New legal-medical partnership to aid Camden residents

In a holistic effort to address some medical needs in Camden, students from Rutgers-Camden and Rowan University will provide health care alongside legal services in a new medical-legal partnership.

The Rowan University/Rutgers-Camden Board of Governors authorized $25,000 in seed money for the program during its regular meeting Tuesday afternoon.

Students at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University already provide care through student-run clinics. Rutgers-Camden law, nursing, and social-work students will join the Rowan students, alongside faculty from both universities and staff from the Camden Coalition of Health Care Providers, to help Camden residents with health-care needs beyond direct medical assistance.

"For instance, you might have a child who has asthma and who's living in an apartment that has mold in it, and the landlord has an obligation to abate the mold but hasn't been doing it," Kimberly Mutcherson, a Rutgers-Camden law professor who is helping develop the program, said.

"Well, your doctor's not going to call your landlord to get that done, right? That's the kind of thing that you need a lawyer for."

Another patient may have a chronic condition requiring medication, she said, but needs help navigating the paperwork to receive the appropriate Social Security benefits.

"That's the kind of work that a lawyer does for you. So it's a way of inserting ourselves into that relationship, so that we can help people be healthier," Mutcherson said.

A study from the Sen. Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers-Camden will provide data on areas where legal assistance can benefit disadvantaged patients, and Rutgers will search for a consulting lawyer to develop the program.

According to Rutgers University materials provided to the board, the program could include postgraduate fellowships beginning this fall, with the clinic launching with students in spring 2016. The program also could include a multidisciplinary course, connecting the field work to the classroom.

Beyond receiving real-world experience, students also would benefit from working in teams involving other disciplines, said Rayman Solomon, provost at Rutgers-Camden, who spent 16 years as dean of the law school.

"The future of 21st-century professional life is, they're going to be working with doctors, lawyers, and accountants," he said. "People will be working in teams, problem-solving, and this teaches them that early."

At its meeting, the joint board, which has oversight over new health and science programs from either university, also introduced an inaugural group of 10 students for a previously approved medical apprenticeship program. Those students, from two of Camden's public high schools, will be paid as they learn from Camden County College faculty and Camden Coalition of Health Care Providers staff, then go on to receive certification as medical assistants.

The board also authorized Rowan to begin developing a doctorate of occupational therapy degree program.