Fora Health staff are THE pilar to providing care to our community. We are so grateful for each person who has walked into Fora Health and made a difference. Andy, Facilities Director, has been working here for almost 20 years – creating a safe and clean facility so that people’s journey to sobriety is housed in a place of tranquility.
Andy came to Fora health (then De Paul Treatment Center) with 28 years of experience helping his father’s construction business and being a warehouse manager for Safeway and Dryer’s Ice Cream. After spending a lot of time in these industries, he wanted to branch out into nonprofits. He saw De Paul Treatment as not only an opportunity to apply his skills in a different environment but also to learn more about substance use disorder. “I had a sister, who was a long-term addict, and I didn’t understand it. So, I was eager to learn.”
Through the years, Andy saw, experienced, and overcame many obstacles while overseeing the facility, including fights, breaking of equipment, damage to the building, and more.
One of the first major hurdles Andy dealt with that showcased his knack for problem-solving and safeguarding the facility from future incidents was when an employee with total access to the building lost a five-pound wad of keys. The aftermath was having to re-key the entire building. The locksmith they hired took six weeks to work on around 150 locks in the building and it took even longer to have employees exchange their old keys for the new set. Andy introduced a bid system after this that narrowed the number of keys to a Master key, mid-master, and tenant key. This both streamlined the system and bolstered safety.
Another big headache was a bed bug infestation at our old downtown location. They tried everything! The thing that finally solved it was emptying the building, bringing in heaters and a big generator to create a 130-degree environment that nuked the bugs. Incidents like that are why Andy and his team take safety and sanitary protocols so seriously when patients are admitted. For example, installing a hot room protocol for patient items to be processed to ensure no bug infestations can happen. Moreover, Andy and his team are consistently given top marks from patients in internal surveys for maintaining a consistently clean and safe environment.
During his time at Fora, Andy also learned a lot about substance use disorder and how to better understand and empathize with those who suffer from it – particularly his sister, who struggled with addiction since high school.
“I’m a pretty black-and-white kind of guy. It’s either right or wrong. I didn’t understand why she couldn’t get healthy. The idea that someone who can’t control it themselves without help was probably the biggest thing I learned. And understanding that it’s a disease. It changed my perspective.”
But now, Andy’s sister is five years sober and in a stable, healthy living environment and he says she’s doing great!
Some of Andy’s favorite memories were participating in De Paul’s golf tournament fundraisers that he used to help organize. “It was a lot of fun. And the end result was a benefit for the youth program. It always made a bunch of money and it was a fun day. So that’s a huge highlight.”
Andy has had many opportunities to transition and hold other positions, but loves his work at Fora and genuinely enjoys his job. He said it’s exactly what he needed all these years and plans to stay till he retires.
