News
LAMP A Beacon Of Help For Parker Patients
By John Burton
RED BANK - It seems that when times are tough, the problems start compounding. The loss of a job can leave a family without health insurance, and what begins as a worrisome medical condition can quickly evolve into an economic and legal one as well.
Working in conjunction with the Parker Family Health Center on the borough's west side, Ocean Monmouth Legal Services has established a program that provides legal assistance for patients of the clinic who may need the help of lawyers on health-related issues.
The Daniel J. O'Hern Legal Assistance and Medical Partnership, or LAMP, is named in honor of former state Supreme Court justice and borough mayor Daniel J. O'Hern, a native of Red Bank.
The health center, 211 Shrewsbury Avenue, founded in 2000 and named after father and son physicians who served the community for almost a century, provides medical care to the uninsured and working poor.
For the past month, representatives for the Parker clinic and LAMP have been working together to address some of the social factors that impact the health of area families.
For example, a family that has children with asthma may need assistance in negotiating with a landlord over mold issues in the home.
The loss of a job may have terrible consequences for someone who is diabetic, and finds himself unable to maintain a healthy diet or afford the prescription drugs they need, explained Dr. Gene Cheslock, founder and president of the Parker center and Adriana Agudelo, deputy director for Ocean Monmouth Legal Services.
"It's kind of the holistic approach," explained Agudelo of the program, a means of treating all the patients' symptoms.
And given the state of the economy, "There are a lot of people out there who need these services," she said.
The Parker LAMP is one of only two in the state so far. The other one being run through Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center, according to Agudelo and Cheslock.
This type of program was started about 16 years ago at Boston Medical Center and has grown to 80 around to country. But the O'Hern LAMP operating here in Red Bank is the only one in the U.S. that is being run by a volunteer organization like the Parker center. "We're really the pioneers of this in the country," Cheslock noted.
The program is open only to citizens and legal residents of the U.S., they said; and the American Bar Association and the National Pediatric Society have endorsed this idea, "because of the impact on children," Cheslock said.
"I think the way the economy is now, we're seeing a lot of issues," Agudelo said. "There's a lot of unemployed people with health issues."
Since starting the program in early November Agudelo has already opened 40 case files. "A lot of it is what we call advice and counsel and brief service," she said.
Agudelo and her associates with legal services are assisting the clients free, and are finding people who are new to hard times and are unaware of what services are available and what are their rights as they struggle with rent payments and other concerns.
"It's demoralizing," Agudelo said.
"Especially for people who've worked all of their lives," said Jennifer Anderson, a consultant working with the center on raising money for this program. And for those people, Anderson added, "There's a huge reluctance there."
But the legal service team will guide the clients through the labyrinth of bureaucracy to make sure they can get the help they need.
The Salvation Army provides social workers to help the clients, as well, Agudelo said.
"You have to explain to them what it's there for and how it's going to help them," Agudelo said. "We're there to advocate if need be."
Representatives from legal services are at the Shrewsbury Avenue location on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 to noon and by appointment.
Daniel J. O'Hern Jr. said that doctors and lawyers really have a common mission, "And that is to help people." And when his father, for whom the LAMP has named in his honor, was asked why he became a lawyer, he said it was to help people. "And this is true to his calling," O'Hern said.
