Author: ab139

See below for a course opportunity this fall.

Health Law and Policy Clinic (3 credits)

University of Akron School of Law

Faculty: Marie B. Curry, J.D., M.P.H.

Interested students please contact: mbcurry@uakron.edu.

Registration requires enrollment in class (1 credit) and clinic (2 credits) separately.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED PLEASE REGISTER ASAP.

The Health Law and Policy Clinic (HLPC) will meet on campus for class 5-6 times for 2.5-3 hours/class during the semester. The time will be scheduled to accommodate the schedules of the enrolled students. On weeks when there is no class at the scheduled class times, students will be on-site at Community Legal Aid. Students will also participate in additional clinical hours during daytime hours scheduled around their class schedule. Evening students will need to have some availability during weekdays to take this clinic. However, the instructor is willing to work with interested students to schedule clinic time. Clinic is located at Community Legal Aid in downtown Akron. Clinic students will participate in Legal Aid’s medical-legal partnership, called the Health, Education, Advocacy, and Law (HEAL) Project, which partners with Akron Children’s Hospital, Pathways HUB Community Action (Summit Count), Mahoning Valley Pathways HUB, and Summa Health System’s Women’s Health Center. The HEAL Project integrates lawyers (as well as paralegals and students) into the health care team (which includes doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, counselors, and other professionals) to resolve legal problems that are barriers to health.

Medical Legal Partnerships incorporate individual client representation with practice transformation and systemic policy work. The HEAL Project provides individual assistance to patients of its health care and community partners. It also trains doctors and lawyers to use legal care to improve patient health, thereby transforming both the practice of medicine and of law. Systemic work of the HEAL project organically arises from the health policy issues at stake on a local, state, and national level.

Current systemic and policy issues will focus on (1) continued access to health insurance coverage through Medicaid and other avenues; (2) development of strategy for addressing policy-level concerns in K-12 education; (3) implementation of a Health in All Policies approach in Summit County; and (4) launch of new initiative to empower parents to advocate for their children who are struggling in school; and (5) working with community partners to implement a recently-completed strategic plan to reduce youth violence in Summit County.