Montreux opened in 1993. Today, Claude-Pierre operates amid the beeping and whirring of pagers, cellular phones, and fax machines. Hundreds of parents and potential patients contact the clinic each month. But, located in a restored mansion in a wealthy neighborhood of Victoria, it can handle only nine acutely ill patients at one time and up to 40 others in various stages of recovery. The waiting list is 15 years long.
Grave illness is virtually an entry requirement.
What distinguishes Montreux from nearly all other eating-disorder programs is the high level of individual attention given to patients and the focus on relieving both victims and their parents of responsibility for the illness. If patients won't feed themselves, they are hand fed. If they toss their breakfast out the window, it is replaced. Unlike many hospitals, Montreux does not link patient privileges to weight gain and food consumption. Nutritional drinks come in opaque sports bottles to mask the amounts.