DISCOVERY
An ounce of (legal) prevention
The law school’s Health Justice Project takes on the legal side
of health care inequality S
ometimes the best way to solve a problem is to come at it from all sides. The newest of the law school’s five clinics, the Health Justice Project, aims to do just that. The clinic’s format, a medi-
cal-legal partnership, takes a holistic approach to clients’ problems—“We call it preventive lawyering,” says Direc- tor Emily Benfer—by identifying the cascading barriers to health for low-income families. These barriers can include food instability, disability, difficulty in school, unsafe or unsanitary housing, or problems with public benefits such as Medicaid or food stamps. Cases may include a variety of health-related matters, such as housing code violations, special education, or public benefits denials. The clinic is a partnership with the Erie Family Health
SCHOOL OF LAW
Center, which has nine sites across Chicago. Law students enrolled in the clinic will help train health care profession- als to identify social determinants of health problems that could be resolved through legal intervention. Once clients are referred, the clinic provides advice, other referrals, and
legal representation. “Research shows that social conditions often impact
health more than medical conditions,” says David Buchan- an, MD, MS, chief medical officer for the Erie Family Health Center. “For many patients, the Health Justice Project partnership will have a greater impact on their health and longevity than any pill our physicians could provide or medical procedure we could perform.” The Health Justice Project, together with Erie and representatives of Loyola’s schools of medicine and social work, will work to address systemic problems through public policy reform. Students are excited about the new clinic. Says Drew
McCormick, a recent graduate who worked with Benfer, “Through experiential learning at the clinic, Loyola stu- dents will discover the true meaning of advocacy.”
CHARLIE WESTERMAN The Health Justice Project also allows law students
to gain experience with direct client representation and will help them to develop practical lawyering skills. The 21 law students who have participated in the clinic since December have served over 250 patients of Erie Family Health Center, trained over 70 health care providers, and integrated medical-legal partnership and the social de- terminants of health into Erie’s family practice residency program curriculum.
Emily Benfer, director of the Health Justice Project, speaks with students involved in the new clinic.
30 LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO
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