Why The Treatment Committee Does It

Since it’s beginning in 1935, the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous has cooperated with treatment facilities. Bill W. himself was a product of a treatment facility-Towns Hospital in New York City. After he had finally put together several months of sobriety, Bill returned to Towns to try to work with other alcoholics. This was the beginning of AA’s Twelfth Step work in hospitals. After he sobered up, Dr. Bob, a surgeon, realized the need for an alcoholism ward at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio, where he worked. With the loving assistance and dedication of Sister Ignatia, Dr. Bob established a ward for alcoholics; together, they reached over 5,000 alcoholics.

The principle of carrying the AA message to other alcoholics was fundamental to the recovery and continued sobriety of AA’s co-founders and early AA members. Today, through the practice of this principle-the Twelfth Step-AA has grown and the AA message has been carried around the world. AA's who carry the message into treatment facilities continue to follow the path for sobriety laid out by AA’s co¬founders. These AA's help alcoholics in treatment recover through the AA program and find happy, useful, sober lives. *