Addictive Disease Center

Questions?

Please Call

704-332-9001

Walk-in

Assessments

Monday-Friday

8:30am-4:00pm

S. Eugene Hall became McLeod Addictive Disease Center’s Executive Director in 1981 and was named President in 1994.  Under Mr. Hall’s leadership McLeod Center has become the largest comprehensive addiction treatment center in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.  

This column will be updated monthly, so check back often!

 

 

If you have any questions or comments for McLeod Center, please send an email.

In 1983, Open House was, at least, financially challenged in politically correct parlance. In fact, Open House was financially poor and nearly totally dependent upon funding from state and local government for financial support. However, some of the key staff members had developed a significant commitment to the direction and purpose of the organization their spirit was Open House’s only asset of notable value and their hands held the future of the organization. Ironically, none of the loyalists could possibly have known the extent to which Open House actually wanted their hands literally, and their muscles and sweat.

 

The new Open House home was a sprawling building of approximately 24,000 square feet. In order to make the new space functional as a treatment center, Open House had a total of $75,000.00 available for renovating the building, or about $3.12 per square foot for a building that needed multiple changes, general upgrades, including plumbing,  and did not meet fire code standards for an inpatient setting. To respond to the challenge Open House had an Executive Director who believed that he and others willing to try could be successful in any construction or renovation effort and who believed that any project could be accomplished much quicker than logic and reality would dictate. Despite the obvious flaws in leadership a team of managers who were either true believers or persons desperate to retain their employment embraced a philosophy that would come to define the efforts at Open House for decades yet to come. Each person engaged in the enormous task came to understand and then to believe that effort, attitude and energy nearly always offsets a deficit of knowledge concerning issues common to mankind’s existence, that mistakes and their correction mark the course of men and women’s success, and that a shared vision of what can be provides light even for the most difficult paths.

 

For the easy part of the effort walls were removed and new walls were erected in order to make offices and treatment space. Booths were built and upholstered for the cafeteria. Tile was installed to cover the areas where walls had been removed. Multiple gallons of paint were applied.

 

For the hard part, the 5000 square foot area designated for residential treatment services had to have a second sheet of drywall installed on every wall in order to meet fire code standards. Working during the day and into the evenings, usually seven days a week, the managers began to take on the appearance of a construction crew with boots, jeans, tool belts and hats with a variety of logos. When walking through the halls, they made the clanging metallic, full of meaningful motion sound characteristic of people who are getting something done. Radios played constantly and time was marked by the progress of North Carolina State’s basketball team’s near miraculous march to the 1983 men’s NCAA Championship. As great as the North Carolina State victory may have been, for the team at Open House that had taken on what seemed an impossible challenge the victory seemed to be greater and of more importance. After the last sheet of drywall was hung, the last tape applied, the sanding finished, and the paint brushes cleaned, important life changing experiences would occur in this space for thousands of people. For many their recovery would endure for a lifetime. And, for the management team, no one would ask them to repeat their extraordinary heroics in 1984. What they accomplished in 1983 would be quite enough.

 

Open House was open for business as never before. The “management training” as repair and renovation efforts came to be called would continue for years to come.