On April 25, members of the Chester Bedell Inn of Court and other pro bono attorneys and volunteer paralegals provided low-income seniors with advance directive documents at Cathedral Townhouse.
Matching the need for advance directives with a group of willing volunteers means 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, pro bono attorney Debbie Lee-Clark spoke in a group information session at the residential facility.
Senior citizens gathered to hear Lee-Clark 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 a living will.
Seniors who wanted to have the documents created worked with Karen Gaudry, the service coordinator at Cathedral Townhouse, to schedule a time to meet with an attorney.
Document creation is the second segment of the project. Thirteen 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 and who have indicated they would like to have the service.
Chester Bedell Inn of Court members have committed to assisting these seniors complete their documents.
These attorneys provided the legal counsel: Debbie Lee-Clark, Hollyn Foster, Adina Pollan and Mary Guilfoil.
These paralegal volunteers drafted and notarized documents: Amy Kilgore, Linda Murphy, Ralph Murphy, Margaret Costa, Visalakshi Ramachanbran and Bobbi Austin.
Paralegal Donna Hoffman notarized documents and scanned documents for archiving in the Jacksonville Area Legal Aid case management system.
Legal Aid intern Kourtney Reed completed intake interviews.
Sincere appreciation is extended to the leadership and members of the Chester Bedell Inn of Court and the entire volunteer team for stepping up for senior citizens who would not otherwise have access to legal assistance.
Attorneys interested in these and other pro bono opportunities throughout the 4th Judicial Circuit are encouraged to contact Kathy Para, chair of The JBA Pro Bono Committee at [email protected].