Boston Globe Editorial 10/14 Advocating For Health

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Advocating for health By 0, 10/14/2002 IN THEIR OFFICES, pediatricians can have a great impact on medical problems. But once poor children leave these offices, the power of medical care can be eroded by grim facts of life. Some children have asthma and live in apartments with roaches and mold. Some children's health is compromised by hunger. Some children suffer anxiety and depression from living with domestic violence. How can a pediatrician promote health in such daunting environments? Dr. Barry Zuckerman, chairman of pediatrics at Boston Medical Center, says he struggled to help patients by yelling at landlords and utility and fuel company representatives on the phone. Other doctors avoid asking about issues they have no medical answers for, such as unemployment. In 1993, BMC came up with a better strategy: Unite doctors with lawyers. The result was the Family Advocacy Program. The doctors can refer patients to the advocacy program, a legal clinic located at the hospital. The lawyers provide social care: getting landlords to keep apartments up to legal par, negotiating with utility companies, handling immigration problems, pushing school officials who are slow to respond to learning disabilities, and making sure state agencies don't wrongfully deny benefits such as food stamps. The goal is to keep children healthy and families stable. And while the lawyers deal with big problems, they also do prevention, acting on a ''symptom,'' like an unpaid utility bill, before it cascades into homelessness. The advocacy project got new legal muscle last year thanks to a partnership with the Boston law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky, and Popeo. During the year, some 16 lawyers and paralegals have donated 750 hours of time. Now Ellen Lawton, the program director, wants to expand into a web of doctor-lawyer partnerships that cover children across the state. Hard-eyed realists, advocacy program officials are not seeking state funding; the project's $250,000 budget is raised privately. They are looking for more lawyers and law firms to volunteer their services. The advocacy program provides training and refers cases that have been carefully prepared to save pro bono lawyers time and legwork. It must be said that children who are trying to get their basic needs met should not need lawyers. The fact that lawyers make a difference shows that state and federal agencies are failing to meet some of their basic obligations and must strive to do better. But what Zuckerman and Lawton see is an opportunity to form a public-private partnership with state officials. They've already met with Health and Human Services Secretary Gittens and his commissioners. The plan is impressive: Make everyone a hero, part of an energized network that helps children lead healthy lives. This story ran on page A14 of the Boston Globe on 10/14/2002.

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