| Show High Class Clays Hotel to Some Brave Group Carries On Rehabilitation This is the second secund of six articles outlining outlining outlining out out- lining the unique program of the nonprofit nonprofit non profit Salt Lake Alcoholic Rehabilitation Center dedicated to the task of restoring hopeless alcoholics to u useful society By I. I Dan an Valentine Hope has moved from Plum Alley and now lives on the second floor at 22 E. E 2nd South At present the second second floor Joor at 22 E. E 2nd South doesn't look Jook like a place where hope could live The ceilings are splattered and spotted spoiled I the floors creak and sag The lights are arc dim and far between The chairs and beds are old and rugged I But still the place looks like the Val Waldorf orf Astoria to some of the guests The second floor of 22 E. E 2nd South is the new home of Salt Sail Lakes Lake's pioneering plan to lo rehabilitate hopeless alcoholics the alcoholics the Salt Lake Rehabilitation Center The A R n C nicknamed C the last house of hope by many a skid row role wino wino gathers gathers 1 i its guests guests from from the utters gutters the doorways the alleys of the cit city I Guests come conic to the A An ARC R C hotel from I jail cells from unpaid hotel rooms from hosp hospital tal charity war wards sIts s. s Its It's the one hotel in town where a guest doesn't need money his credit rating doesn't have e to lo be A l he doesn't need fancy lug lug- gage The only registration requirement for a guest to lo gain admittance to the Alcoholic Rehabilitation Center is for him to lo stand in front of his fellow men and admit defeat Because the first step back to lo normalcy and society for a hopeless alcoholic is for forI I him hint to lo admit in his own mind mind and and in front fronti i of the world world that he is a hopeless alcoholic i When a man gets to lo the point where he hei i cart can admit to lo the world world and and to lo himself himself- that alcohol has him whipped has him on the ropes hes he's ready to start the long climb back to lo respectability In truth the A ARC R C rooms at al 22 E. E 2nd South is the last stopping place Its the thc bottom one A R H C board member mem mem- bet ber explained When an alcoholic gets to us hes he's reached the bottom of the ladder In a n way that helps Because once youre you're at the bottom theres there's no way to lo go but up i Last year men walked walked walked-or or were carried car car- ried through tied through the front door of the center which is never locked or 01 closed Some Sorn came cameI i at night carried b by friends some wobbled in at high noon some fought and flailed their arms in agony as they were carried to the center A few pale few pale shaken men men came came under their own power Some were led to I the center by mothers by wives but all who entered entered everyone every one of the men who entered the center last year year had had lost hope every ery one had given up some were near death some no longer had the de desire to lo live I i iOne One woman woman now now well wen on the way to rehabilitation rehabilitation had had tried to lo commit suicide 1 I four times limes last lait year I II And of these alcoholics who came I through the center in l 1951 51 64 T have been returned to gainful employment 49 reI re- re mai filial sober to this day 22 have ha been suc successfully successfully successfully I and completely rehabilitated an and ij I returned to their place in society Only 9 have failed And they're not I lost they're just dust not read ready I What's the i reason retson back of the success of this Salt Lake group which is solving a problem lem loin that has baffled sociologists psychiatrists psychiatrists psychia psychia- I medical doctors psychologists I The answer is that the center is operated operated oper oper- governed and owned by ex alcoholics II by hy men nun and women who themselves have have I haunted the skid rows of the nation I II I Tomorrow Tomorrow Read about the most ex ex- exclusive I I elusive club in town |
