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Community Legal Services (CLS) of Philadelphia is known for its impact work and landmark achievements over its 40-year history.  To bring to life the impact CLS has on individuals and families, several clients have agreed to share their stories.  Please note: All names have been changed to protect our clients' identities.

*Name has been changed.

For several years, attorneys from Community Legal Services have provided legal services at Philadelphia’s Chinatown Clinic, helping recent immigrants who are seriously ill obtain medical insurance so that they can receive the medical care they need.

Sujatmi*, a 46-year-old from Indonesia, makes $6 an hour in one of the many factories in our city, whenever they need her and she’s healthy enough to work. On average, she earns less than $200 a week and, because of illness, made only about $450 this past December. Much of what she earns is sent back home to her family.

Sujatmi was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. Her doctor wanted to perform a biopsy on a mass in her neck, but Sujatmi had no health insurance. When Sujatmi came to the Chinatown Clinic seeking help, she was very fearful, in part because her sister had died of liver cancer, but also because she is aware of how vulnerable she is. At the Clinic, an attorney from Community Legal Services helped Sujatmi fill out and file forms so that she can receive emergency medical assistance.

About two weeks later, Sujatmi was deemed eligible for emergency medical assistance and is now scheduled for her biopsy and to receive treatment for her condition.

*Name has been changed.

Henry* is one of dozens of disabled and elderly Medicare beneficiaries who received help from Community Legal Services when they were unable to obtain their medications during the troubled transition to the Medicare Part D prescription drug program beginning in January 2006. Through individual assistance, advocacy with government offices, and even federal court litigation, CLS aggressively pushed to see that elders got the medicine they needed.

Henry, who is 60 years old and suffers from severe lung disease, was hospitalized in December 2005. After he returned home, he attempted to fill his prescriptions, only to discover that the Part D plan he had signed up for had no record of his enrollment. To compound problems, Medicare had dis-enrolled him already from the HMO through which he had previously obtained medications. By the time Henry was referred to Community Legal Services, he was running out of his medications, including the nebulizers that help him breathe.

The CLS attorney contacted the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS), which was inundated with calls from others who could not get their medications. CLS also shared our clients' experiences with a reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer, who wrote a front page story featuring Henry as the human face of "the Medicare meltdown." The next day, CMS officials personally delivered Henry’s medications to his home and corrected his enrollment.

*Name has been changed.

Some 20 years ago, in a period of personal crisis and extreme difficulty, Gladys* lost her social security number and also fell out of touch with her family. In recent years, she had been working in retail, but when her supervisor asked her for a valid social security number and she couldn’t produce one, she was fired. To get by until she could find another job, Gladys applied for food stamps and general assistance. However, her requests for assistance were denied, again because she couldn’t produce a social security number. With nowhere else to turn, she came to Community Legal Services.
 

At CLS, her attorney and a social worker set about helping Gladys obtain a new social security number. Working every possible avenue to prove her identity and citizenship, they wrote letters, made phone calls, and tracked down leads with the Philadelphia Public School District, her former church, the Department of Motor Vehicles, hospitals, health centers, and other organizations. The CLS attorney and social worker also worked with the welfare office to ensure that Gladys could receive food stamps and general assistance in the meantime to tide her over.
 

Finally this past fall, CLS submitted all of the documents to the Social Security office, and after several months, Gladys was issued a new social security number. Incredibly, in the search for documents proving Gladys’ identity, the CLS attorney ran across the name of an aunt with whom Gladys was able to reconnect. Through her aunt, she was also able to reunite with her sister after decades of separation.
 

When Gladys received her new social security number, she came in to the office to show it off and to celebrate by hugging the staff who had helped her. Thanks to CLS, she will be able to work again, and she is back in touch with her family.

*Name has been changed.

Clara* is one of many children with physical or mental disabilities who have received help from Community Legal Services when their supplemental security income, which helps to pay for their special needs, is cut off.

Clara is an adorable little third grader with a cleft palate. At school, because of her facial disfigurement, she has been teased unmercifully, isolated, and physically abused by the other children.

Clara’s grandmother, Clara's guardian, cares very lovingly for Clara and has follow through with her many medical appointments with dental and plastic surgeons and other doctors. After many operations to establish a roof for her mouth, Clara’s supplemental security income was suddenly ended, and Clara’s grandmother came to Community Legal Services for help.

CLS attorneys found that no one was coordinating Clara’s care at the local children’s hospital, so they had to gather records from various departments themselves before they could help Clara and her grandmother. The results, however, are inspiring. The CLS attorney won the hearing, ensuring that Clara will receive her supplemental security income payments and be able to continue her medical care. In addition, our request for a special needs social worker to coordinate Clara's care was granted. Now, the CLS attorney is working with the grandmother to find appropriate mental health care for this family. Finally, the hospital asked CLS to provide training to their social workers about supplemental security income. As the attorney in charge couldn’t’ have been more pleased. “It was truly a team effort,” she said. “And we won!”

*Name has been changed.

Mr. Carlen* is 85 years old with numerous health problems, including a heart condition for which he is being treated. When he complained about the condition of his apartment and some needed repairs, his landlord tried to evict him.

Further complicating the case, the maintenance person (and likely silent partner/owner) filed a private criminal complaint alleging that Mr. Carlen had threatened him. Although Mr. Carlen is frail and considerably older than the complainant, the district attorney accepted the private criminal complaint.

By the time this case came before Municipal Court with CLS attorneys appearing on Mr. Carlen’s behalf, his niece had found him a new place to live that would be ready in a month. Therefore, the CLS attorney negotiated an agreement that provided for Mr. Carlen to leave in 30 days without the obligation to pay rent, for his security deposit to be returned, and for the maintenance person/silent owner to dismiss the criminal complaint if Mr. Carlen left on time.
 

Mr. Carlen upheld his end: he left the apartment well in advance of the 30-day deadline. The plaintiff, however, failed to comply, returning only a third of the security deposit and continuing to push the private criminal complaint.

CLS attorneys returned the matter to court and also worked closely with the Defenders Association to get help for Mr. Carlen in the criminal matter. At one point a bench warrant was issued against the client when he was confused and went to the wrong court. CLS worked with the Public Defender to get the bench warrant lifted.
 

After trying the security deposit issue in Municipal Court, CLS obtained a money judgment against the landlord for the balance of the deposit which the landlord paid. In addition, after working for months with the Public Defender, the criminal complaint was withdrawn.