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MLP | Boston and Children's HealthWatch Present Their Newest Publication: Rx for Hunger

MLP I Boston is pleased to share our most recent report, Rx for Hunger: Affordable Housing, co-authored with our colleagues at Children’s HealthWatch. The report, which focuses on the impact of subsidized housing access on the health of very young children, reveals that subsidized housing plays a significant role in protecting young children from food insecurity and the health risks of being seriously underweight. Specifically, housing subsidies allow families to allocate additional resources to child nutrition.

Samantha Morton, Executive Director of MLP | Boston, was honored today by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, at their 2nd annual “Women of Justice” event. Mass Lawyers Weekly, which sponsored the event in partnership with the Women’s Bar Association, and Massachusetts Association of Women Lawyers, specified that the honorees were “people who have made meaningful and inspiring contributions in the fields of social justice and advocacy.” MLP | Boston is proud of Samantha and congratulates her on her achievement.

In the wake of the first-ever statewide MLP conference, Medical-Legal Partnership in Massachusetts: A Prescription for Vulnerable Patients, the Eos Foundation has spotlighted the event on the front page of its website. Eos, which is dedicated to securing child health and social justice, funds MLP | Boston and has supported the growth of medical-legal partnership across the Commonwealth, a major goal of the conference.

MLP | Boston Staff Attorney Samuel Senft testified in favor of House Bill 3435 (An Act to Help Students Stay in School) today in front of the Commonwealth’s Joint Committee on Education. His remarks were presented as part of a panel assembled by the Education Law Coalition.

In a speech at the American Academy of Pediatrics Annual Conference in Washington, DC, Attorney General Eric Holder cited the work of Boston Medical Center programs MLP | Boston and Child Witness to Violence as “good examples” of important holistic treatment for children who have been exposed to violence.

As part of Massachusetts’ declared Pro Bono Month of October and the American Bar Association’s Pro Bono Celebration Week, MLP | Boston joined with law firm partner Ropes & Gray to host a poverty simulation for pro bono attorneys from the Greater Boston area. Gathered at Ropes & Gray’s Boston office, attorneys from many of Boston’s 15 pro bono partners participated while MLP | Boston staff facilitated the program.

Massachusetts Representative James McGovern delivered the keynote address today at the first statewide medical-legal partnership (MLP) conference. McGovern addressed legal and health care professionals from across the Commonwealth gathered to examine how partnering together can improve the health and well-being of vulnerable patients.

MLP | Boston Client Shares Her Story

Illiassou Balde found herself depressed and unable to sleep. Illiassou had fled Guinea to escape violent persecution, and had made her way to Boston Medical Center (BMC) only to learn that her young son required major surgery for an orthopedic deformity. This added to her list of already daunting concerns: an expiring visa, few English-language skills, no job to support the two children with her in the U.S., and Illiassou’s grief in being separated from her third child – her oldest daughter who had been left behind in her home country of Guinea.

Long time MLP | Boston pro bono partner Mintz Levin has produced its annual pro bono report so as to highlight their many pro bono successes in 2008. On its first page, the report tells the success story of Quincy, an MLP | Boston client in serious need of an improved educational placement who was referred to Mintz Levin. Describing Quincy’s situation, the report explains:

MLP | Boston reinforced its strong support for the Massachusetts EOHHS Office of Health Equity (OHE) this morning at a hearing of the state legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Health. Executive Director Samantha Morton appeared on a panel organized by the Disparities Action Network and advocated for OHE’s retention in the midst of these difficult economic times. She cited its critical role in combating health disparities in the Commonwealth.

This past Thursday, Dorchester House Multi-Service Center, one of MLP | Boston’s six affiliated community health centers, hosted its Governing Board Annual Meeting and Staff Awards Dinner. During the event, MLP | Boston and its Executive Director, Samantha Morton, were presented with the “Unsung Hero Award.” Dr. Barry Zuckerman, Boston Medical Center’s Chief of Pediatrics and MLP | Boston’s Founder, presented Samantha with the award.

First Lady of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Diane Patrick delivered the keynote address at the Medical-Legal Partnership | Boston (MLP | Boston) Annual Breakfast today. The event, hosted and sponsored by Ropes & Gray LLP, honored the health care professionals, pro bono volunteers, and other partners who provide medical-legal partnership services for vulnerable patients in the Greater Boston area.

During the breakfast, awards were presented to:

In a new set of health recommendations titled “Beyond Health Care: New Directions to a Healthier America,” the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation notes the work of MLP | Boston and the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership (in their former joint state as the Medical-Legal Partnership for Children):

Action Steps for Health Care Providers

Two medical residents of Boston Medical Center’s Department of Pediatrics were featured on the Boston Globe’s Op-Ed page in a piece advocating quality health care for vulnerable patients. Citing the work of MLP | Boston, as well as other well-regarded BMC Special Programs, Dr. Genevieve Preer and Dr. Chén Kenyon wrote:

MLPC | Tufts Medical Center is featured in Tufts' "E-News":

Returning from her second hospital trip of the week, a mother of three immediately begins scanning her apartment for the inevitable pest droppings that have been causing her oldest child's frequent asthmatic episodes. She calls the landlord once more to discuss the issue and again is met by resistance and empty promises.

Chelsea center combines medical and legal help

From the Bay State Banner:

In the heart of Chelsea’s Latino community, a health center stands out for its social approach to health services.

At MGH Chelsea HealthCare Center, the Legal Initiatives for Kids (LINK) program combines health services with legal advocacy. The two-pronged approach is based on the idea that medicine can’t always do the job alone: When treating an asthmatic child who lives in a mold-infested house, for example, improving the landlord-tenant relationship can be just as important as prescribing a chest expectorant.

From the Boston Herald:

Alana Waldholz and her three sons know the heavy toll that the Hub’s foreclosure crisis is having on renters all too well.

“Truthfully, if you try to go into court and fight a bank when you’re a tenant in a foreclosure, you can kiss it goodbye,” Waldholz, 31, said in an interview from her crammed room at Malden’s Town Line Motel. “They are going to put you right out.”

MLP | Boston launches!

The Medical-Legal Partnership | Boston (MLP | Boston) announced its launch today as a continued provider of legal services for patients at Boston Medical Center and its six affiliated health centers. Formerly called the Medical-Legal Partnership for Children, MLP | Boston's name change came in recognition of both its expanding client population as well as its relationship to the newly re-named National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership (NCMLP).

Starting in January, volunteers from Ropes & Gray will staff MLP | Boston's legal clinic at Dot House and will provide representation for patients!

MLP | Boston has long advocated for extra utility shut-off protection for sick, low-income patients, whose health needs require regular, uninterrupted utility service. Recently, MLP | Boston shared its policy prescriptions with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) in the hope that these protections might be enhanced. In response, the DPU announced a series of regulatory changes that were stunning in their responsiveness to the needs of economically and medically vulnerable utility consumers. Among other things, the DPU:

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