Tom Solari Directs Grand Opening Ceremony

NARCONON STONE HAWK EAST
Albion, Michigan

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Extensive Media Coverage for New Drug Rehabilitation Center Grand Opening

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TOM SOLARI DIRECTS
GRAND OPENING CEREMONY

Priscilla Presley helps open
new drug-treatment facility

Sunday, June 04, 2006

By Heidi Opdyke
For the Citizen Patriot

With help from Elvis Presley's widow, a nonprofit drug rehabilitation center Saturday replaced Albion's community hospital. Narconon Stone Hawk East, 807 W. Erie St., celebrated its opening at the site of the former Trillium Hospital with Priscilla Presley.

Presley, who said she has long championed the Narconon program, made her first visit to Michigan to applaud the center's work nationally in working with illegal drugs, prescription drugs and education

"We have become a drug culture and we need to do something about it," she said. "We all know someone who struggles with the problems of alcohol or substance abuse."

The new 120-bed facility is housed in the former Trillium Hospital, which closed in 2002. Albion Mayor William Wheaton said the center has hired nearly 40 people from the Albion area.

The center opened April 15. Once it's complete, another 80 employees may be added.

Per Wickstrom, president of Narconon Stone Hawk in Battle Creek, said he and business partner Kate Wickstrom, the center's executive director, started looking for another building because the Battle Creek facility has been operating at capacity. The Battle Creek clinic opened with 100 beds in 2002.

Narconon is a drug rehab and prevention network operating in 40 countries. The program was founded in 1966 by the late William Benitez, a heroin addict and Arizona prison inmate.

The Battle Creek center has graduated more than 600 people. The center uses an exercise, nutrition and sauna sweat-out regimen that purges the body of residual toxins, which account for the debilitating effects of drugs, Per Wickstrom said.

Presley called Narconon one of the most successful drug rehab programs in the world, with upwards of 70 percent of its graduates remaining drug-free and able to improve relationships with their families and friends.

The Jackson Citizen Patriot