The Florida Coastal School of Law Alumni Association partnered with the Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership to provide seniors with advance directive documents.
Florida Coastal alumni attorneys, faculty and law students gathered Feb. 7 to assist senior patients at the MCCI Dunn Avenue Clinic.
The Florida Coastal pro bono team committed to staffing the event and serving patients after the event, as well.
Matching the need for advance directives with a group of willing volunteers means that more area senior citizens will have the support of people they trust as they manage their health, housing and financial matters.
The advance directives for seniors project is presented in three segments. In the first segment, alumna Debbie Lee-Clark spoke at the MCCI Clinic on Dunn Avenue.
Senior citizens gathered to hear her describe the purposes of each of these advance directive documents: durable power of attorney, designation of health care surrogate, designation of pre-need guardian and living will.
Seniors who wanted to sign up to have the documents created worked with Shondria Jennings, the activities coordinator at the clinic, to schedule a time to meet with an attorney Feb. 7.
Document creation at a single event is the second segment of the project. On that day, nine senior citizens completed their advance directives documents.
The third segment of the project provides assistance for seniors who were not able to attend the Saturday event but indicated they would like to have the service.
Florida Coastal alumni also have committed to assisting these seniors complete their documents.
As more seniors are identified who need to get these important documents in place, MCCI Dunn Avenue clinic will refer the seniors to the Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership and law school alumni will have the opportunity to fill their needs.
These attorneys provided the legal counsel that day: Debbie Lee-Clark, Bjorn Anderson, Kimberly Delisa, Jeanna Field, Karen Millard, Jennifer Owen, Tiffany Poore, Alan Ragan, Preston Oughton and Gabriella Vero.
These law students drafted documents: Cara Dickinson, Devin Hennessey, Kylie Kennon, Kellie Foster and James Carbonell. Paralegal Donna Hoffman notarized documents and scanned executed documents for archiving in the Jacksonville Area Legal Aid case management system.
JALA Pro Bono Case Manager Claudia Alcaraz was there to complete intake interviews and notarize documents.
These attorneys have also agreed to assist MCCI seniors: John Bennett, Jason Caldow, Jim Dixon, Philip Hughes, Jennifer Kowkabany, Jineance McMinn, Diana Mederos, Jason Odom and Joanne Fahkre.
Sincere appreciation is extended to the leadership and members of the Florida Coastal School of Law Alumni Association and the pro bono team for stepping up for senior citizens who would not otherwise have access to legal assistance.
The Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership is a collaborative project of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, various Northeast Florida medical providers and many 4th Circuit legal providers including law firms and Florida Coastal.
Medical providers serving low-income and vulnerable patients at clinics such as The Sulzbacher Center, We Care, Volunteers in Medicine, Children’s Medical Services, JaxHATS at UF/Health, AgeWell Institute of Baptist Health, Community Hospice and the Department of Health make referrals to the staff attorney of Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership, who screens the patients referred for legal issues.
With a new medical provider on board, the MCCI Medical Group also will be referring elderly, low-income patients who are in need of advance directives or may have other legal matters with which they need assistance.
Attorneys interested in these and other pro bono opportunities throughout the 4th Judicial Circuit are encouraged to contact Para at [email protected]