Paula S. Gómez and David G. Hall from Brownsville, Texas, were honored this week by the White House Champions of Change program for their work with the Brownsville medical-legal partnership.
A collaboration between the Brownsville Community Health Center and Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, the Medico-Legal Partnership RioGrande Valley is helping children and families in Brownsville, Texas by integrating legal assistance into the medical setting. When an asthmatic child leaves the doctor’s office with medication but returns to mold-infested housing, she also needs help from an attorney who practices landlord/tenant law if she is eventually going to breathe symptom free. This new patient care model, supported by the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership, improves the health and well-being of those served by addressing the non-medical determinants of health, including food and energy security, housing conditions, education, and personal safety.