I would like to discuss my observations and feelings during my visits to the Alcoholics Anonymous support group. I attended these meetings for my mid-term class assignment in our "Introduction to Addictive Processes Class" HUMS125 at Iḷisaġvik College in Barrow, Alaska. Iḷisaġvik College is Alaska's first and only Tribal College. According to The Mayo Clinic Staff, "if you're facing a major illness or stressful life change, you don't have to go it alone. A support group can help. Support groups bring together people facing similar issues. Members of support groups often share experiences and advice. It can be helpful just getting to talk with other people who are in the same boat."

I chose to visit two Alcoholic Anonymous (A.A.) group meetings. A significant number of emergent medical responses in my area are due to alcohol intoxication. I am a firefighter and paramedic. I also serve on a Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) with the US Government. More information on DMAT is here. Part of our mission is to serve the people, who serve the people. I went to an A.A meeting held at the Veterans Administration to see if there was a difference in alcohol addictions with people serving in our military that may have additional mental health issues such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Both support group meetings were held in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Friday September 28, 2012. I live in the small agricultural village of Manchester, Michigan so I traveled to the City of Ann Arbor to attend both meetings. For reference, Barrow, Alaska has a larger population than my home town of Manchester, Michigan. However, Ann Arbor is bigger than Fairbanks. It was about a 60 mile round trip to attend the A.A. meetings in Ann Arbor. The first meeting was on Friday September 28, 2012, held at the 1st United Methodist Church, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The second meeting I attended was held the same day at 1:00 PM at the Ann Arbor Veterans Administration Hospital. I selected this first support group meeting after visiting the website from the Huron Valley Area Intergroup, Inc. Their area of responsibility is the local communities of Ann Arbor, Chelsea, Dexter, Manchester, Milan, Saline and Ypsilanti in Washtenaw County, Michigan. Their website is http://hvai.org/contacts/area6.html. My search turned up 443 meeting choices. I refined my meeting choices by filtering by "open meetings." This reduced my choices to 41 different meetings. Then applying the filter of "choice of day" to "Friday and open meeting" I reduced the choices to five. Out of these five meetings, I started at the top of the list and attended the first meeting listed.

This meeting was an open meeting and it started as scheduled at 9:30 AM. The meeting topic was "Fridays As Bill Sees It." I did not have any previous experience attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings before today. Once I knew about this assignment, I was thinking about the people I would meet at these meetings. I expected it to be a mix of all of my patients over the last ten years that I have responded to as a firefighter/paramedic after a vehicle crash. I entered the church, and followed the sign "Fridays As Bill Sees It." I entered the meeting room and it was packed with 51 people. Although I didn't know anyone at this meeting, I felt comfortable being there. The meeting was extremely welcoming and I did not feel intimidated in attending.

The demographic makeup of the people attending this meeting was what I expected. This is because the patients I respond to after a motor vehicle accident with alcohol on board are about the same demographic mix of the people at this meeting. I did notice that there were no people at this meeting under 25 years old. This seems odd as this church was located one block from the University of Michigan central campus with 35,000 students. The meeting attendance was 60% white, 25% black, 10% Asian, and 5% other. The attendance was 65% male and 35% female. The age averaged about 45 years old with a minimum age of about 25 and maximum age of 70. There was a mix of professional workers, laborers and homeless. There were no issues with diversity sensitivity. It was announced there was complimentary coffee and chocolate chip cookies. I had time to read some of the free literature available such as Alcoholics Anonymous in Your Community and The A.A. Group . . . Where it All Begins. I was sitting in the outer ring of chairs in the meeting room. The meeting started with a 40 year old white female chairperson/moderator beginning the meeting by introducing herself by first name only and that she was an alcoholic. Everyone said "hi" to her. She welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked new attendees to introduce themselves. She then read the preamble. People at the meeting thanked her by her first name. Then other people shared a reading of how the Alcoholics Anonymous program works. The chairperson/moderator announced that this meeting would be one hour and everyone who wanted to participate could do so. The next person said their first name and that they are an alcoholic. All of the other people in the room responded by saying "Hi (name)." Then, that person described their adverse experience with alcohol. Nine more people spoke about one minute each with their struggles with sobriety. The organization also gave out a purple ribbon and hugs to people stating that they were sober for six, nine months and more. Many people said they were taking it "one day at a time" and "easy does it."

The chairperson/moderator said they were going to discuss the subject of "gratefulness." Many people then said their first name and told the group why they were grateful. A person said he was sad but grateful that his 15 year-old pet cat died that week. He was grateful for the companionship of his pet. He even recommended to the group that his cat should have been his sponsor to AA because he would confide his troubles and anxieties to his cat. I had the impression that although I was sitting in the outer ring of chairs, I was helping people by just being there and listing to their struggle with alcohol. This meeting concluded with the serenity prayer and the Lord's Prayer.

The second Alcoholics Anonymous meeting I attended was also held on Friday September 28, 2012 at 1:00 PM at the Ann Arbor Veteran Administration Hospital. I didn't know anyone at the second Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and felt comfortable attending this fellowship. Our moderator, a 65 year old white male and a former retired local middle school teacher announced his name and that he was an alcoholic. As there were only total of four people at this meeting, after reading the preamble, he announced this was a step study (primary purpose) meeting and it was open. We all shared reading and he showed me the "big book." The other people attending were also alcoholic, a 50 year old white male and a 40 year old white female currently employed at the University of Michigan hospital. All three of the people there shared the common issue that they had their driver's license suspended after their second DUI conviction. One person was informed he could get restricted driver's license if he had a "blow and go" device installed in his car. All three of the people said getting their driver's license restored cost between $7,000 to $10,000 in extra fees such as increased insurance and monitoring fees. The moderator and the other two people appeared to be happy that a student from Barrow, Alaska would attend their open meeting in Michigan and be interested in their fellowship. The moderator said if I want to attend any of the closed meetings, simply attend and tell people that I have a desire to stop drinking. He said he has been sober for eight years but even one alcoholic drink will cause him distress. He explained that the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill thought that alcoholism was originally an allergy. The meeting concluded like the other Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with a serenity prayer and the Lord's Prayer. Two of the people attending had to have their attendance recorded for the court. They said they are required to attend three meetings each week as a condition of their probation.