THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 19, 1997 TAG: 9701190075
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 78 lines
Ronald I. Dozoretz, the man behind The Pines, is used to taking chances.
One of the biggest was in 1971. After coming to Hampton Roads as a Navy psychiatrist in 1966, he started a private, for-profit, psychiatric hospital in Portsmouth.
It paid off in a huge way. Dozoretz, through creative vision and business acumen, parlayed that modest beginning into First Hospital Corp. and other related businesses. One division, now Options Health Care, is the nation's largest public-sector manager of mental health care.
It also helped make him wealthy, and helped him develop a philosophy that he has applied to his business decisions ever since.
``In the scheme of life, if you don't give it a shot, you know, I would still be practicing psychiatry on High Street,'' Dozoretz said during an interview in December at his corporate offices in Norfolk.
Dozoretz, 61, took another chance when he helped create The Pines, a center for juveniles with profound sexual and behavioral dysfunctions, in 1986.
The center was named The Pines after the trees that ringed the old 32-acre Frederick Military Academy site, which Dozoretz bought for the bargain price of $3 million from Portsmouth's Beazley Foundation.
Creating The Pines proved to be another of Dozoretz' wise business decisions. After 10 years of operation, The Pines generates about $1.5 million annually for Alternative Behavioral Services, the Dozoretz umbrella company under which The Pines operates. That represents approximately a 6 percent return on $25 million in annual revenue, Dozoretz said.
The Pines also has had cutting-edge impact within the world of mental health care. Dr. John Hunter, clinical director of the Brighton Campus Behavioral Studies Program, has developed a national reputation for treating young sexual offenders between the ages of 10 and 21. Hunter has conducted research that indicates that successful completion of the Behavioral Studies Program reduces the recidivism rate for juvenile sexual offenders from 40 percent to 13 percent.
But there is no hard research data on one of the other six programs at The Pines - the Phoenix Program, which brings violent and sexually dysfunctional youths from around the nation to Portsmouth.
This program, on the Crawford Campus, houses youths with severe emotional and behavioral problems. These youths typically exhibit behaviors that are self-destructive, highly impulsive, aggressive and sometimes violent.
Nobody knows how effectively the Phoenix treatment program works. Evaluating the success of the Phoenix Program with research, Dozoretz said, ``is something we should do.''
Bringing violent and sexually dysfunctional youths into a community is inherently risky, Dozoretz said.
``Is there a risk?'' Dozoretz asked. ``Of course. . . . Are the risks of these things worth the good that they do for the total society? . . . The work we have done has been worth it, yes.''
In fact, attracting out-of-state youths is essential to making the treatment center work. There are simply not enough local young people with the types of problems treated at The Pines to make such a facility work financially and therapeutically.
``Absolutely we have to go out,'' Dozoretz said. ``No question about that. We couldn't operate that facility with locals. There just aren't enough people here . . . Without those (from out of state) you would not have the size that you need.''
That is a major change from what was originally conceived for The Pines, which was supposed to treat local adolescents. Dozoretz admitted that the concept is somewhat experimental.
``We are trying to be the cutting edge,'' Dozoretz said. ``Anyone who tries to be a little different, to be a little more creative, to do something on the edge a little bit, is going to be criticized.''
Dozoretz has additional plans for treating juvenile offenders in Portsmouth. First Corrections Corp., another of Dozoretz' companies operating under Alternative Behavioral Services, has submitted a proposal to build a juvenile jail on The Pines' Brighton campus. The minimum to medium-security prison would bring another 225 male teen-age criminals to the city. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Ronald I. Dozoretz, 61, admits that the concept of The Pines is
somewhat experimental. ``We are trying to be the cutting edge,'' he
says.
KEYWORDS: THE PINES RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT CENTERS
YOUTH OFFENDERS TEENAGERS