Announcements & News

EMERITUS BOARD MEMBER

JOHN M. BUTLER 

John M. Butler was born in Brooklyn, New York and received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from St. John’s University in New York and New York University respectively.  He was the Chief Financial and Accounting Officer of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad for 21 years including the period during which management negotiated and executed the acquisition of the railroad by its employees.  He executed or directed a wide variety of debt and equity financings aggregating over $2 billion.  In addition, he was actively involved in tax matters and the management of accounting operations, including cost reductions.  He was a director and member of the Executive Committee of the board for 11 years.  He held the same positions at the railroad’s holding company.  Mr. Butler is a Certified Public Accountant with 14 years of earlier and highly diversified accounting experience.  This included 4 years as Controller of Dictaphone Corporation, which had 3 manufacturing plants, and a company operated network of 240 sales and service branches, 4 years with ITT Corporation and 4 years with a Big Four national CPA firm.  Prior to that, he served 2 years in the U.S. Coast Guard, principally as a junior officer in the Philippines.  He has been on the board of Haymarket Center its predecessor McDermott Foundation since 1990.

 

 

 

A key factor in the success of Haymarket was the working team.  Working with Monsignor McDermott, Jack Whalen, along with many others was a man that brought in a priceless resource: not just money, but a man with sophisticated experience in finance.  It began when Monsignor McDermott told Mr. Whalen simply, “A man has called who wants to give money.  I’d like you to talk to him.”  He was John Butler, a recently retired top financial officer with the Chicago Northwestern railroad.  Whalen visited with Butler, who had been donating $2,000 here and $5,000 there.  Butler was looking for a cause to give more money to.  Whalen took him on a tour of the ravaged Haymarket House, pointing out what it could ultimately be.  Butler joined the board and became Chief Financial Officer of McDermott Foundation, volunteering his time and ruling on important financial decisions (source: Father Mac, written by Tom Roeser).

 

 

 

Since he joined the board of Haymarket Center, Mr. Butler has served as an unpaid Vice President and Chairman of the Finance Committee.  He was instrumental in acquiring land and buildings for the Center.  One of his accomplishments was to renegotiate the bank loan for Haymarket properties.  His efforts saved tens of thousands of dollars of interest payments.  These are but a few of the many contributions that Mr. Butler has been involved in.  We are grateful to his family for allowing him to be an intricate part of the history of Haymarket Center.

 

 

 

Finally, we say thanks to John for all the good work he has done for the people we are privileged to serve.  As a last request, Haymarket Center would be honored for John to accept the honorary title of Emeritus Board Member recognizing the quantity and quality of your distinguished service and passion for the mission and vision set forth by our founder Monsignor Ignatius McDermott.  Your commitment serves as an example of a person who truly wants to do God’s work.

FOX 32 News Chicago

Dr. Dan Lustig, VP of Clinical Services at Haymarket Center, was interviewed this week by FOX News Chicago about the new CDC report that shows the increase in heroin use in the last decade, only reinforcing what we know from our patients at Haymarket.

While heroin use more than doubled among whites, it has seemed to level off in other racial and ethnic groups. It grew among different income levels, and in different parts of the country. And the rate of heroin use doubled in women, which is a more dramatic rise than what was seen in men.

At the Haymarket Center in Chicago, we are seeing the same problems as across the country, and maybe even worse due to Chicago being a hub for heroin distribution. “It's a chronically relapsing condition. It takes six to seven different treatment attempts, dosages of treatment before a person reaches a period of sustained recovery,” Dr. Lustig said.

 

See the full Fox News 32 Report here.

Dan Lustig, VP Clinical Services, Haymarket Center discusses how they aid people with chemical dependency in their recovery by providing a continuum of optimal professional care that is responsive to the identified needs of the community

 

 

Date: Tuesday, October 7th
Time: 7:00pm
Location: Frick Center, Founders Lounge at Elmhurst College
General Admission: $10.00

Additional Information:
Over the past year, about 25,000 girls and women in the Chicago area were recruited for or coerced into the commercial sex industry—and the number of such victims is steadily increasing. How has human trafficking become such a big business here? A panel of top law enforcement officials and representatives of social service agencies will examine this most vexing local issue.

