Nan Davis reporting in on the IDAA 2006 & 2007

I was able to attend this year because Jeff Y of TX arranged an airfare buddy pass and because Jim and Barb A. shared their lovely home and friendly cats for the week.  A bus line with fifty cent fares to the hotel was an amazing bonus! CE credit courses were available at the same time as AA/Alanon meetings on some days and one could pick and choose among them. IDAA.org offers free membership and web access.  Alanons have been welcomed for all of IDAAs  57 years..  Convention scholarships are offered, especially for newcomers and their families in need,  via convention profits and donations.  Around 150 newcomers introduced themselves at the Thursday banquet, including JimA, Kathryn and Angie.  We think the most numerous specialty might be a tie between anesthesiologists and psychiatrists! Jim Al of MN . set up and led this year’s Pharmacist Breakout meeting.   KathrynR and AngieB  attend the weekly Minneapolis Pharmacist meeting Jim founded 25 years ago. Each brought a daughter for the fantastic children’s track of alatots, aladudes, alateens, alatwentys. SuzanneB of MI shared her experience attending IDAA annually since 1987. Her local weekly health professionals meeting is Caduceus.  Suzanne’s son kept in touch with IDAA friends between meetings, and two traveled toattend each other’s high school graduation in Maryland and Michigan.   NancyH of WA,MA  & husband had also attended IDAA in previous years. A highlight  for us: LeClair B. (CD available) spoke of her 54 years in sobriety and IDAA activity.  She helped start a number of “special needs” groups including IPA which started in 1987 with a letter to 37 pharmacists she interviewed for her APhA study with Ron Williams. These were joined by more than a thousand others worldwide by the time Nan turned over the mailing list. JimA asked Gordi how many pharmacists are among 4700 current IDAA members..  It’s 47 With doctorate and 40 RPh. All of us are now “grandfathered” because all our “new kids” are PharmD.  There have always been pharmacist members in IDAA who had PhD and PharmD.  There had also been 15 RPh who first came with friends in local “mixed professionals” meetings. I enjoyed pharmacist breakout meetings from the time our family first attended Scotsdale 1993 with Alanon PhD, MDiv spouse. (now ex spouse!) I’m especially grateful to locate “mixed professional” local groups on the IDAA website because this snowbird had found no current local pharmacist meetings in NJ or AZ.. PRN regional meetings with evening IPA meetings have been envied by the other professions we meet at Hazelden and at AA Internationals.  IDAA simply provides a new opportunity for pharmacists AND our families to share special concerns, and to carry the message of recovery to more  pharmacists and pharmacy students.  I already signed up for IDAA in Boston August 1 to 6 2007,  at the Park Plaza and Towers Hotel. I hear a rumor that one speaker is to be my absolute favorite writer! TimG of NY (who worked on several NEPRN weekends from'84 on.) happened to call JimA on Sunday before I left Mpls.  He promises to meet us in Boston.

            Love to all O.D.A.T. from NanDRx@earthlink.net (908)391 2673.

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Hi Charlie and our many friends at usaprn.org

This note from NanDavis and Brent Clevenger reports on Pharmacists’ experience In Boston at IDAA2007 in August.   You’ll probably spot some of us wearing T–shirts:  “Boston Seren-i-Tea Party IDAA2007”  (groan).  “Pharmacist breakout meetings” were a bit confusing since we’d been assigned  slots at 5pm and 10pm on each of 4 days, and we missed each other a lot because some of us also wanted to attend DIFFERENT breakout meetings such as NA, couples, women, GLBTT,   and other 12 step variations!  Hopefully next year we’ll pick only 2 specific times for PHARMACISTS --and know what they are in advance.  We did meet 4 pharmacists-in-recovery who had never heard that IPA or PRN or Utah exist!!!      They were AlexK from Ontario,  Steve of MD,  EricP of FL, and Kate of MA working local planning committee registration desk.SuzanneB56MI was attending her 20^th annual IDAA five day  meeting.  She says the IDAA program for children, teens,  has been so helpful  to a single mom raising kids in a recovery home. This year IDAA added a group “Ala-twenties”.  NancyH495WA frequently attends IDAA , often with supportive husband, Raymond. Nancy has attended Utah & NWPRN & other PRN weekends. On closing day,  Nancy and Ray donned lime green shirts advertising IDAA2008 in Portland OR Aug 6 to 10. They pre-registered over 300 of us who paid a year in advance to get 10% off the $295 registration  (plus optional $25 for CE) The fee covers constant coffee and cold drinks, Wednesday welcome buffet supper, breakfasts, and 3 banquets.  NanD8NJ,AZ thinks this was her 4^th IDAA August starting in 1993.  She shared a room with IPA’s beloved co-founder LeClairB Hon3FL,CT now in her 54^th year of sobriety.  In the Spirit of Rotation, she finished her term on IDAA steering committee,  but hopes to “keep on coming” to IDAA, as she has since student days in Medical School.  The CD of her story told at MinnapolisIDAA2006 is still available www.12steptapes.com..  At Thursday NEWCOMER banquet, we cheered as BrentC759NC,MS reached the stage microphone, and for pharmacists Steve, Alex, Eric and 160 OTHER “first time attending IDAA”. Scholarships helped many attend, and are available each year.. At 90 seconds per newcomer,  we left the ballroom at 10:30pm!  Informal count of specialties kept anesthesiologists in the lead.  In 2006Mpls, it had appeared psychiatrists were gaining on them. We counted about the same number of first time Dentists and Vets as we had first time pharmacists! Nan thinks Brent made the best crack in his “gratitude” seconds with: “I’m grateful I didn’t need to put Tussionex syrup on my pancakes this morning!” Friday night writer/producers of Broadway play: BillW and Dr Bob, briefly shared their experience developing it and showed a rough draft of  DVD being made.  Their friend MichaelP introduced them, then told his own story at Saturday banquet followed by book signing of his latest “The 5^th vial”.  (Since then another book “First Patient” has made the NYT best seller list.) Brent proofread, and added this note on his way to picking up his 10^th  year chip.  “IDAA  was a very welcoming experience.  Remind all pharmacists we are now welcome to join IDAA... because RPh with BS are grandfathered in. Please join   IDAA.org   (it’s free) & join us at IDAA2008HAPPY DESTINY..August 2008, Portland, Oregon.”                             All Best ODAT.           from ND and BC