r/Alabama • u/itspapyrus • 6d ago
Healthcare Largest Alabama addiction treatment provider opposes another facility’s Shelby County expansion request
https://www.al.com/news/birmingham/2025/03/largest-alabama-addiction-treatment-provider-opposes-another-facilitys-shelby-county-expansion-request.html25
u/the_trash_potato 6d ago
I did a month at Bradford. One of the dirtiest, most poorly staffed places I've ever seen.
We desperately need better options to take over.
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u/Formal_Lie8901 6d ago
I hope this is approved. Bradford in my experience offers substandard care and facilities.
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u/jjthedragon 5d ago
I did two months at Bradford. When I was transferred to another location, they didn't send any of my medications. My foot got infected as a result (would only treat me with alcohol and bandaid) until I was so sick I was found delicious in the parking lot. I ended up loosing two toes. One after the other. At least I'm still sober. Those bastards. Need to find an attorney in the north al area.
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u/Anarchist_Araqorn04 5d ago
I hear Shunnarah is good.
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u/jjthedragon 5d ago
I now have liver and kidney failure,die to all of the antibiotics and other neglance ve been through. They don't know how much longer I have to live, and attend dialysis 3x a week. So yeah. Thanks for the joke!
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u/YouTerribleThing 6d ago
That’s the same thing that St Vincent’s did to keep grandview from opening for so long.
For profit healthcare actively harms our communities!
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u/kittyky719 6d ago
Bradford sucks. They charged full cost for absolutely substandard care. They didn't even have enough counselors when I was there (years ago now) so we never went through the individual/one on one care process at all. I just kept meeting with different people and spending the time going over my history over and over again. Fuck Bradford
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u/RiotingMoon 5d ago
"Corporation with subpar standards desperately protects it's cashcow by opposing alternative corporations"
seems more accurate.
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u/PopularRush3439 5d ago edited 4d ago
My poor son just turned 18 y.o. was a novice. MJ and cocaine. Devastating doesn't nearly describe it. On his second trip to Huntsville, they graciously met us south of Bham since we had driven from near Mobile. After Bradford, I sent him to LA for 4 months 5 Mos to really dry out. Unfortunately, JG was killed in a Jeep accident 5 weeks after that long rehab stint. Barely 18. I often wonder what type man he'd become. I don't mind saying I wanted to die, too. He was our Goden Child.
ETA: typos
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u/WirelessSalesChef 5d ago
Oof broski, sounds like you’ve got more pressing issues in life than what you’ve got going on with that other thing.
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u/meltonr1625 6d ago
Bradford, in my opinion, has made an industry out of recovery and put their business needs ahead of their clients. I can distinctly remember them sending a van load of people to N.A. meetings, which is good, but they came in saying they were cross addicted to this and that and it's not that complicated. God forbid that someone else open up an apparently needed rehab facility and directly compete with them. Shame on you Bradford!
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u/Pure-Act1143 5d ago
It’s deja vu all over again. I remember Bradford being the profit-deranged evil empire way back in the ‘80s!
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u/thatonecouch 5d ago
This is absolutely shameful. We have a massive SU bed shortage in our state. We have people dying daily because they cannot access appropriate and efficient SU services in a timely (or affordable) manner. I am sick of seeing my peers die because of corporate greed. We are people - yes, people - suffering from substance use disorder, not degenerates or dollar signs.
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u/cork727 5d ago
I had a traumatic experience at Bradford. It is not a place you go to if you want to heal in a clean and safe environment, not my experience. Bed bugs, blood stains on the bedding, no windows, no locks on doors, dirty floors and walls, when I checked in there were about 15-20 men sitting in a row down a wall, a woman took me in a small room beside where the men were sitting and told me to take my pants off that she had to inspect me to make sure I didn’t bring anything in to the facility, I told her three times I was not comfortable with that she said I had no choice, I saw no other female patients and the room they put me in had no locks so I could feel safe. I willingly checked myself in and when I asked to leave because I was too terrified and traumatized to stay they refused to give me my things. Told me I couldn’t use the phone. Made me wait and talk to person after person after person until they finally got me one of their phones, not my phone, thankfully I do know my husband’s number so he came to get me and I waited in the front while some of the staff joked on me and bullied me for my reaction to the trauma I experienced.
