Time Away from Service

Serving a year in AmeriCorps can be a fun yet challenging situation. You must learn about the community you serve and learn how to serve at your host site in a very brief moment in time. Meeting the needs of the community brings many memorable moments. At the same time, one must maintain a level of self-care to stay rejuvenated. One of my self-care techniques is to attend a local church in the community where I serve.  This helps me stay connected to the community. My year of service stationed me on the South Side of Chicago, so that's where I chose to routinely attend church. 

As most people know, the South Side of Chicago has been in the news for its many instances of gun violence.  However, the communities I have been engaged with have been safe. During my service I have attended health events aimed at addressing and preventing this type of violence. I have assisted with health screenings at community events designed to positively address gun violence throughout the South Side of Chicago. When I attend church, pastors within the city incorporate issues that center around gun violence in sermons to their congregation. While gun violence has been no stranger to the City of Chicago, I had not come face to face with its results until I sat in church one Sunday after a week of service with AmeriCorps.  

While in service, the pastor at this church announced that one of its members had succumbed to a random act of gun violence. The teenage boy was a sophomore in college who had recently come home for his Christmas break. He met a tragic end after being home for less than 2 days. In response, the church organized a youth rally to canvas the neighborhood and pass out flyers after church service. This was an effort to help police speak to people in the community that knew something about this case. This was a tragic story, but it helped remind me of the social concerns within the community and how public health can be used to address it. 

Gun violence is a problem not only in Chicago, but also in many other cities throughout the United States. People are beginning to look at it through the lens of a systemic disease model called the violence prevention model. Earlier in the service year, I attended an AmeriCorps Committee Sponsored Event and learned about a program called'The Interrupters." The Interrupters are individuals from within a community that have been trained to stop the cycle of violence. Numerous programs like these have developed throughout the world. This violence prevention model has been successful in decreasing gun violence within the city. In this sense, scientists have begun using a public health model to address gun violence, not only in Chicago, but across the world.

This post was written by NHC Chicago Member Shannan Hill.

Shannan serves as a Community Program Liaison at Advocate Trinity Hospital.