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Visiting a Loved One at the Betty Ford Center

The care, love and support of family and friends is vital to the healing and recovery of your loved one. The privacy, respect and safety of your loved one and all of our patients is of the utmost importance. Please review the information below prior to visiting the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California.

Lodging

For your convenience a brief listing of local hotels is provided below. Select hotels on this list offer discounted rates to visitors of the Betty Ford Center. If you choose to stay at one of these hotels, please be sure to mention that you will be visiting the Betty Ford Center in order to secure your special rate.

Getting Here


Flying

We suggest purchasing an open-ended airline ticket that permits date changes in the event you decide to extend your stay. Palm Springs International airport is the closest airport to Betty Ford Center (approximately 10 miles).

Driving

Take Interstate 10 to the Bob Hope exit (south), take Bob Hope Drive (6 miles), Eisenhower Medical Center will be on the left-hand side of Bob Hope Drive. Upon entering Eisenhower Medical Center campus you will find sign kiosks providing direction to the Betty Ford Center. Follow signs to the security gate of the Betty Ford Center.

Visitor Expectations

  • Visiting hours are Sunday from 12–4 p.m. Visitors will need to check in at the front desk.
  • Visitors are advised that if they are bringing items for a patient, these items must be checked in with the hall technician.
  • Visitors are asked to leave cameras, family pets and home baked goods at home.
  • Visitors are not allowed to smoke on campus at any time.
  • Visitors are not allowed to bring cell phones, laptop computers, iPads or any other electronic devices on campus for visitation
  • Pets are not permitted on campus. This guideline does not apply to service animals such as seeing-eye dogs. Proof of current vaccinations should be readily available. For more information please see our Service Animal Policy.

Contacting Patients

In most circumstances, we ask that contact with a patient be limited to the designated phone and email times on weekends and to the visiting time on Sundays. The treatment day is very full and we like to help our patients stay focused on their treatment and the progress they are making. Provided we have a signed Authorization to Release Information on file, a staff member may contact family and friends if a problem arises or if something out of the ordinary occurs. Contact from the Center is limited during a patient treatment stay, we encourage family and friends to remember the old adage, "no news is good news", and trust that things are progressing as they should.

Should the need arise for you to call into the Center to speak with staff, please be aware that we will need to verify that we have a signed Authorization to Release Information to you on file. Callers will also be asked to provide the patient's privacy code. This is a code that is generated at the time the patient is admitted. Each patient is asked to designate a family member as their Privacy Code Representative and this family member is asked to distribute the code amongst friends and family. Before releasing information to any caller, staff will make sure that we have BOTH a signed Authorization to Release Information on file and that the caller has provided the correct privacy code. This is done to ensure that we are fully protecting all patient's privacy.

Telephone Access

Telephone access is provided between 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 p.m. Sunday. Each patient is allotted two, 15-minute times on Saturday and two, 30-minute times on Sunday. Calls will be coming from 1-760-340-3911.

Computer Access

Computer access is provided between 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 p.m. Sunday. The best way for family and friends to leave non-emergency messages for a patient is via the patient's personal email. They will have a 30-minute time slot on both Saturday and Sunday to check and respond to email using the Betty Ford Center computers. Use of personal laptops is not allowed.

Mail and Packages

Patients can receive incoming mail and send outgoing mail. Please address all mail or packages to your loved one by using their legal name (no nicknames, please).

Any packages or gifts that you're sending into the Betty Ford Center will be opened in the presence of a staff member. We do this for the protection of our residents as some food, cosmetics and all outside medications can cause problems. Only food in pre-sealed packages will be allowed. Movies, magazines, recreational reading or business materials, caffeinated products and home-cooked foods are not allowed.

Regular postal mail address:

(Patient's LEGAL Name)
P.O. Box 1560
Rancho Mirage, CA 92270

For carriers that do not accept P.O. boxes (FedEx, UPS), please address to:

(Patient's LEGAL Name)
Betty Ford Center
39000 Bob Hope Drive
Rancho Mirage, CA 92270

Bookstore

The Betty Ford Center bookstore includes recovery reading materials, CDs and DVDs, sobriety medallions, as well as gifts, jewelry, clothes and various sundry items. The bookstore is located in the Daniels Building on the first floor and is open to visitors, patients and staff. Bookstore hours are:

  • Monday–Friday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
  • Saturday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.