Page 7 - First Coast Vol 3 No 5

JALA attorney Katy DeBriere
Leads Partnership Bene ting
Children with Medical and Legal Needs
KATY DEBRIERE WITH DR. MARK A. TONEY, DR. JEFFREY L. GOLDHAGEN,
DR. PAUL A. PITEL AND DR. JERRY A. BRIDGHAM – THE PHYSICIANS RESPON- SIBLE FOR THE CREATION AND CON- TINUATION OF NFMLP.
$1 million JALA plans to raise over the next ve years, resulting in a total endowment of $2.25 million.
“What our friends at Baptist are do- ing to ensure this partnership contin- ues is a huge gi to the children of our community,” DeBriere said. “And we are really proud to have earned their trust by demonstrating just how criti- cal civil legal aid is to children and their families when they are strug- gling with health challenges and a lack of nancial resources at the same time.”
e legal services provided through the NFMLP include help accessing health insurance and other public bene ts, family law advocacy, con- sumer protection, assistance with immigration issues, and advocacy re- lated to ensuring safe and a ordable housing.
“Our role in the partnership is to remove legal and economic barriers to a child’s wellness,” said JALA Presi- dent and CEO Jim Kowalski. “ at in turn allows the family to focus on the child’s medical, psychological and emotional needs. At the same time, it allows the health-care team to do what they do best and not have to worry about things that are beyond their control. Our job is to x as many of those things as we can.”
EBY NANCY KINNALLY
ver since he came into the world
two months ahead of schedule, Isaac Campbell, 13, has needed specialized health care, and when Florida Medicaid cut o
his bene ts, it didn’t take long before his family could no longer a ord his therapies or nursing.
“No matter who you called or who you mailed a letter to or what chan- nel you tried to get advice from, you got nowhere fast,” said Isaac’s mother, Brandie Campbell.
But because Isaac’s health-care pro- vider participates in the Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership (NFMLP), he and his family soon found an ally who accomplished what they’d found impossible. Katy De- Briere, a lawyer at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid (JALA) who serves as the partnership’s managing attorney, ad- vocated for Isaac and got his Medicaid bene ts restored.
“Katy was able to get through the channels that we as parents were not able to get through,” Campbell said. “When you say you have an attorney to assist you and the backing of legal aid to help you, doors seem to open up, and things that you couldn’t make happen magically happen for you.”
Isaac, who got his nursing care back and has been able to resume physi-
cal, occupational and speech therapy, is one of about 200 children a year served by the NFMLP, through which doctors, hospitals and clinics collabo- rate with JALA sta attorneys and pro bono lawyers to ensure children’s health-care and daily living needs are met.
“As health-care providers, we have seen the incredibly positive impact the Northeast Florida Medical Legal Partnership has had on our pediatric patients and their families,” said Dr. Jerry A. Bridgham, chief medical of- cer of Wolfson Children’s Hospital. “ e service Katy DeBriere and her colleagues and the pro bono attorneys provide is absolutely invaluable, and we need to invest in it so that it will always be there. Because the need, unfortunately, will always be there.”
Wolfson Children’s is part of the NFMLP along with Nemours Chil- dren’s Specialty Care of Jacksonville, UF Health Specialty Pediatric Clinics, and Community PedsCare, a pediat- ric program of Community Hospice & Palliative Care and the provider that referred Isaac to JALA. Partnership member Baptist Health has pledged $1.25 million toward an endowment set up to fund the NFMLP. Baptist will provide a 125-percent match on
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