Alcoholics Anonymous Oregon Area 58

 

Hospitals Committee

 

What The Hospitals Committee does:

The committee helps to schedule and bring outside members of Alcoholics Anonymous into meetings at the Oregon State Hospital(s). The main facility is in Salem with a small facility in Portland. A future facility is planned for Junction City and we have been invited to go there as well.

Although AA has no affiliation with the Oregon State Hospital, the hospital has allowed us to supply meetings to assist their patient’s alcoholic recovery for over 50 years. Taking meetings into the State Hospital is intensely rewarding work.

At this point all the Oregon State Hospital's meetings are in transition and have been suspended due to restructuring. We will let you know when they commence and ask you at that time if the available meeting times will work with your schedule. Please do not contact the hospital directly but rather the committee itself, we are guests in this facility and must be willing to wait until they are ready to send us in. Harassment of hospital staff does not help our cause.

In the meantime we urge you to contact us if you are interested in volunteering so we can send you a clearance application. Do not use old forms that we do not provide you as the hospital staff will not accept them. The clearance process can take some time. You will be asked to complete a criminal background check and take a TB test (unless you have already had one this year and can provide proof). Clearance forms are time sensitive and must be received by the hospital within 30 days of signing.  Once you have turned in your forms to the appropriate places, you will need to wait until you are contacted by the hospital staff as to whether or not your application has been accepted or denied. Our committee will not know the reason for a denial of application, the staff will give you a phone number to call should you be denied. Each application is evaluated on a case by case basis. Once your application has cleared the hospital will set up an orientation session for you.

 

Inside Out (a series of Grapevine-like pieces offering experience, strength and hope from patients grateful to be members of AA) - Volume 1:1, Volume 1:2, Volume 1:3, Volume 1:4

The Oregon State Hospital is a wonderful place to carry the message.

I invite you to contact us with any questions by clicking on the email addresses provided.

Contacting Hospitals Committee:

Hospitals Chair: Marc C. hospital@aa-oregon.org
Hospitals Co-chair: Suzanne B. hospital-co@aa-oregon.org

 

"Each of us in turn -- that is, the member who gets the most out of the program -- spends a very large amount of time on Twelfth Step work in the early years. That was my case, and perhaps I should not have stayed sober with less work."

Bill W. Letter 1959