SOUTHERN LEGAL COUNSEL EXPANDS UF HEALTHY KIDS MEDICAL LEGAL PARTNERSHIP
Southern Legal Counsel expanded its UF Healthy Kids Medical Legal Partnership (MLP) in 2020 to UF Health’s Pediatric Endocrinology and Pediatric Hematology/Oncology divisions.
Since launching the MLP in 2018 as a pilot in the UF Severe Asthma Clinic, SLC staff attorneys have met with 47 patients and their families and have identified 114 health-harming legal needs. Its early success was chronicled in UF Health’s The Post in 2019.
The most prevalent issues have been problems with school accommodations and special education services, housing conditions, denial of public benefits, and energy insecurity. SLC represents families on issues that fall within its attorneys’ expertise, including education, housing, identification documents and Medicaid.
For other issues, SLC is developing a pro bono referral system. And since SLC cannot staff all of UF’s pediatric clinics all the time, its attorneys have designed release forms for parents, as well as legal screening tools for UF Health staff. SLC also provides ongoing training to doctors, medical students, and other medical personnel on how to identify health-harming legal needs using the screening tool.
“Our Healthy Kids Medical-Legal Partnership is an invaluable resource for not only my patients but also for our pediatric residents, medical students, and faculty. The trainings Chelsea has put together serve as a practical way to teach about the impact of health-harming legal needs on our patients' lives, while also giving concrete tools that can be used to address those needs,” said Dr. Rachel Coleman, clinical assistant professor at the UF College of Medicine and medical ambassador for the Healthy Kids MLP.
SLC attorneys take referrals for legal services from doctors and providers in UF’s pediatric sickle cell and diabetes clinics and at UF Pediatrics. SLC attorneys are also embedded weekly in the Severe Asthma Clinic and the Youth Gender Clinic, attending either virtually or in person at Friday clinic hours. Patients in the Youth Gender Clinic most often need assistance with name and gender marker change and school issues related to their gender identity.
If you are a licensed Florida attorney interested in volunteering your services on behalf of UF Health’s pediatric patients, please contact SLC Pro Bono Director Samantha Howell at samantha.howell@southernlegal.org.