IN THE NEWS
Changes for the UVA CHAP Program!
The UVA CHAP program wishes attorney Christianne Queiroz well as she leaves to pursue new opportunities. Ms. Queiroz, who was the first full-time attorney hired for the Child Health Advocacy Program, has worked with UVA families over the past two years, providing advice and counsel on many issues, including public benefits, special education, substandard housing conditions, etc. She has also worked extensively with medical staff and students, providng training opportunities and conferences to further develop multidisciplinary collaboration for the benefit of the families in need that we serve. Ms. Queiroz will be greatly missed and we wish her well in her new endeavors.
A search is underway to hire a new attorney and plans are to fill the position as soon as possible. In the meantime, families will continue to be served through the CHAP program. Referrals should be made via fax to Liz Moore, Legal Aid Justice Center, 434-977-0558.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American Bar Association (ABA) Both Adopt Resolutions in Support of Medical-Legal Partnerships!
(June, 2008). The American Academy of Pediatrics passed a resolution at the 2008 Annual Leadership Forum pledging to promote child health through preventative law through "closer and more frequent collaboration between social legal service and medical professionals," and specifically "to promote medical-legal partnerships." This follows a similar resolution passed recently by the American Bar Association pledging to encourage the development of medical-legal partnerships. At present, there are over 80 medical-legal partnerships throughout the country; this professional support will do much to encourage continued development and refinement of these interdisciplinary partnerships in order to improve child health in new and innovative ways.
Dr. Diane Pappas Named to MLPC National Medical Advisory Board
Dr. Diane Pappas has been named as one of six Assistant National Medical Directors to work with the MLPC National Medical Advisory Board for 2008-2009. In this role, she will work closely with the MLPC and with developing sites to provide technical assistance and support. The board is responsible for conference planning, participation in national/local medical and legal conferences, and the on-going work of the national working groups.
UVA Medical and Law Schools Team-Up to Help Those in Poverty
WVTF Public Radio, Sean Tubbs reporting. Hear more at http://www.cvillepodcast.com/2007/01/09/family-law/
UVA Child Health Advocacy Program Team Attends National Medical-Legal Summit!
Christianne Queiroz, Ellen Lawton (Boston), Kimberly Emery, Diane Pappas, and Mark Hansen (Boston)
CHAP team members, Christianne Queiroz, Kimberly Emery, and Diane Pappas attended the National Medical-Legal Summit in Toronto in May. The summit brought together attorneys and physicians from around the country who are all engaged in medical-legal partnerships to promote patient care. As part of the summit, the UVA CHAP team was identified as one of the core leader sites for the Capacity and Sustainability Workgroup, charged with identifying and evaluating the best practices for adequate capacity and longterm sustainability of medical-legal partnerships; the workgroup will conduct its analysis over the next year and results will be presented at next year's summit. At present, there are over 70 such partnerships in the United States and plans are underway to develop a Virginia network connecting health care providers and legal aid providers throughout the state.
Richmond Launches Child Health Advocacy Program!
Richmond doctors and lawyers are joining together to establish a new Child Health Advocacy Program in Virginia. The program is a partnership between the Richmond Legal Aid Justice Center, the Virginia Commonwealth University Children's Medical Center, and the University of Richmond School of Law. It is modeled on the Child Health Advocacy Program developed and on-going at the University of Virginia. Team members include Dr. Sean McKenna, attorneys Pat Lavelle and Marcel Slag, Professor Margaret Bacigal, and pediatric social worker Jeanette Winder Tipling. The program will serve patient families who receive medical care at the VCU Children's Medical Center and will focus on housing issues, including substandard living conditions and landlord-tenant issues.
FOUNDATION'S GIFT TO EASE BURDEN OF CARE FOR FAMILIES
$1 Million Burford Leimenstoll Gift to Endow UVa Child Health Advocacy Program
Charlottesville, Va., - Imagine being the mother of a premature newborn and not being able to pay your electric bill. Or imagine being in the midst of a custody battle while your toddler is fighting brain cancer. Added expenses and legal problems in times of medical emergencies can leave families stretched to the limits of their abilities to cope. Thanks to a $1 million gift from the Richmond-based Burford Leimenstoll Foundation, the University of Virginia Child Health Advocacy Program will be able to provide critical assistance - in the form of legal aid, emergency funds, and resource referral - for families whose children are treated at University of Virginia Children's Hospital.
The Child Health Advocacy Program is a collaborative effort between University of Virginia Children's Hospital, the UVa School of Law and the Legal Aid Justice Center. Through the program, caregivers at UVa Children's Hospital refer families to staff and law students from legal aid for assistance with non-medical needs such as landlord issues, benefit issues, child support issues and others identified during the course of their medical care. The program also assists with emergency funds to help families through crises and with referrals to appropriate community service agencies. As part of the program, UVa Children's Hospital physicians, social workers, nurses and other health care providers are trained to identify difficult non-medical issues during check-ups and hospital admissions. Last year the program served approximately 200 families across Virginia.
