NIU College of Law Health Advocacy Blog

Today I visited my client with my supervisor and a Spanish interpreter so I could meet him and update him on the progress of his case. I introduced myself to my client and shook his hand. Via the interpreter, I explained that I was the new student attorney assigned to his case and how I was in the process of collecting his updated medical information to send to Social Security. I told him that part of how I planned to accomplish this was to schedule a meeting with his social worker. I explained that once I received all of the needed information, I would send a memorandum about his case to Social Security with the goal of having his case reviewed and approved without needing to wait for a hearing. Acknowledging his frustration with the rotation of student attorneys on his case each semester, I told him that I hoped that I would be the last student attorney he would have to see. I asked him if he had any questions. He did not but stated that he wanted to be present at the meeting with hi...

During both semesters of my 3L year, I was a student attorney at the Health Advocacy Clinic in Aurora and I have to say that being at the HAC was one of the best parts of law school because I could finally put into practice everything I had learned. I had my own clients and everything! My guided tour of Hesed House, the second largest homeless shelter in Illinois, was also the first time I had ever stepped foot inside a homeless shelter. Parts of my experience at the HAC were heart-wrenching, but upon later reflection (which is critical to the clinical experience), I found that each day was satisfying in its own right. So when I learned that an AmeriCorps VISTA position opened up at the HAC, I leapt at the chance. The period between finishing studying for the bar exam and landing your first job is beyond stressful even though you suddenly have tons of time on your hands. The fact that I knew I’d be returning to the HAC to work in a community I had become familiar with helped the transi...

The spring semester 2016 is coming to a close for the student attorneys at Northern Illinois University College of Law’s Health Advocacy Clinic (“HAC”). As this semester quickly comes to an end, I spent some time reflecting on my time at HAC.   During the semester, we are required to complete Critical Experience Assessments  (“CEAs”) that act as an outlet for us, as students, to process the situations, people, and/or experiences we come across. Recently, I looked back at the first CEA I wrote, after my first week working with Hesed House, Aunt Martha’s and HAC and I wanted to share a portion of it with you.   “This CEA, I want to talk about my first week at the HAC. Specifically, my second day there – which included a tour of Hesed House. The tour started with a meeting in the Hesed House library, and then we went on a guided tour. During the tour we saw the PADS sleeping area, the locker section, the cafeteria, kitchen, and the Transitional Living Community (TLC) where many c...

Perspective changes everything. A statement that I think most people are aware of but can never fully appreciate without really seeing things from a different perspective. One of the biggest lessons that I have learned since working at the Health Advocacy Clinic is what a “break” in life can really mean. For me, from my perspective, it is going on vacation or having a week off of school. For many of the residents here at Hesed House, a break in life seems to take on a different form or a different meaning, or perhaps more accurately, a different perspective. From the perspective of residents here, I think they see breaks often as things that I take for granted. They are happy to have food, water and shelter. So from their perspectives, I think something like hanging out with friends or watching a movie can constitute a break for them. I see these things as common-day occurrences, which looking at it from their perspectives, gives me a new-found appreciation. I really have got to see th...

It was Friday morning and I was waiting for a client to come fill out her Power of Attorney (POA) for Health Care. I was really excited for this because I had not had the opportunity to do an initial client interview yet, and this would be my first time assisting a client with completing a POA. I was also grateful I was able to have the experience of doing one, since POA Day was Wednesday, and I am scheduled Fridays at the clinic. Going into the situation I was very nervous. I had never done a POA before and I reviewed the POA documents, but actually doing interviews is always different than preparing for them. I definitely have seen that play out a lot this semester. You can prepare all you want for client interactions, but often they go nothing like you planned. Going into this experience I expected the client to have a lot of questions. This document is for long- term planning, and the population we work with at the Health Advocacy Clinic often does not have a lot of long-term plans...

Power of Attorney It was Friday morning and I was waiting for a client to come fill out her Power of Attorney (POA) for Health Care. I was really excited for this because I had not had the opportunity to do an initial client interview yet, and this would be my first time assisting a client with completing a POA. I was also grateful I was able to have the experience of doing one, since POA Day was Wednesday, and I am scheduled Fridays at the clinic. Going into the situation I was very nervous. I had never done a POA before and I reviewed the POA documents, but actually doing interviews is always different than preparing for them. I definitely have seen that play out a lot this semester. You can prepare all you want for client interactions, but often they go nothing like you planned. Going into this experience I expected the client to have a lot of questions. This document is for long- term planning, and the population we work with at the Health Advocacy Clinic often does not have a lot ...

Power of Attorney It was Friday morning and I was waiting for a client to come fill out her Power of Attorney (POA) for Health Care. I was really excited for this because I had not had the opportunity to do an initial client interview yet, and this would be my first time assisting a client with completing a POA. I was also grateful I was able to have the experience of doing one, since POA Day was Wednesday, and I am scheduled Fridays at the clinic. Going into the situation I was very nervous. I had never done a POA before and I reviewed the POA documents, but actually doing interviews is always different than preparing for them. I definitely have seen that play out a lot this semester. You can prepare all you want for client interactions, but often they go nothing like you planned. Going into this experience I expected the client to have a lot of questions. This document is for long- term planning, and the population we work with at the Health Advocacy Clinic often does not have a lot ...