A local doctor and attorney have teamed up to launch an initiative aimed at solving problems that might not be medical in nature but still can sabotage people’s health.

Called a medical-legal partnership, the concept is gaining popularity nationwide. The premise is that health problems sometimes can’t be resolved through medical treatment alone.

For example, a child with asthma might take medication as prescribed but still have breathing problems because of mold in the family’s apartment. Or a cancer patient might struggle with scheduling needed treatment because her employer is hassling her about time away from the job.

Because doctors are pressed for time and aren’t trained to deal with such issues, the model has them team up with attorneys and sometimes social workers. There are more than 200 such partnerships across the country.

“I think it really speaks to the common-sense nature of the model,” said Ellen Lawton, executive director of the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership. “What my medical director says is, ‘Sometimes the best prescription I can write for a patient is for them to go see a lawyer. That can resolve the issue faster than any medical prescription.’ ”

The local project is being led by Dr. Jake Martinez, who works at Family Health Center. He is in his final year of a training program the center runs for family medicine physicians.

Martinez said he first heard about the concept while attending medical school in Pittsburgh. His interest in the idea grew even further in Waco.

It’s frustrating for a doctor to know a patient could be healthier if certain environmental factors were fixed but not be able to help, he said.

“We’re trying to address a lot of these problems in a vacuum,” he said.

So Martinez approached Family Health’s leadership with the idea. After getting approval, he reached out to Waco’s legal aid community.

Through that process, he got to know attorney Ann Ellis. She is working with indigent youth through a nonprofit organization she started.

The partnership is still in its early stages. The way it’s working now is largely informal. Doctors at one of Family Health’s 11 clinics can refer a patient based on information that person might happen to share during a visit.

Soon, however, Martinez plans to give the doctors a screening questionnaire they can use to quickly assess whether a patient needs a referral. It will ask questions about everything from people’s access to health insurance to whether they have certain concerns about their child’s education, he said.

Martinez also is planning a lecture series to further educate the physicians about what to look for, he said.

The help the partnership can provide is limited since the project does not yet have a funding source.

Ellis, who is volunteering her time, isn’t able to file lawsuits on a patient’s behalf. But she can give them advice and perform certain tasks, such as writing a letter to a landlord.

So far, Ellis has given a family pointers on how to get a landlord to fix their apartment unit; helped a patient apply for disability benefits based on an HIV diagnosis; and assisted a woman with finding resources to deal with her grandchildren’s behavioral health issues.

The partnership is applying for grants that Martinez hopes will allow it to expand. Giving Ellis more leeway in how she pursues cases would be one goal. Adding a social worker to the team is another, he said.

The nation’s first medical-legal partnership was founded in 1993 at the Boston Medical Center. It eventually started the national center, which provides guidance to others who want to launch such an effort.

The partnerships are based in a variety of settings, from children’s hospitals to geriatric programs, said Lawton, from the national center. But health centers are the most prevalent. It makes sense, she said, because the clinics often serve low-income, local residents.

An increasing number of doctor training programs, like the one at Family Health, also are embracing the model. That’s particularly exciting, Lawton said.

“The next generation needs to think about these problems and how to solve them,” she said. “What we’re asking is for them to listen to information differently and know how to get better solutions for their patients.”

cculp@wacotrib.com

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