Dee Wirth, left, gets a little help from Kenia Leon as they play with some children?s puzzles in the day care center inside the Women?s and Children?s Campus of WestCare at 5659 Duncan Drive, Las Vegas. Leon is a counselor at the center, and Wirth is a former client who now works there as a supervisor.DAVID BECKER/VIEW
david becker/ViewAmanda Toledo, 1 month, sleeps during a group session where her mother and other women share their feelings at WestCare?s Women?s and Children?s Campus.
david becker/ViewWestCare clients Elizabeth Barrett, left, and Jennifer Spencer put together a certificate for some of the employees at the WestCare Women?s and Children?s Campus.
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WestCare is celebrating 35 years of providing health and human services in Southern Nevada this year, and through all those years, there have been thousands of success stories born from the nonprofit organization's varied programs.
Dee Wirth is one of those stories.
Today, Wirth is a supervisor for the women's residential program at WestCare Nevada's Women's and Children's Campus, 5659 Duncan Drive in northwest Las Vegas. The campus houses many programs with an emphasis on providing substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation, temporary housing, family support and counseling and crisis intervention.
Wirth knows the system, and the campus, better than anyone. Four years ago she came here, all out of second chances, luckily sent to WestCare instead of prison after a fifth court appearance linked to her methamphetamine addiction.
Wirth, 40, moved to Las Vegas in 1981 and graduated from Basic High School in 1986. She started doing drugs "later than most," in her early 20s while working as a cocktail waitress in a local casino.
"I used for so many years, until I was 35, but I didn't have any incidents with the police until I was in my 30s," she said. "I had all my kids while I was on it. I had a very abusive relationship on it. I had been homeless for years, with my kids, and had (Child Protective Services) take them a couple times. It took me to the pits of hell."
The last time she was arrested, for stealing a purse in a restaurant to get money to feed her family while on probation, she went to jail for 65 days and then was ordered to WestCare. It was October 2004.
"Four months later, my kids came to visit me, and this was and is the only facility where there are residential services for families, where you can have your kids live with you," Wirth said. "I didn't know they were coming to visit, and they were dirty and hungry. The people who ran this place said they weren't going to let my kids go back home and live like that, so they moved in, too."
That proved to be the turning point, the moment when she decided not only to break her addiction, but also to work hard to improve herself and help others. It's not an usual circumstance.
"A lot of our employees have received assistance from us," said Kirby Burgess, WestCare senior vice president. "They've had life-changing experiences and decided to come back and work here."
While in the later stages of her treatment, Wirth attended classes at the College of Southern Nevada and worked in a nearby nursing home.
After 20 months, when her treatment was finished, she didn't feel ready to leave the Women's and Children's Campus.
"This was my foundation. I never lived on my own before. I'd never really taken care of my kids before," she said. "Now I'm living a life I wouldn't have dreamed of before."
Working with WestCare is her calling, she said, and now she wouldn't dream of being anywhere else. She lives with her three children around the corner from the campus, and said when she purchases a home soon, it will be in the same neighborhood.
Not only does Wirth work with women who are in the same situation she once was, but she also speaks at community events and to other service organizations, sharing her experience.
"I've seen lots of miracles, lots of success in this building," said Darlene Terrill, director of the Women's and Children's Campus. "Dee is really a testament to us, how she's worked herself into the role she's in. She has so much to give."
But Wirth's story, incredible as it is, doesn't come as a huge surprise to Terrill, who's been with WestCare Nevada for 17 years. She's seen things like this before, and helped them along. Her campus, one of several Las Vegas-area WestCare facilities, treats close to 3,000 individuals every year.
"That's what we do, rebuild lives," Terrill said. "When I started with the organization, we were only in Nevada and we had 50 employees, and now we're in eight states with over 1,500 employees. Even with that explosion of growth, we really are like a family, it doesn't matter how big."
WestCare started in 1973 with the creation of a residential substance abuse program called Fitzsimmons House in Las Vegas. It was funded by a grant from the Teamsters Union to provide community-based treatment for adult male heroin addicts who were indigent or from low-income households.
Within a few years, a similar program was made available to women and addicts of other drugs, but that was just the beginning of the organization's expansion.
WestCare now operates programs and facilities in California, Arizona, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, Illinois and in the Virgin Islands. Services also have moved far beyond substance abuse to include homeless and runaway shelters, domestic violence treatment and prevention, and mental health programs, in residential and outpatient environments.
Burgess has been with WestCare for almost three years now. He works in a supervisory role over programs and facilities in Nevada and Arizona.
"The thing about us is that we've grown not for the sake of growth, but in response to the community's needs," he said. "When we see a challenge in the community, we are willing to step up to that plate. And over the years, as we've expanded into other parts of the country, it was always because we were contacted and invited to help address those issues in those communities."
The most recent WestCare facility opening occurred when a triage center in Reno opened in February, the organization's first outlet in Northern Nevada.
Besides the Women's and Children's Campus, Southern Nevada facilities include the Community Triage Center at 930 N. 4th St., the Harris Spring Ranch Adult Services facility at 4300 Harris Spring Road, and the Mental Health Crisis Unit at 401 S. Martin Luther King Blvd.
Services for rural Nevada areas including Amargosa, Beatty, Logandale, Laughlin and Pahrump are available. The Pahrump Community Involvement Center is located on Highway 160.
WestCare also founded the WestCare Charter School, now known as the Delta Academy, last year at 4075 N. Rancho Drive. Now in its second school year, the academy focuses on providing education to students of various backgrounds, including those with behavioral or social problems.
Burgess said WestCare has been able to grow and serve more people because of collaboration with a strong network of other service organizations and because the growth has been planned. Those factors contribute to continued success despite state budget cuts and a slow economy.
"We have tremendous community partners, including other organizations and our volunteers and the citizens of Las Vegas. That tree has many branches on it," he said. "I've lived here 31 years now, and the community has gone beyond proving it can respond when a need arises. This is a resilient community. Slower growth directly impacts us, and the state continues to go through budget cuts. We've had to tighten our belts. But we remain committed to our goals, and our services haven't dropped."
WestCare has survived, and succeeded, for 35 years, and the people who continue to drive the organization aren't planning on quitting.
"It's huge that we're still here because the population was only 260,000 back then, and we didn't have enough beds to take care of everyone. It's very significant that through that growth, we've survived and expanded when a lot of other organizations have not," Terrill said. "I don't know where our clients would be if we weren't here. Now we just have to keep doing more, and we intend to do more."
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