Shick Shadel saved my life, and it can save yours too.

Pat O'Day

Local radio/TV personality

For years, you may have driven by the familiar Schick Shadel Hospital sign at 12101 Ambaum Blvd. S.W. in Burien and wondered what really lies down that long, secluded driveway.

And you may have asked yourself if a person who has used drugs for 40 years really can lose the desire or craving in just 10 days?

The staff at this Burien hospital will say yes-and can tell you exactly how this is accomplished.

Dr. James Smith, who began treating patients at Schick Shadel Hospital in 1960, was recognized at his memorial service in December as a pioneer in addiction medicine, and praised for his devotion to his work.

He was 79.

Dr. Smith was a Family Practitioner in the 1960s when he took a part-time fill-in position at Schick Shadel. He would spend the rest of his career at the hospital.

He believed addictions are treatable medical problems, not moral shortcomings-a philosophy that was controversial then.

But in later years, he was recognized for his support of addiction medicine as a medical specialty, his support for the inclusion of addiction medicine course work in medical school curriculums, and his efforts to decriminalize alcoholism.

Dr. Smith was a hero to many, and as a tribute plans are in the works to name a street in his honor. The street bearing his name will be on the hospital property.

Schick Shadel is unique-in a class by itself.

Patients who enter the hospital are battling addictions to alcohol, cocaine, crystal methamphetamines, prescription drugs, nicotine, marijuana and other substances.

The treatment they receive there is based on the premise that people who are addicted to substances do not lack morality or willpower.

Rather, chemical dependency is believed to be an illness-a problem within the brain.

Schick Shadel, which is believed to be the only hospital in the country owned by former patients, is a medical alternative approach to addiction treatment, not a 12-Step program.

It is licensed for 48 beds, and there are plans for six additional beds in 2008.

Schick Shadel is described as the only such treatment center in the world that uses Aversion Therapy.

In Aversion Therapy, medication is given to induce nausea in the patient when the patient is presented with their drug or drink of choice. The goal is that a negative association will develop toward the drug or alcohol, and the patient will quit using it without cravings.

Treatment may also include Deep Sleep Therapy induced by sodium pentathol. This process enables "the removal of layers of history" of the patient's life events and/or trauma. It is a way of uncovering what perhaps lies at the core of the patient's addiction.

The facility also recognizes the genetic component, which weighs this unique aspect of addiction.

If you ask Schick Shadel's Jerry O'Day if the cravings for a long term addiction can be permanently gone in 10 days, he will give you an unequivocal yes.

As a former patient, marketing director and president of the Alumni Association of Schick Shadel, he has seen the success.

"We separate the patient from his or her addiction," O'Day said. "That switch has been turned off. The 10-day period separates the person from addiction."

He said that as a licensed medical hospital, Schick Shadel differs from other drug and alcohol treatment facilities. It employs a full medical staff including anesthesiologists and nurses.

Patients have access to televisions, telephones and the Internet rather than being denied contact with the outside world.

Schick Shadel, which boasts a number one success rate in treating alcoholism, offers a 10-day in-patient treatment program, a 30-day recap, and a two-year continuing care plan.

O'Day noted that wages lost by patients during their treatment are substantially less in Shick Shadel's 10-day program, compared to 30-day or longer programs at other facilities.

Beyond himself, O'Day has experienced the success of Schick Shadel within his family.

O'Day's father is the legendary Pat O'Day-the voice of Seafair's hydroplane races, a former KJR radio disk jockey, program director and general manager, author, Concerts West founder and owner and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

While O'Day speaks lovingly toward his famous father, he bluntly says his father used alcohol and cocaine for decades.

Pat O'Day's testimony on the Schick Shadel Website is direct: "I was a major league drinker. I am now a contented, relaxed, busy, successful living testimonial to the complete success of Schick Shadel's treatment.

"I am not a struggling, recovering alcoholic. I am a very happy 'EX' alcoholic."

These days, Pat O'Day can be heard on television and radio ads as spokesman for Schick Shadel.

Through the years, there have been rumors that famous people have received treatment there.

Without betraying confidential information, Jerry O'Day admitted with a smile that celebrities of all sorts-including musicians and actors-have entered the hospital.

Patient care is very private, he was quick to emphasize.

Jerry O'Day thanked Dr. Smith's family, declaring, "If it weren't for that man, my family would not be here. He has brought a lot of lives back together.

"The O'Days are proud that we found a new way through Schick Shadel Hospital."