St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst clinic for alcohol and drug related patients was operating in the late seventies on a weekly basis under Dr Bill Hennessy. He was assisted by Miss Helen
McNamara, the hospital's Senior Social Worker. The Clinic was the sole institutional response at St Vincent's to the serious issue posed by alcohol and other drug use in Darlinghurst and environs at the time.
At St Vincent's Hospital, Fitzroy there was a regular Out Patient
Clinic conducted by Dr. Joe Santamaria. Like St Vincent's,
Darlinghurst, St Vincent's Fitzroy also hosted weekly AA Meetings in the Out Patient Department.
For several years prior to 1979, the Mother Rectress of St
Vincent's Darlinghurst had been lobbied by Dr. Hennessy, Miss
McNamara and a Sister of Charity to provide better services for alcohol and other drug dependence. Dr. Hennessy met with strong opposition from many of his colleagues who thought that alcoholics and drug related patients were occupying too many hospital resources, and beds in particular.
As a result of a research on alcohol and drugs carried out by a
Sister of Charity at St Vincent's Darlinghurst, Professor J.G.
Rankin from the Addiction Research Foundation/University of
Toronto (now in Sydney) became very interested. Professor
Rankin suggested that a non-medical detoxification unit might be set up in St Vincent's Darlinghurst.
In order to gain first hand knowledge of the operation of unmedicated alcohol detoxification units in Ontario (Canada) it was necessary to send two Sisters of Charity to Canada. On their return, and armed with the report of their findings, Professor
Rankin established at Gorman House a non-medical alcohol detoxification unit. This was the first unit of its kind in Australia.
Two others were commissioned at the same time - one at Royal
Prince Alfred Hospital and the other in Wollongong. The alcohol

detoxification unit was put on the same professional level as other specialties at St Vincent's Darlinghurst with doctor and nurse equipped and government funding.
In 1985 the National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NCADA) was handsomely funded by the Federal Government to set up a 24 hour telephone service. This service of Alcohol and Drug
Information Service (ADIS), under one auspice - St Vincent's
Darlinghurst - is highly computerised and used extensively (80,000 calls in 1999). Victoria has a more sophisticated service with a similar mandate incorporated into Turning Point , a drug and alcohol treatment agency active in policy, advocacy and research.
St Vincent's Fitzroy now hosts the Chair of Drug and Alcohol
Studies for the University of Melbourne.
In 1986 the problems of alcohol and drugs were increased by the dramatic advent of the HIV/AIDS virus. Throughout Australia the laws were very quickly changed to remove the offence of carrying a syringe. Dr Alex Wodak and staff at St Vincent's Darlinghurst commenced a needle and syringe exchange at Rankin Court. In
1999 at the close of the NSW Drug Summit, St Vincent's
Darlinghurst was given the go ahead by the Sisters of Charity to develop the first legal injecting room in Australia. However, the
Sisters were forbidden by the Pope to participate in such a service.
The Wesley Mission has accepted the mandate to operate this service.
Although the Sisters of Charity are no longer the front line administrators and managers of their health services, they still retain a strong influence about service provision and policy direction and are now acknowledged world experts in the field of drug and alcohol services. Like their early pioneer Sisters, they have continued championing the cause of those without a voice, the poor, especially the sick poor.Part of the pilot scheme set up at
Lewisham in late 1999 provided the inclusion of remedial massage into the Wellness Program on a regular basis. This new arrangement was promptly adopted and set up in the safe house by the enthusiastic manager as St Vincent de Paul's contribution to the combined complementary medicine offered. Here at
Lewisham, at the Bethany Centre at Concord and at Liverpool,

Sisters of Charity work with lay practioners to respond to those in need, offering wholistic medicine through Reiki, homeopathy, herbal medicine and remedial massage.