 

 

Panelists include:
Dr. Dan Lustig, Haymarket Center
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart
Elyse Dobney, Salvation Army Stop-It Program
Immigration Judge Jennie Giambastiani

Some of the items listed below may seem like “symptoms” of being a teenager, but what’s important is noting multiple changes in behavior, mood or attitude from how someone acts normally.   If you suspect something is different with your teen, start a conversation.  The following warning signs are from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Easy-to-Read Drug Facts, “Signs of Drug Abuse and Addiction.”

• 1) Changes in mood that seem to happen suddenly, from sad to happy.
• 2) Spending a lot of time alone.
• 3) Loss of interest in what used to be favorite activities.
• 4) Uncharacteristic high energy, speaking rapidly, saying things that don’t make sense.
• 5) Strange sleeping patterns.
• 6) Changes in personal hygiene: not bathing, brushing teeth or changing clothes.
• 7) Acting nervous, cranky or frequently in a bad mood.
• 8) Changes in appetite or eating patterns.
• 9) Having trouble at school or work, or missing appointments.
• 10) Being overly tired and sad.

Want to learn more? See FAQs in Ask Haymarket.

by Dan Lustig

When a celebrity overdoses, it is easy to make assumptions and blame the individual. He was personally flawed: selfish, weak. He could afford treatment, but instead he chose drugs.
Substance abuse facts counter these assumptions:

Drugs cause a physical change in the brain leading to compulsive, chronic drug abuse - addiction. While initial drug use is a choice, science tells us that it becomes less so. Chemical changes in the brain drive individuals to seek out and abuse more drugs.

Relapse is common. "Recovering addict" is a lifetime status and Mr. Hoffman was clean for 23 years before he relapsed. Because relapse is very much part of the disease progression, completing treatment can’t guarantee future sobriety. Treatment does greatly increase success rates particularly when specialized programs and supports are incorporated along with ongoing support groups. Maintaining attendance at support groups remain the biggest variable in ongoing recovery.

Addiction is a disease that is never cured and may return. Individuals may go into remission, but will not be cured. Like any other chronic health care condition.

• An organ transplant recipient is not 'cured.' The permanent physical change to their body requires care for their remaining lifetime.
• Drug addiction causes physical changes in the brain that must be addressed for life. A relapse simply signals new treatment is needed because it’s a disease.

We CAN increase successful addiction treatment and recovery:

Let go of stereotypes. Understanding that addiction can affect anyone removes the stigma of seeking treatment. In Chicago’s west suburban DuPage County, 46 heroin overdose deaths in 2013 represent a nearly 60% increase over the 29 in 2008.

Demand evidence-based treatment programs developed using scientific methods with their effectiveness validated by patient outcomes. Only one-third of all national substance abuse treatment programs are evidence-based. All Haymarket Programs and Services are evidence-based.

Educate children about prescription drug abuse. After marijuana, prescription and OTC medicines are the most commonly abused drugs among 12th graders. Prescription painkiller overdose deaths have quadrupled since 1999 and now outnumber those from heroin and cocaine combined. Dispose of old prescriptions.

Detox and recovery treatment, not just incarceration. Having a disease is not a crime. Needing to support a drug dependency can lead to criminal behavior. So why not prevent crime by treating addicts?

Addiction touches all of our lives. There were 21.5 million Americans, 18 years and older, abusing drugs in 2012. Sixty-eight percent of those, 14.6 million, were employed. They could be your co- worker, bus driver, kid’s daycare worker or the family doctor. Wouldn’t you like them all to be sober and in recovery?

 

---

Dr. Dan Lustig is Haymarket's VP of Clinical Services and a nationally recognized Substance Abuse Speaker with over 20 years’ experience in the field of alcohol and substance abuse treatment and recovery. With expertise encompassing clinical services, intervention research and psychological counseling, he is a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor (CADC) with treatment certification for mentally ill substance abusers (MISA II). Contact Dr. Lustig to present at your school or group.

If you don't have money or insurance, you may have to wait for drug treatment

Some publicly financed drug treatment centers report waiting lists for those seeking treatment for addiction

READ FULL ARTICLE FROM WBEZ.ORG

 

(Chicago) – OP-ED: The Department of Human Services Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse estimates Illinois will spend $72 million on substance abuse prevention and treatment this current fiscal year.

This amount is down dramatically from what Illinois spent on prevention and treatment in 2009, which was nearly $128 million. In just five years, Illinois has cut spending on treatment and prevention by 44% – a total of $56 million dollars.

