National Center for Healthcare Advancement and Partnerships
VHA Community Partnership Challenge
A California partnership, also a VHA National Community Partnership Challenge winner, helps Veterans find justice through health care
By Dr. Tracy L. Weistreich, Nurse Executive, VHA National Center for Healthcare Advancement and Partnerships
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has selected the VA Palo Alto Health Care System’s partnership with Bay Area Legal Aid (BayLegal) as one of its winners for the 2021 VHA National Community Partnership Challenge (CPC).
BayLegal helps communities in Northern California access justice by providing free civil legal aid to low-income people, including Veterans. VA social workers in the Palo Alto Health Care System identified Veterans with civil legal problems underlying their medical issues and referred them to lawyers so they could solve problems together.
In California’s Bay Area, a disabled, Black Vietnam Veteran was experiencing hunger and homelessness after his VA benefits were terminated. He struggled to contact the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) due to dementia, mental health issues, and low literacy. But thanks to a partnership between BayLegal and the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, VA social workers connected the Veteran to legal aid lawyers who successfully appealed his termination of benefits and assisted him in getting in-home support and Medicaid coverage.
Additionally, VA social workers provided daily counseling, crisis intervention, ensured the Veteran made it to medical and legal appointments, and helped him move back into his community, in a fully furnished apartment, with a voucher from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program.
Lori Buelna, a supervising social worker at VA Palo Alto Health Care System, said this partnership, “plays a role in the Veteran’s pursuit of whole-health recovery as it increases their access to a much-needed resource, and restores a sense of hope and control, promoting their health and well-being. This partnership acted as a catalyst for social change and its partners teamed up as change agents.”
In 2021, the CPC focused on partnerships dedicated to serving Veterans from all backgrounds and experiences in difficult circumstances. The VA Palo Alto and BayLegal partnership tailored their services to each Veteran patient and client and their families.
“Many Veterans are living with the effects of trauma from their service,” said Buelna. “In order to effectively provide legal services and to make sure its services are accessible to all Veterans, BayLegal meets clients where they are, whether that means driving to a Veteran’s home for meetings or coming up with creative ways to communicate that are sensitive to a Veteran’s needs.”
VA Palo Alto staff screened Veterans for health risk factors like food insecurity and homelessness or risk of homelessness during medical appointments. Legal aid lawyers then helped eligible patients fight evictions, reinstate driver’s licenses, and access VA and disability benefits.
“I remember the day I called him to tell him the good news,” said Buelna of the Vietnam Veteran BayLegal and VA staff helped.
"We told him ‘You did, you won!’ and he stated 'Lori, I knew it, [I knew] you would help to figure out a way to help me, and you would not leave me alone to die. You and [BayLegal] did it! I am dancing with my hands up in the air with you right now.'"
The CPC is managed by the VHA National Center for Healthcare Advancement and Partnerships (HAP) which facilitates partnerships advancing the health and well-being of Veterans. On behalf of the VHA Under Secretary for Health office, the CPC recognizes and awards outstanding nonmonetary partnerships that benefit Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors.
For more information on HAP’s partnership work and the CPC, please visit: va.gov/healthpartnerships.
For more information about medical-legal partnerships and VA resources, please visit:
https://www.va.gov/healthpartnerships/updates/mlp/mlpadditionalresources.asp
External Link Disclaimer: This page contains links that will take you outside of the Department of Veterans Affairs website. VA does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of the linked websites.
Posted September 14, 2021
