AP file Betty Ford and her husband, President Gerald Ford, at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1974.The day after learning that former First Lady Betty Ford died, residents from around the region praised her openness and courage in the face of breast cancer and drug addiction.Mrs. Ford's death was confirmed Friday by Marty Allen, chairman emeritus of the Ford Foundation, according to The Associated Press. She was 93.
Just months after her husband, Gerald Ford, took over as president in 1974, Mrs. Ford was diagnosed with breast cancer. She shocked many with her frankness about her treatments, including talking openly about her mastectomy.
"In the early 1970s, that wasn't something that was talked about," said Timmie Ott, a longtime registered nurse and volunteer for the American Cancer Society. "She brought it to the forefront and inspired a lot of women to not be afraid, to get checked."
Mrs. Ford's openness with her struggles with alcoholism and drug addiction also opened doors for people in the 1970s and beyond, locals said.
After co-founding the nonprofit Betty Ford Center in California in 1982, Mrs. Ford raised millions of dollars for the center, kept close watch over its operations, and regularly welcomed groups of new patients with a speech that started, "Hello, my name's Betty Ford, and I'm an alcoholic and drug addict," according to The Associated Press.
And while it is now common these days to hear about public figures' struggles with addiction, that was not the case when Mrs. Ford faced her own struggles with alcohol and drugs in the late 1970s, said Kevin McLaughlin, executive director of Scranton's Drug & Alcohol Treatment Services.
Gary Davis, who does outreach for regional addiction treatment center Clear Brook Inc., said her courage helped inspire others to seek the help they needed.
"She brought national recognition to the addiction problem," he said. "She took a lot of the social stigma away from addiction treatment."
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