the bay Pines va MediCal legal PartnershiP
Military & Veterans Affairs Committee Chairs: Alexandra Srsic – Bay Area Legal Services, Inc. & David Veenstra- Hunter Law, P. A.
innovative collaboration brings additional services to local veterans.
Bay Area Legal Services( BALS) has seen how the struggle with legal problems can significantly affect a client’ s physical and mental health. When people join the armed forces, one promise that they rely on is that if their service results in an honorable discharge or in a disability, they will receive a lifetime of health care and assistance.
Even with this benefit, veterans can be particularly vulnerable to the stress and instability caused by unresolved legal issues. And a disability can further affect a veteran’ s capacity to find and maintain gainful employment. As a result, disabled veterans are among the most impoverished groups in our communities.
Low-income or homeless veterans face legal challenges unique to their status. Many fail to obtain permanent housing because they cannot meet lending requirements or have poor or no credit. This is in addition to other challenges they share with many low-income individuals seeking housing in a poor economy. Those challenges, which often involve legal issues pertaining to housing, family law, and consumer issues, cannot be properly addressed without the assistance of an attorney— and they are an obstacle to a veteran’ s health, housing status, stability, and productivity.
Legal assistance, through innovative projects such as a medical-legal partnership, can alleviate many of the factors that negatively affect a veteran’ s health and his or her ability to become self-sufficient. Medical Legal Partnerships( MLPs) are designed to address the unmet legal needs of veterans by integrating civil legal aid services into existing health care services for veterans. In recognition of this important need, and in furtherance of BALS’ s Veterans Initiative, BALS worked diligently for months with the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System and the Stetson University College of Law Veterans Law Institute to develop a medical legal partnership to serve veterans receiving their health care services at the Bay Pines Regional Health Center. Bay Pines is one of the country’ s largest regional VA Medical Centers and serves veterans from Pinellas, Manatee, and Sarasota Counties.
In February 2017, after months of planning, the Bay Pines VA Medical Legal Partnership was established to provide veterans access to legal services at the Bay Pines Regional Health Center. BALS was pleased to partner with Bay Pines and Stetson College of Law to bring these critical legal services to the veterans. This innovative, collaborative approach has enabled BALS to address the unmet legal needs of our veterans by providing services directly at the facility where veterans receive their health care.
Our innovative legal services delivery system has established an important partnership between health and legal providers to better assist veterans in need and encourage a more holistic approach to their overall well-being, thereby improving their quality of life. Since February 2017, the Bay Pines MLP has served approximately 600 veterans using the expertise of BALS staff attorney Julie Embler and Equal Justice Works Fellow Cherilyn Hansen. The MLP also uses the assistance of Stetson law students and volunteer attorneys.
In 2018, BALS is looking forward to expanding the Bay Pines MLP to serve veterans in Sarasota and Manatee counties, with the help of pro bono attorneys, in addition to our staff attorneys. This project and other veteran-focused initiatives through the Major General Ernest A. and Marilyn Bedke Veterans Law Center will enable BALS to better serve these deserving members of our community— our veterans.
Author: Lisa L. Brody – Bay Area Legal Services
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