Legal Clinic for the Disabled

In 2008 lcd made a strategic decision to move away from telephone intake as its sole means of offering Legal services to people with physical disabilities in the philadelphia region. Since 2008, lcd has developed numerous partnerships in the community that have broadened its ability to reach more people with disabilities in need of Legal services. Lcd staff view clients holistically and work with other agencies to continue to provide independence, access to the courts and community, improved healthcare outcomes, and a better quality of life for those with disabilities. (see continuation on schedule o) "going to the client" is an exciting, innovative approach that enables lcd attorneys to provide Legal advocacy to complement the treatment provided by medical professionals, therapists, social workers, and other individuals who provide services to people with disabilities. Lcd's programs include: community Legal outreach clinics (clocs) in partnership with pro-bono volunteers from area law firms, lcd conducts community Legal outreach clinics (clocs) with community-based organizations that serve individuals with disabilities in the philadelphia area. Pre- covid, lcd offered a minimum of eight clocs per year in a variety of community settings. In 2022 five attorneys provided pro bono representation on behalf of lcd clients. Medical Legal partnerships (mlp) mlp is a healthcare delivery model that integrates Legal services into a healthcare setting. Through an interdisciplinary, holistic team approach, attorneys and health care personnel combine law and medicine to remove Legal barriers that prevent access to healthcare and mitigate social determinants that prevent positive health care outcomes. Currently, lcd partners with the following health care providers: magee rehabilitation/jefferson health hospital; family practice & counseling network (fpcn) - three federally qualified nurse managed health centers in philadelphia: 11th street family health services in north philadelphia; abbottsford falls family practice & counseling in germantown; the health annex in west philadelphia; philakids mlp at st. christopher's hospital for children; project home's stephen klein wellness center in north philadelphia; the hub of hope - project home's new drop-in center in suburban station, philadelphia that offers a safe haven and services for individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. Educational outreach lcd also provides educational outreach to lawyers, medical professionals, social service agencies and schools to educate them about Legal issues facing people with disabilities and about the availability of our services. Lcd continued to host virtual educational and outreach events in 2022. Lcd program accomplishments in 2022 lcd provided Legal services to 1,721 people. the majority of these cases came out of philadelphia county and consisted of people seeking Legal services for family law issues, public benefits, housing and eviction issues, planning documents, and consumer protection. Lcd continues to expand its programs to address the Legal needs of its client population. the pandemic highlighted the importance of lcd's interdisciplinary and community-based approach to delivering Legal services. As individuals continue to seek healthcare, lcd's mlps provide a proactive opportunity to identify and refer individuals who need Legal services. As Legal advocates shifted to remote work, it was imperative to ensure that individuals and families continued to have ready access to Legal services. To that end, lcd leveraged its mlps to reach individuals with unmet Legal needs. Thanks to lcd's mlps in diverse communities across philadelphia, lcd is uniquely positioned to reach deeper into the community to disseminate critical information about the ever-changing protections and available assistance programs. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, the mlp model allows lcd to provide immediate advice, advocacy, or in-court representation upstream before Legal issues reach a crisis point. Likewise, it allows the attorneys to conduct training and one-on-one consultations over the course of the year. the purpose of the trainings is to: (1) raise awareness about the Legal services available onsite for patients/clients in need and (2) educate the healthcare providers and/or social service professionals about Legal issues prevalent among their populations and how to make appropriate referrals for Legal services. Through the mlp model of care, lcd and its mlp partners work collaboratively and proactively to identify and address social determinants of health that have Legal remedies in order to improve the health and quality of life for the individuals they serve. Common issues include unsafe housing, eviction, food insecurity, domestic violence, family law issues, and food and utility insecurity. Lcd attorneys train key partners in each venue, e.g. Physicians, pediatric residents, case managers/social workers, and nurse practitioners to identify and refer patients with unmet Legal needs. the consultations between lcd attorneys and healthcare providers at each of the sites have increased in number as the partnerships have expanded and matured. Lcd operates its housing and habitability initiative in collaboration with the city-funded philadelphia eviction prevention project (pepp) to address Legal issues surrounding the housing of low-income persons with disabilities. Lcd's goal for the housing and habitability initiative is to enforce the Legal obligations of landlords when neglect, non-compliance, or abuse are in evidence, and to prevent substandard housing and evictions. Working across lcd's various initiatives and community-based programs. the goal of this project is to identify housing-related Legal needs affecting low-income people with disabilities before they reach a point of crisis in order to mitigate any long-term negative impact. In 2021, lcd implemented an innovative and long sought-after engagement with a managed care organization. Lcd established a partnership with amerihealth/keystone first to pilot a community-based program, titled the "lcd-keystone housing stability initiative." Keystone first care managers screen individuals for unmet housing Legal needs and make referrals to lcd. To be eligible for care management, members must have a chronic health condition and have demonstrated high utilization and/or complex social needs. In 2022 the keystone partnership expanded to include an attorney/paralegal team embedded at nemours children's health at jefferson health, a paediatric primary care site in centre city philadelphia where a majority of families are low-income. In 2022, ldc also established a new mlp site at the philadelphia aids consortium (tpac) as part of a three-year nih study to explore the benefit of an mlp in hiv care.