Posted October 8, 20141:59 pm
Cleveland.com today featured a letter to the editor from Legal Aid attorneys Katie Feldman and Megan Sprecher:
The Plain Dealer's Sept. 30 article linking childhood poverty to poor health ("More than half of Cleveland's kids live in poverty, and it's making them sick") is a connection long recognized by the medical-legal partnership community. MLPs integrate civil legal services or "legal care" into the medical team in order to overcome legal barriers to health.
For over a decade, The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland and MetroHealth (including the Department of Pediatrics) have partnered together to better serve Cleveland's low-income children. Legal Aid attorneys train MetroHealth medical providers, including medical residents at the cusp of their careers, on identifying problems with social determinants of health such as education, nutrition, immigration and safe housing. MetroHealth medical providers in turn refer vulnerable patients to Legal Aid for legal care - advice or representation. MetroHealth medical providers often assist with the legal cases by providing support letters, medical records or expertise.
Through the advocacy of Legal Aid attorneys and MetroHealth medical providers, low-income children have obtained necessary special education services, protection orders against an abusive household member, disability benefits to support their care, improved housing conditions and a more stable immigration status. By taking an upstream approach to the factors impacting childhood health, MLPs find a sustainable outcome to the issues outlined in your article.
Katie Feldman and Megan L. Sprecher,
Cleveland