His name was David P. Hooper – and he was the last person to die of alcoholism in the old Portland city jail.

The center that today bears his name is where the road to recovery begins.

The Hooper Center intervenes at this critical juncture by providing medical detoxification. It also performs a significant public service with its outreach and sobering programs.

Detoxification – the first step on the path to recovery

Clients take the first difficult step on the path to recovery by entering Hooper’s 54-bed Subacute Medical Detoxification Program, where they get 4-7 days of medical treatment for early withdrawal symptoms, along with counseling. Drug users now make up 60% of those treated at Hooper. A medical director sees patients several hours a week and is on call. In addition, a professional staff of RNs, counselors, and technicians provide around the clock.

Many of the staff at Hooper are in recovery and have turned their lives around. They are an example that recovery is possible and often provide the first rays of hope for the long journey ahead.

Outreach and Sobering – improving public safety, keeping Portland’s vulnerable safe

Rather than taking intoxicated people to jail, police bring them to Hooper’s Sobering Station to sober up, thus providing a safer and more appropriate environment than the county jail. It keeps these vulnerable citizens safe and allows them an opportunity to get further help.

Hooper’s CHIERS* roving response van assesses and transports alcoholics and addicts from streets and hospital emergency rooms throughout the city. The emergency medical technician on board the CHIERS van is well equipped to work with street alcoholics, substance abusers and the mentally ill, thus providing significant assistance to Portland Police. Under Oregon’s civil hold rules, CHIERS staff is deputized to deliver these people to care.

They spend 3-5 hours at Hooper’s Sobering Station after being assessed by an Emergency Medical Technician to ensure they don’t have critical medical needs.

It Began Here
  
Hooper symbolizes the momentous shift Oregon made when in 1971, the legislature defined alcoholism as a disease, not a crime.

That seemingly simple act shifted responsibility from the legal system to the social system, with a focus on more humane and cost effective means for handling what was then Portland's chronic public inebriate program. Unlike so many cities, Portland didn't abandon skid row, but rather began to transform it. Central City Concern has been a vital part of the process from the beginning.

Impact

• On average Hooper has more than 11,000 admissions to the Sobering Station every year.
• Annually, more than 2,000 people enter Sub Acute Detox
• The CHIERS van transports close to 3,000 admissions to Hooper every year.
• In an internal study, CCC found that in a single year, more than 1,500 children younger than 18 had parents who went through Hooper’s Medical Detox program.