Uniting to help the neediest

As I See It

Friday, June 17, 2011

By Jeff Catalano and Valerie Zolezzi-Wyndham

 

 Forcing a landlord to make needed repairs on a family’s debilitated Worcester apartment. Getting Social Security and Medicaid benefits for a disabled refugee living in a city housing complex. Fighting to regain the job a parent lost while caring for a sick child. 

 

These real-life dilemmas illustrate how the worlds of medicine and the law collide to influence the lives of Worcester County’s neediest patients. To address the health problems and legal issues of such vulnerable patients, the Massachusetts Bar Association and Massachusetts Medical-Legal Partnership network have joined forces to begin the MBA Pro Bono Prescription. 

 

This pioneering effort unites doctors and lawyers toward a shared goal of strengthening struggling communities. The MBA Pro Bono Prescription aims to increase the supply of lawyers who can prescribe legal remedies to help avert both legal crises and health emergencies. 

 

The MBA sees this initiative as another opportunity to fulfill its mission to serve the public by promoting justice. It also provides an opportunity for MBA members to contribute to society and use their legal expertise at a time when there is a growing need for pro bono, free, legal services. The program further nurtures the valued relationship that the MBA already enjoys with the medical profession. 

 

Nurses, social workers, doctors and other medical providers often see patients with psychosocial problems that cannot be completely remedied by medicine alone. A doctor in the emergency room can treat a child’s respiratory troubles, but a lawyer is instrumental to ensure the landlord removes the mold that brought on the illness. Medical legal partnerships, such as the one supported by the MBA Pro Bono Prescription, provide patients with the resources needed to positively affect the livelihood of patients in need. 

 

This statewide initiative will support Worcester patients by offering legal services through a partnership with Family Advocates of Central Massachusetts, a program of Legal Assistance Corp. of Central Massachusetts. LACCM’s MLP works with families facing severe challenges including unemployment, lack of food, housing needs, and both cultural and language barriers. FACM serves these populations at several locations in Worcester including UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center and the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center in the Great Brook Valley housing complex. 

 

When legal issues arise with their patients, concerned partner medical providers can make patient referrals to FACM. LACCM’s attorneys who staff FACM represent the patient. 

 

The story of one Burundian political refugee living in Worcester proves this partnership works. The married mother of two fled with her family to the United States with the help of an agency that charged $4,000 for airfare. She set aside money from her husband’s part-time wages to pay the bill. Disabled due to a heart condition and other medical issues, she could not work and received Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability and MassHealth benefits. 

 

A few months later the Social Security Administration sent a letter telling her that her SSI benefits were being terminated because the family had more than the program’s $3,000 asset limit in the bank. At the same time she also lost her MassHealth coverage due to an administrative error. 

 

Confused and scared, she told her social worker at the Kennedy Community Health Center. That social worker contacted FACM, which explained the savings was to be used to pay down debt and successfully appealed to both agencies to reinstate the benefits. 

 

The MBA Pro Bono Prescription strives to supplement the work of FACM by providing an influx of volunteer Massachusetts Bar Association attorneys who can help reach a larger number of vulnerable patients throughout Central Massachusetts. 

 

We urge lawyers throughout Worcester County, and the surrounding region, to join this important effort and donate both their expertise and energy to needy residents facing legal challenges affecting their ability to remain healthy. Programs such as these are critical during these difficult economic times, when the number of struggling residents is growing in every community across the state. 

 

Jeff Catalano is vice president of the Massachusetts Bar Association and Valerie Zolezzi-Wyndham is managing attorney for the Legal Assistance Corporation of Central Massachusetts. To find out more about the Pro Bono Prescription, attend the open house from 5 to 7 p.m. June 21 at Mirick O’Connell in Worcester, or visit www.massbar.org/ProBonoRX ▪