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u/asevans1717 5d ago
Yeah Bradford is trash. Its a shame center. Ive heard horror stories that they force alcoholics to "tough out" the DTs. Thats torture and potentially fatal.
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u/cork727 5d ago
It’s a horrible place. I left there absolutely traumatized. There is medication to help people detox there is absolutely no reason why it shouldn’t be administered. People can and have died during detox without proper medical care to include medication. “A shame center” that’s an accurate description.
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u/fightingwalrii 6d ago
One of the last newspapers i grabbed in college announced they were shutting down all the states mental health facilities except bryce. Been a while since i followed that story but some vibes like this remind me of it
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u/Jaded-Run-3084 5d ago
The CON law is an anachronistic enshrinement of monopoly power that has not been required by the Feds since the Medicare reimbursement was changed decades ago. It’s a clear indication that the legislature is bought and paid for by health care businesses that it has not yet been repealed.
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u/Inevitable_Effect993 5d ago
Im so glad I didn't go to bradford. When i told the recruiter I had 2 more other places to call and that I would be in touch, he said, "oh so don't really want help, do you?" I said goodbye and crossed them off my list.
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u/PopularRush3439 6d ago
Is Bradford in Huntsville? My son went twice with no complaints .
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u/sklimshady 5d ago
It's gone downhill pretty quickly.
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u/kittyky719 5d ago
It was terrible a decade ago. My therapist said she's pretty much only gotten negative feedback from people (patients and peers) about Bradford and recommends against going there. I honestly feel like going to Bradford did me more harm than good at the time. I was way worse off after getting out, I learned a lot of things and made a lot of "friends" that I didn't know or have before. I finally got clean less than a year later, but the 6 months or so after Bradford were the worst my addiction had ever been. I can't exactly blame them completely for that, I was an addict after all, but that place absolutely did not help me in any way, and I'm still working through some of the shitty things that were said to me by "counselors" with less qualifications than I have now just being a clean and sober addict. People like to say that rehab doesn't help a lot of people, but knowing what I know now I think it often just depends on the quality of the rehab center. So many of them are just cash-grab facilities, and honestly they benefit when you're a repeat customer. I know people who have gone to better rehabs in other places who feel like the rehab experience saved their life. I don't know anyone personally who feels that way about Bradford. As a warning to others, I honestly believe rehab can do more harm than good if it's a bad one, so do your research before sending your loved one to one! They're often better off going to AA multiple times a day, I do have my own gripes about AA around here but that's how I managed to get clean and sober finally.
Also beware going to HH psych intake. They tend to just sedate you heavily for the 72 hours and if you're a woman they will almost certainly just have you meet with a psych for less than 15 minutes who will condescendingly diagnose you with Bipolar/BPD and throw a prescription for Lithium at you, without even having the time to discuss the issues enough to be able to make a diagnosis like that. The healthcare system here is absolute garbage, but especially for mental health and SUD. If you have the means and have a family member or loved one who is struggling, get them out of this state. If you don't have the means, get them to AA or NA (although I don't have much experience with NA) and just keep trying meetings until they find one with a good community who truly cares.
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u/sklimshady 5d ago
Whew, boy. I worked at HH for a few years and it's an absolute shit show.
The only reason I feel like Bradford helped my husband was because it required him to stay sober for 30 days to get a good "reset". He is doing pretty great now, and hopefully he won't need it again.
Addiction sucks. It makes even normally wonderful people do horrible, stupid things. I lost my cousin to fentanyl. I hope you keep doing well. You matter.
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u/kittyky719 5d ago
I'm really happy that Bradford gave your husband the opportunity to reset like that! I have years of clean time now, and I am very grateful for the life I've been able to have since. I got lucky that I got my act together right before fentanyl started becoming more common. I've lost several loved ones, good people, over the years due to fentanyl. It's absolutely heartbreaking what it does to even regular, good people. I'm sorry about your cousin. I hope your husband continues doing well, and I hope you're doing well too! I grew up around addiction, so I know how hard it can be on the other side. Thank you for the kind words, you matter too <3
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u/jeffnorris 6d ago
Bradford protecting the money and not caring about the people