Senior Citizens Program to Continue at Touro Law Center

Suffolk County Legislature Awarded Grant to Touro Law to Provide Continued Funding for The Senior Citizens Law Program

February 6, 2012

The Suffolk County Legislature has awarded Touro Law a grant again this year to continue the Senior Citizens Law Program. This is the third year the program will be housed at Touro Law Center.

The Senior Citizens Law Program provides legal advice and representation to residents of Suffolk County who are 60 years of age or older. Services are provided without regard to income or resources, but are targeted to those in greatest economic and social need, low-income minorities and the frail elderly who are homebound or who reside in facilities. Priorities are to maintain housing and prevent homelessness, public benefits and income matters, including cash and food assistance, SSI and Social Security benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, home health care, HEAP, Section 8 housing, the rights of patients in nursing homes, prevention or redress of abuse and exploitation, health care decision-making and access to health care issues.

Touro Law will provide community legal education for senior citizens and providers of other services to the elderly, consisting of visiting senior centers, nutrition centers and other locations, presenting brief explanations on legal topics, providing information or referral to senior citizens at the location and providing pamphlets and brochures containing fuller explanations of legal matters for seniors.

The program is run by Senior Staff Attorney Denise Marzano-Doty, Staff Attorney Gillian Ballentine-Alman and Paralegal/Gerontologist Judith Lespinasse. Since April, the Senior Citizens Law Program has provided assistance to 549 clients and conducted nearly 30 community education programs. In addition, Touro Law students have served as interns.

“A critical portion of the community benefits from the Senior Citizens Law Program while our students have the opportunity to work with the attorneys in the office to receive real-world training,” said Dean Lawrence Raful. “We are so thrilled the funding for this worthwhile Program has continued and look forward to another successful year.”


For more information about the Senior Citizens Law Program, please call (631) 761-7470.

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Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center’s 185,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility is located adjacent to both a state and a federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York. Touro Law’s proximity to the courthouses, coupled with programming developed to integrate the courtroom into the classroom, provide a one-of-a kind learning model for law students, combining a rigorous curriculum taught by expert faculty with a practical courtroom experience. Touro Law, which has a student body of approximately 750 and an alumni base of more than 5,000, offers full- and part-time J.D. programs, several dual degree programs and graduate law programs for US and foreign law graduates. Touro Law Center is part of the Touro College system.

About the Touro College and University System
Touro is a system of non-profit institutions of higher and professional education. Touro College was chartered in 1970 primarily to enrich the Jewish heritage, and to serve the larger American and global community. Approximately 19,000 students are currently enrolled in its various schools and divisions. Touro College has branch campuses, locations and instructional sites in the New York area, as well as branch campuses and programs in Berlin, Jerusalem, Moscow, Paris, and Florida. Touro University California and its Nevada branch campus, as well as Touro College Los Angeles and Touro University Worldwide as separately accredited institutions within the Touro College and University System. For further information on Touro College, please go to: http://www.touro.edu/media/.
For more info contact:
Patti Desrochers
Director of Communications
pdesrochers@tourolaw.edu
(631) 761-7062

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