The gift from the Burford Leimenstoll Foundation honors the late Betty Sams Christian, a longtime supporter of UVa Children's Hospital. According to W. Bates Chappell, of Kanawha Capital Management and co-director of the Burford Leimenstoll Foundation with Ben R. Lacy IV of Sands Anderson Marks & Miller PC, the Child Health Advocacy Program is a good fit with Mrs. Christian's interests.
"She was very interested in helping those with limited or modest means," said Chappell. "She believed in giving everyone a chance to get ahead and broaden their prospects. This program is well attuned to the ideals she stood for."
"We are extremely grateful to the Burford Leimenstoll Foundation for recognizing this often-overlooked need," said Nancy McDaniel, M.D., vice chair of pediatrics and medical director, UVa Children's Hospital. "The assistance provided by the Child Health Advocacy Program fills a critical gap by allowing families in need to focus on the health and well-being of their children, without feeling like they are facing a constant barrage of legal and financial woes."
According to Diane Pappas, M.D., J.D., associate professor of clinical pediatrics and co-director of the Child Health Advocacy Program, the Burford Leimenstoll gift will allow UVa to further develop and expand the program, incorporating legal advocates as regular members of the health care team to better address in a coordinated and comprehensive manner the legal needs that, if neglected, can negatively impact a child's health.
"As the program develops," adds Pappas, "we will be able to provide ‘preventative' care, both legally and medically, anticipating issues and addressing needs before family legal crises and the resultant negative health outcomes can develop. Ultimately, we will develop a statewide network of child health advocacy programs so that we can extend the benefits of this program to children throughout the Commonwealth."
The Burford Leimenstoll Foundation was established in 1991 by Betty Sams Christian to support local and national charities. Christian was former chair and CEO of Central Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Inc., now part of Coca-Cola Enterprises. Named in honor of Christian's grandmothers, the foundation continues her philanthropic tradition by supporting a variety of mostly regional charities, including the Virginia Home for Boys, VCU Massey Cancer Center, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Collegiate School, Boy Scouts of America, and the Virginia College Fund.
Child Health Advocacy Program Receives Boston Medical-Legal Partnership for Children Award!
The Child Health Advocacy Program has received a $20,000 grant from the Medical-Legal Partnership in Boston. This money will be used to further develop the Child Health Advocacy Program, a collaborative between the University of Virginia Children's Hospital, the University of Virginia Law School, and the Legal Aid Justice Center. The Child Health Advocacy program works to increase the accessibility of needed legal services to families served by the University of Virginia Children's Hospital. Many families, especially those with an ill child, have problems with housing, public benefits, and family issues that can be addressed with appropriate legal resources. By making this service available within the health care system, families will be better able to address these issues and thus optimize the health of their child and the overall well-being of the whole familly. Plans are underway to have a full-time program attorney on-site to provide legal "triage" and direct legal services for patient families beginning early 2007. The program attorney will also be available to provide education and training to residents and hospital staff about issues that may affect their patients, how to identify needs, and how to refer families for services. Volunteer law students will also be available in the future to work with families to address their legal needs under supervision of the program attorney.
The Child Health Advocacy Program is based on a model developed at Boston Medical Center. There are now over 30 sites across the country and Boston's Medical-Legal Partnership for Children is developing a national network of such partnerships "to support the national implementation of legal advocacy as a tool to augment traditional preventive pediatrics." Our program is one of 15 programs across the country to receive this support.
Child Health Advocacy Program Receives $125,000 Award!
The Jessie Ball duPont Fund award will provide funding over the next three years to hire a full-time staff attorney to work on-site at the UVA Children's Hospital to assist families with legal needs that affect child health and well-being. Physicians, social workers, and other health care providers are trained to screen families during medical visits about issues of food, housing, benefits, and adequate resources for basic needs. Once needs are identified in these areas, families are referred to the Child Health Advocacy Program, where staff from the Legal Aid Justice Center and volunteer law students work together to address the problems.
The Child Health Advocacy Program was started as a pilot program in 2004, serving 88 families in its first year. This program is the only one of its kind in Virginia, but a statewide network of programs linking the legal aid network, the academic medical centers, the law schools, and the hospitals is currently being planned. The program is modeled on a similar program developed at the Boston Medical Center.
The program attorney will be responsible for providing direct client services within the clinical setting, as well as training medical staff about legal issues; he or she will also be involved in the development of a statewide network of Child Health Advocacy Programs and in the development and implementation of systemic policy advocacy to seek positive changes for families and children in the Commonwealth.
