Bethany
Hamilton
I am excited to nominate Bethany Hamilton, Director of the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnerships. Bethany is a staunch advocate for the work medical-legal partnerships do each day to help low-income people have better health outcomes and to improve health equity. Bethany started her career as an Equal Justice Works Americorp Legal Fellow and worked as an Equal Justice Works Summer Specialist before transitioning to a position at the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). At NACHC, Bethany quickly rose through the ranks to become Deputy Director of State Affairs, a position in which she advocated for health equity and on behalf of the very health care centers that are so often the only health care resource available to low-income and marginalized people. Since 2020, Bethany has served as Director of the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnerships where she has increased awareness and advocated for the funding of healthcare and legal aid partnerships to improve legal and health outcomes for low-income people.
Bethany has partnered with HRSA to train healthcare providers on the benefits MLPs offer to patients and the healthcare partners' operations. Several times a month, Bethany and her team hold webinars, issue articles and newsletters, and meet with government leaders throughout the country to talk about the work our legal aid organizations do to help our client populations have access to health and to maintain their most valuable asset, their health. One need only spend a few minutes with Bethany to know that she is the real deal. She doesn't just talk about being a voice for our client population and our work, she walks the walk in everything she does from how she leads the NCMLP to how she opens doors for us to talk about our work in rooms that those of us in legal aid were not in before. Bethany's passion for the work that we do and access to good health outcomes for our client populations are what make her not only an ally, but an access to justice hero 365 days of the year. For these and so many other reasons, I nominate Bethany Hamilton for recognition as an Access to Justice Honoree.
