HEAL Program seeks health care for area poor

Bring in the attorneys from the Legal Aid Society....sad it has evolved to this point of legal aid just to get medical care when needed.  The education process portion sounds like a good idea as part of the program, but there are so many areas for one to research these days, it gets a little confusing.  BD

Doctors and lawyers are teaming up in a new effort to improve health care for poor Central Virginians.

White said that the program uses the legal system to make sure low-income residents and their children receive public benefits including food stamps and Medicaid, to identify mental health issues and to achieve family stability.

Called the HEAL Project, the program is a partnership between the Lynchburg-based Virginia Legal Aid Society and the Lynchburg Family Practice Residency Center - both groups that serve low-income populations free of charge.

“Low-income people have lots of obstacles to living healthy lives,” said David Neumeyer, executive director of the Legal Aid Society.

A similar program began about 10 years ago at a Boston hospital and is now used in about 50 localities across the country. In Virginia, a partnership between the University of Virginia Hospital, UVa. Law School and Charlottesville’s legal aid branch began only about 18 month ago.

Neumeyer said the program is just beginning to take off in the United States, and Canada is not lagging far behind.

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