The federal government cut our Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant funding by a similar amount. So the overall cut to the substance use disorders treatment and prevention field has been well over $100 million. In terms of the State’s overall budget, this is a small amount. But the cuts have been devastating to our field. Most agencies have cut services, some have shut down, and some are on the brink of closing.

Meanwhile, heroin abuse in Chicago and its suburbs has exploded. No doubt you have seen this in the newspapers and in your communities. We have certainly seen a dramatic increase in heroin abusers entering our system at Haymarket. Our detoxification unit, which today is smaller because of funding cuts, is overflowing with individuals seeking help.

Prior to the SMART Act the State spent $100 million in Medicaid dollars on three-day detox stays in hospitals alone, where patients were stabilized and returned to the street. By contrast, Haymarket and other treatment providers move the individuals into treatment and help them enter into recovery.

Chestnut Health Systems, based in Bloomington, Illinois, conducted a research study funded by the National Institutes on Drug Abuse in which they followed up 436 adults admitted to Haymarket Center for treatment quarterly for four years. What they found was that these 436 individuals cost society over six and a half million dollars in the year before treatment.

These costs included emergency room visits, hospital stays, arrests, stays in jails and prisons, and many other costs. What the researchers further found out, however, was that the cost of substance abuse treatment was offset within 18 months, and ended up saving Illinois tax payers six and a half million dollars over four years.

The lesson we can learn from this research on Haymarket’s own clients, here in Illinois, is that if DASA’s budget is cut, and Haymarket has to reduce capacity again, any short-term savings will be more than offset by millions of dollars of costs to Illinois tax payers.

As [Illinois lawmakers] begin the very difficult task of creating the State’s budget in a challenging time, we strongly urge you to realize that cutting DASA’s budget will only increase costs in Illinois and make the budget challenges worse.

Dan Lustig, Psy.D., MISA II, CRADC, Vice President of Clinical Services, Haymarket Center

Excerpt of testimony on the Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Budget by Dan Lustig, Psy.D., MISA II, CRADC, Vice President of Clinical Services, Haymarket Center to the Illinois House of Representatives Human Services Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, March 10, 2014.

Talking to loved ones about heroin

BY Dan Lustig

Last Modified: Feb 5, 2014 09:10PM

When an artist of great talent dies due to addiction, as did Philip Seymour Hoffman on Sunday morning, we have an occasion to talk with people we love.

Too often, it takes a tragic death to remind us of the importance of substance abuse treatment. And yet, contrary to the seeming message of that death, addiction is truly a preventable disease and a treatable medical condition.

Hoffman’s performance in “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” as the subversive Plutarch Heavensbee, made him visible to our kids — just as their generation struggles with drugs for the first time in their lives. His death can teach them — and us — a lesson.

With a needle in his arm, and dozens of bags of heroin in his apartment, Hoffman’s death represents both the drug’s resurgence and the many addicts we are seeing today. Just two days before he died, New York City police busted a Bronx-based distribution ring, finding 33 pounds of heroin worth $8 million, one of its largest finds on record.

Addiction has been the No. 1 killer in Illinois since 2006. The DuPage County coroner’s office says yearly heroin deaths there began climbing about six years ago, to the low-40s from the mid-20s. That is one every eight or nine days. Victims are overwhelmingly white males.

Hoffman said last year he had been clean and sober for 23 years, since his college days, but relapsed. His decline should bring attention to the heroin epidemic in Chicago’s suburbs. Addiction is a chronic relapsing disease.

Addiction affects all socioeconomic classes. Its grip on our children and on young adults is very strong.

The vast majority of kids start with unused, opiate-based, prescription painkillers from their parents’ medicine chests.

Once hooked, they seek inexpensive, small quantities of relatively pure heroin. Chicago is a heroin distribution hub. An extensive marketing network has evolved here to serve them.

Addicts seek heroin’s short-term effects. In the brain, it is converted to morphine. It rapidly binds to opiate receptors. Abusers typically report a surge of a pleasure sensation — a “rush.”

The intensity of the rush depends on how much of the drug is taken and how fast it reaches the brain. Then, the abuser feels drowsy for several hours, as heroin clouds mental function by its effect on the central nervous system. Cardiac function also is severely impacted as heroin slows breathing.

Kids in treatment say they are told that because of “purity,” addiction will not result. They snort, again because they are told it prevents addiction. They are wrong on both counts.

