Dr Bob
The story how AA began following the meeting between Dr Bob and Bill W doesn't need repeated here. The AA literature, namely Dr Bob and the Good Oldtimers as well as AA Comes of Age
provide wonderful historical accounts about how Dr Bob would lead
meetings with readings from the Bible and how he'd get patients out of
their beds and onto their knees to pray The Lord's Prayer.
He was particularly fond of the Book of James - in fact, "The James Gang" was an early proposed name of the organization before the Big Book was published and the name Alcoholics Anonymous was adopted.
The AA literature, including the Big Book and the Grapevine, reveals that Dr Bob had a great deal of help from a Catholic nun, Sister Ignatia. In fact, only a few weeks after his last drink, Dr Bob called upon Sr Ignatia to assist him by admitting an alcoholic for treatment at St Thomas Hospital. And she did. She put them in flower rooms and anywhere she could find room. She was more than a hospital administrator allowing Dr Bob to admit patients for treatment. She took an active role in helping these patients.
She gave patients upon admission a Sacred Heart medallion. She would pray with them and provide comfort to them by helping them see that they were the children of a Loving God. She treated them with dignity. She would find ways to get their hospitalizations paid for if needed and would comfort the patient's spouses. When the patients were ready for discharge, she would tell them that if they decided that they wanted to drink, they had to bring the Sacred Heart medallion back. It's not surprising that many of these recovering alcoholics found that the desire to drink went away as they were coming to see Sister with those medallions. The tradition of passing out Anniversary Coins began with Sister Ignatia.
A few years later, experiences from Akron/Cleveland area and New York were summarized in the book Alcoholics Anonymous.
By the time Dr Bob died, he and Sr Ignatia had treated over 5,000 alcoholics in Akron. About 2 years later, she was reassigned to a hospital in Cleveland and was asked to open another ward for alcoholism treatment. She named it Rosary Hall Solarium (RHS are Dr Bob's intials) where another 15,000 alcoholics were treated.
At one point in time more than 50% of all the members of AA were from the Akron-Cleveland area. Sister Ignatia was invited to the White House to meet President Kennedy due to her massive success. What she and Dr Bob had begun is now recognized as the foundation of hospitalized treatment for addiction in the US.
He was particularly fond of the Book of James - in fact, "The James Gang" was an early proposed name of the organization before the Big Book was published and the name Alcoholics Anonymous was adopted.
The AA literature, including the Big Book and the Grapevine, reveals that Dr Bob had a great deal of help from a Catholic nun, Sister Ignatia. In fact, only a few weeks after his last drink, Dr Bob called upon Sr Ignatia to assist him by admitting an alcoholic for treatment at St Thomas Hospital. And she did. She put them in flower rooms and anywhere she could find room. She was more than a hospital administrator allowing Dr Bob to admit patients for treatment. She took an active role in helping these patients.
She gave patients upon admission a Sacred Heart medallion. She would pray with them and provide comfort to them by helping them see that they were the children of a Loving God. She treated them with dignity. She would find ways to get their hospitalizations paid for if needed and would comfort the patient's spouses. When the patients were ready for discharge, she would tell them that if they decided that they wanted to drink, they had to bring the Sacred Heart medallion back. It's not surprising that many of these recovering alcoholics found that the desire to drink went away as they were coming to see Sister with those medallions. The tradition of passing out Anniversary Coins began with Sister Ignatia.
A few years later, experiences from Akron/Cleveland area and New York were summarized in the book Alcoholics Anonymous.
By the time Dr Bob died, he and Sr Ignatia had treated over 5,000 alcoholics in Akron. About 2 years later, she was reassigned to a hospital in Cleveland and was asked to open another ward for alcoholism treatment. She named it Rosary Hall Solarium (RHS are Dr Bob's intials) where another 15,000 alcoholics were treated.
At one point in time more than 50% of all the members of AA were from the Akron-Cleveland area. Sister Ignatia was invited to the White House to meet President Kennedy due to her massive success. What she and Dr Bob had begun is now recognized as the foundation of hospitalized treatment for addiction in the US.
AA would not be AA without the works of Sister Ignatia.
Links to articles, books, DVDs and other materials about Sister Ignatia are on the links page, check back often