A Typical Day in My Service

Million MeKonnen joined the African Services Coalition’s family as an Americorps ACCESS member this September. Prior to being a case manager with ASC, Million received his Masters degree in Economics from NC State University in Raleigh. He is currently working towards obtaining his PhD from the same institution. He received his BA while living in Ethiopia, he has lived in the US for the past eight years.

A Typical Day in My Service

It was just a regular Wednesday. I got up early since I had to take one of our clients to his dental appointment in Burlington for his extraction. I had taken him to the Greensboro office for his consultation the prior day and had been told the only opening before the end of the year was Wednesday at 9:00 am. He had no other option but to take the spot, I assured him I would take him. We got there at 8:30 am and I assisted him in filling out some forms. Around 9:15 am, he got called and I interpreted the procedures with a nurse and Doctor. Then I was told to wait in the waiting room. After about twenty minutes, I was called and explained some care needed to be taken while he recovered at home. I drove him back home and went to get his prescription drugs. After I dropped off his medicine, I headed back to office to work on case notes. The day goes by like a regular day until I got a call from another client who injured his knee and I needed to take him to urgent care. I talked to my coworker, Lola, who knows medical facilities around; she suggested I take him to Moses Cone Urgent Care. She told me she would meet us a little later down there. I picked him up and got him there around 4:00 pm. After I helped him with the application, we began waiting for his turn. I found out it would take an hour and a half for his turn. In the mean time I went back to the office to finish daily paper work and then I went back after an hour and found Lola with the client. Around 5:30 pm, I got a call from UNC Emergency Hospital, and found my friend had had an accident and was in the emergency room. I had to wait for the client finish his examination. At around 6:10 pm, he finished and I dropped him at his apartment and headed straight to Chapel Hill. I got there at 7:25 and found my friend with some bruises on the face and a leg injury. Finally, after the X-ray results, around 10:45 pm, the Doctor said everything was fine and prescribed some drugs for my friend. I got the medication for my friend on the way to his house and spent the night in Durham. Early the next morning I headed back to Greensboro to start over again.

Million Mekonnen
AmeriCorps Member
NC African Services Coalition