On Monday, September 21st, 2020 LegalHealth, along with Medical-Legal Partnership Los Angeles, hosted its first-ever virtual MLP summit. During these unprecedented times, the MLP model of helping patients onsite where they receive medical care has drastically changed, and fostering community in a safe space to address the challenges of this new normal felt more important than ever. Tackling issues of burn-out, practicing as a generalist, working remotely, and continuing to build trusting relationships with our partners, attorneys, paralegals, supervisors, and administrative staff from LegalHealth, Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Bet Tzedek, and Mental Health Advocacy Services came together virtually for an afternoon to share their experiences in the field, their expertise on legal issues, and to brainstorm the complex questions arising during these challenging times.
We plan for this to be the first of many virtual conferences bringing together those working within the unique MLP model. One of the attendees, LegalHealth Supervising Attorney, Maria Campigotto, had this to say about the summit, “It was a nice treat to step away from casework for a few hours and connect with colleagues on bigger picture issues. We so rarely have the opportunity to talk about the particular challenges of being a generalist in a healthcare setting, it was reassuring to hear people on the west coast express similar challenges. I think we were all able to share something and learn something from each other.”