February 1, 2019

Jerry Haffey, BSN '00, is the founder and CEO of Ambrosia Treatment Center in West Palm Beach, FL.

At a young age, he started working as an apprentice with the Philadelphia Union Carpenters, Local 1856. Although he stayed with them for ten years, he decided he wanted to pursue a career in medicine and went back to school at Drexel University. In 1989, he began working at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital as a cardiothoracic nurse in the cardiac unit where he noticed that patients with alcohol or substance dependency were not receiving the same level of care that patients without it were getting.

He segued into medical sales with Hill-Rom then moved to Medline Industries in Florida. That's where he saw an opportunity to help change the perception of addicts through public awareness and to build treatment treatment centers of his own.

He opened the first of the Ambrosia Treatment Centers on October 7, 2007. Over the course of eight years, Mr. Haffey opened four more treatment centers in Singer Island and West Palm Beach, Florida; Medford, New Jersey; and Beverly Hills, California. What began with ten employees and 20 patients has now grown to 300 employees and over 15,000 treated clients. And of those clients, Mr. Haffey has awarded over $5,000,000 of free scholarships to over 5,000 patients in order to provide the in-depth, one-on-one treatment that these individuals would not be able to receive otherwise.

He received the Humanitarian Award from the Harold and Carole Pump Cancer Foundation in 2016. A son of a veteran himself, Mr. Haffey plans to expand his reach of helping individuals heal by providing a program for veterans at the Ambrosia Treatment Centers.

We wish to extend our congratulations to Mr. Haffey for his effort in combating one of the country's most pervasive health crisis.