Addiction itself is one of the most detrimental effects of long-term heroin use. Once present, it often takes years to move individuals into recovery.

Families and loved ones often do not understand that concept. Concerned as they are, they often feel that once an individual enters treatment, they should be “cured.” But many individuals cycle in and out of treatment before reaching any period of sustained recovery.

The harsh reality is that there is no cure for addiction. There is only remission, not unlike to other chronic health-care conditions.

Death by heroin overdose is a particular risk, since no one knows what they are ingesting.

This makes it imperative that treatment, medication-assisted therapies and other support services are available when individuals require it, and that managed-care entities address addiction services comprehensively, as with other medical conditions.

Overcoming an addiction is extremely difficult, and especially so when loved ones, trying to help, seek a cure — often before the patient is ready for treatment.

If Hoffman’s death starts kitchen table conversations that help families, then some small good will have come of it.

Talk about drugs. Talk about heroin and addiction with your children. Start today.

Go to the National Institute on Drug Abuse website. Its “parents” section has many answers and provides language to help you speak with your children.

A generation of kids is experiencing drugs for the first time. Give yours the benefit of what we have learned. You might prevent another tragedy.

Dan Lustig, Psy.D., heads clinical programs at Haymarket Center, a nationally recognized substance abuse treatment facility.

Copyright © 2014 — Sun-Times Media, LLC.

John J. Whalen, 84, chairman of the board of the Haymarket Center and a successful ink business executive, died Monday, January 20, 2014 of natural causes at Loyola Medical Center in Maywood.

Mr. Whalen had been hospitalized for several days battling various ailments.  Born July 3, 1929 in the Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, he was a Westchester resident at the time of his death.

Mr. Whalen served on the McDermott Foundation board from 1983 to his passing, making him the longest-serving director of the foundation parent of Haymarket Center.  

Haymarket Center is a nationally-recognized independent, not-for-profit treatment center in substance abuse and dependency, troubled pregnancies and job training, founded by legendary Chicago cleric Monsignor Ignatius D. McDermott.

“My dad put his whole heart and soul into Haymarket, and he virtually lived Haymarket's mission right up to the last minutes of his life.  His roommate in the hospital was struggling with his efforts in recovery, my dad quite literally spent the very last hour of his life trying to help this man,” Julia Whalen-Musil, Mr. Whalen’s daughter, said.  

Originally, Mr. Whalen joined to assist Haymarket simply to help find a new home.  

“We were going to be as homeless as the men and women we serve,” Haymarket president Ray Soucek said.

“But Jack came through.  While we had been told to vacate, Jack led the identification, purchase and renovation of the current headquarters building at 120 North Sangamon Street.  Jack looked after its maintenance needs ever since.    

“In this way alone, countless thousands owe their treatment and its benefits to Jack Whalen.  He touched that many lives directly.  And through them, thousands more,” Soucek said. 

“I can't tell you how many people have told me, "Your father saved my life," Julia Whalen-Musil said.
   
Mr. Whalen and his wife, Betty, purchased the Kerley Ink Company from the Kerley family in 1968.  Soon thereafter they developed a new ink that made the firm a great success.  

He served as co-president, with Betty, of the company, and as an active member and eventually president of the National Association of Printing Ink Manufacturers.    

In the 2002 book, “Father Mac, The Life and Times of Ignatius D. McDermott,” Mr. Whalen disclosed his own post-Korean War battles with alcohol, though he said, “I didn’t think liquor was my problem.”  

But Mr. Whalen joined Alcoholics Anonymous in 1957.  Soon thereafter, he started helping homeless Skid Row residents get to flop houses.  

Mr. Whalen’s sister recommended that he meet the iconoclastic Fr. McDermott, who was ministering to the same flock.  It took years for the two to get together, but once they did they were nearly inseparable in their service to others on Chicago’s near west side.  

“Jack Whalen was a forceful leader in turbulent times,” said Dr. Dan Lustig, Haymarket Center clinical services vice president. 

“Until last year, 2013, Jack Whalen would devote his Saturdays to Haymarket.  He would arrive ready to help – and thereby inspired the staff, and our clients.”

“Since Jack learned Haymarket from its founder, Father Mac, he kept Father’s attitudes very much alive and kicking in each of our board meetings.  The two of them are now reunited.  We know they are watching,” Soucek said.  

Hursen Funeral Home of Hillside – Westchester is handling arrangements: