle House. In addition to county funds, the program is funded by federal grants, private donations from health care foundations and fund-raisers.