by Bailey White
Staff Writer
Though it’s in the early stages, organizers of the Jacksonville Family Advocacy Program are hopeful their efforts to link the medical and legal communities on the behalf of struggling children and families will prove successful.
The program, which will be implemented in January, will help pediatricians identify issues that are best handled by lawyers and equip doctors with the tools to make legal referrals.
“It’s an idea that has been evolving nationally over the last five to 10 years,” said Dr. Jeffrey Goldhagen, director of the Duval County Department of Health, which is joining Shands Hospital and Jacksonville Area Legal Aid to bring the program to Jacksonville.
The program will begin by training pediatricians in their first, second and third years of residency at what JALA executive director Michael Figgins calls “issue spotting.” Pediatricians will be taught to look for matters that need legal representation.
“It will put doctors in charge of health needs and make them aware of socioeconomic needs. It’s a holistic approach to health,” said Figgins.
Pediatricians have long served as advocates for children, whether it was calling social workers to report suspicions of abuse or landlords to report bad living conditions which caused a child’s illness. But this program will empower them to go a little further.
“Right now, doctors do handle advocacy, but not to the extent that Legal Aid would be able to,” said Figgins.
Issues could involve housing if a child isn’t getting better because of unsatisfactory living conditions. Or legal services could be needed if a child suffers malnutrition because a family isn’t receiving food stamps. Lawyers would be able to handle the situations before they become a crisis situation.
Another aspect of the program will put a representative from Legal Aid into one of the City’s health centers so that doctors may go directly to him or her with a referral. Workers in the 12 other centers will also have access to the representative.
The implementation of the program is a victory for Goldhagen, who has been trying to get it started for the past two years. Funding finally arrived through a national grant from the Dyson Foundation.
“It’s very competitive. There are 10 centers funded around the country and all are to use the funding to restructure pediatric training so that it responds to the needs of children and is more community oriented,” said Goldhagen, adding that each center will be doing something different. “Our strategy here is to link the academic and public health. The training will be an on-going process.”
Carol Ewart is a Ph.D educator whose responsibility under the grant is to work with JALA to develop training curriculum for residents.
“Right now we’re in the early stages,” said Ewart. “We’re reviewing what’s been done in other settings and what is appropriate for Jacksonville.”
“We’ll keep it simple, yet meaningful,” Figgins said of the training. He said his staffers are compiling lists of issues to address, and are also seeking additional funding.
The collaboration between the legal and medical profession is thriving in Family Advocacy Programs in Boston, New York and Chicago. Goldhagen participated in a similar program 10 years ago that was tremendously successful.
“We linked law school faculty with residents and pediatricians who worked together to identify legal issues,” he said.
“It makes sense,” said Figgins. “There has been a barrier between the legal and medical fields. This builds a bridge between the professions that will be to the benefit of low income people.”