Attorneys and paralegals gathered Oct. 15 at Pablo Towers, a Department of Housing and Urban Development retirement community, to prepare legal documents for residents.
It was just a week after Hurricane Matthew slammed our shores.
The volunteers arrived in force and provided legal assistance to 30 people.
It was a record number of seniors served in one three-hour Advance Directives for Seniors Project event.
Now in its fifth year, the program is presented in three segments.
First is a group information session. At Pablo Towers, Pat Vail and Debbie Lee-Clark were the presenting attorneys.
Residents learned about the purpose of each document: durable power of attorney, designation of health care surrogate, designation of pre-need guardian and living will.
Then, seniors who want to have the documents created worked with Ellen Hopkins, service coordinator at Pablo Towers, to schedule a time to meet with an attorney.
The third segment of the project provided assistance for residents who were not able to attend the document creation event and those who wanted a simple will.
Before the conclusion of each event, documents are notarized and scanned for archiving in the Jacksonville Area Legal Aid case management system.
The seniors leave their appointments with fully executed documents and instructions on how and to whom to distribute their copies.
In addition to Lee-Clark and Vail, attorneys who provided free legal counsel at Pablo Towers were Susan Raab, Victor Nazario, Rusty Mead, Rick Stockton, Vicki Bowers and James Floyd.
Paralegals and notaries who assisted were Margaret Costa, Visalakshi Ramachandran, Sophia Davis, Desire Jordan, Linda Murphy, Suzanne Love, Courtney Brown, Lisa Hunt and Marcelle Gillis.
For seniors, the peace of mind that comes with having advance planning documents in place should not be underestimated.
“Even after the hurricane, you came to help us. You can’t imagine what this means to us,” said one grateful senior.
Another said, “You all couldn’t have been nicer. To think I put this off for so long. Thank you for making this so easy for us.”
Transportation and mobility can be barriers for low-income seniors. To eliminate those hurdles by visiting them where they live means more people can benefit from the service.
Sincere appreciation is extended to the volunteers for stepping up for senior citizens who would not otherwise have access to legal assistance.
The program is available at HUD residential centers, medical clinics and Council on Aging campuses.
Attorneys interested in volunteer opportunities in the 4th Judicial Circuit should contact [email protected].