The Coin*

Do you know the origin of the coin idea in recovery meetings?  People are given coins or medallions for length of sobriety.  This idea came from a nun, Ignatia Gavin, an Irish immigrant, who joined a religious order of Sisters here in the States.  In 1934 she began work at St. Thomas hospital in Akron, Ohio.  The hospital did not admit alcoholics.  But at the urging of a local doctor in recovery himself, Bob Smith, Sister Ignatia began to admit alcoholics under the diagnosis "acute gastritis."  Eventually the hospital opened a wing for alcoholics.  On a patient's discharge day, Sister Ignatia presented each of them with a medallion of the Sacred Heart on it.  She told them to return the medallion before taking another drink.  You hear a lot of bad stuff about my church in the press lately, so here is something to remind you that we do good stuff too.