[August 2004]

A mortgage payment. A car payment. A young child. A very limited income.

Add these up, and the result is exactly what Aimee Robertson was contending with after being laid off from a Jackson County factory in 2002. She could have given up. Instead, Aimee chose to go back to college and train for a new career as a medical assistant. Assistance from the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Dislocated Worker Program kept Aimee’s education from being sidetracked when her finances were stretched thin.

Aimee now works as a medical assistant at the White House Clinic in Berea. She said her job title translates to “doing anything the doctors want me do to,” including drawing blood, doing laboratory work and basic triage, and directly assisting those doctors in medical procedures.

“It’s a very hectic job, but it’s also very rewarding,” Aimee said. “You take a patient who comes in feeling bad, and you help them and make them smile. At the end of the day, you definitely feel like you’ve done your job and accomplished something.”

Making the transition from her layoff to her current career was neither quick nor easy, Aimee said, especially since it wasn’t the first big change in her life and career.

Aimee had graduated from high school in 1994 as one of the top ten students in her class. Soon afterward, she enrolled in Eastern Kentucky University’s certified nursing assistant (CNA) program. After completing her training, Aimee worked as a CNA at Jackson Manor nursing home until she married, had a child, and became a stay-at-home mother.

Aimee’s world changed drastically in 2000, when a divorce ended her days of staying at home. She took a job at the Specialty Defense Systems factory in McKee, but lost it only two years later during a round of layoffs.

With a monthly mortgage payment to make and a five-year-old daughter to support, Aimee did not have time to sulk over the loss. She enrolled at Somerset Community College’s Laurel Campus with an eye toward becoming a medical assistant and improving her earning power.

It was hard to make ends meet. Although financial aid paid her tuition, it did not cover the expense of her daily commute to classes. The Unemployment Insurance benefits she received following her layoff soon ended, although she continued to receive some informal financial support from family to help with her bills.

Just as the financial strain started to get out of hand, she heard about the WIA Dislocated Worker Program offered through the Daniel Boone Development Council (DBDC). DBDC delivers WIA Program services in Jackson County under contract with Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP), which administers WIA throughout eastern Kentucky.

At DBDC, Aimee learned—much to her relief—that she was eligible for supportive services funding through the WIA Program that would cover her transportation costs for college. The program also assisted her with her daughter’s daycare costs.

WIA Case Manager Susan Patton worked with Aimee during her involvement with the WIA Program.

“It was great to help Aimee focus on earning her degree and starting a new career rather than her financial concerns,” Susan said. “When the program helps relieve some of that pressure as a participant goes
back to school, we’re doing our job.”

“I maintained going to school with keeping my house, so I still had that mortgage payment,” Aimee said. “I had to get a new car for the drive, so there was a car payment, too. It wasn’t easy. Without the WIA Program, I couldn’t have done it.”

Aimee graduated in May 2004 with an associate’s degree and has worked at the White House Clinic since then.

Aimee encourages single mothers facing financial difficulties not to let their circumstances get them down. If they want to make a new future for themselves, they can do it, and WIA can help.

“I definitely recommend the WIA to single mothers, and encourage them to go back to school,” Aimee said. “Everybody has potential, and you don’t have to just settle for something. Never stop pushing for more.”