{"id":16547,"date":"2020-04-30T10:23:47","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T15:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/?p=16547"},"modified":"2020-05-13T16:39:12","modified_gmt":"2020-05-13T21:39:12","slug":"youve-asked-how-can-we-help-here-are-some-ways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/2020\/04\/30\/youve-asked-how-can-we-help-here-are-some-ways\/","title":{"rendered":"You\u2019ve asked: How can we help during pandemic? Here are some ways"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the current public health emergency, we\u2019ve heard from alumni, faculty, staff, and students who are looking for ways to get involved and help others.<\/p>\n

Here are a few projects in which members of the Mitchell Hamline community are participating. Please let us know of other efforts you are involved in and what sort of help is needed, and we’ll continue to update this list.<\/p>\n

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Representatives of the Olivia and Howard Geller Foundation for Patient Safety deliver tablets, while social distancing, to Winona (MN) Health Services.<\/p><\/div>\n

Help these alums supply tablets to hospitals<\/strong><\/p>\n

Linda Geller Axelrod and her husband Leonard \u2013 both Hamline Law graduates (’88 and ’82, respectively) who met at a law school meeting — started a foundation in 2012 dedicated to helping hospitalized patients and their families. During the current pandemic, the foundation is raising money to buy tablets for hospitals.<\/p>\n

Because of the health risks of being around someone with COVID-19, many family members can\u2019t be with loved ones when they\u2019re hospitalized. Talking via tablet a next best option; the Axelrods have so far sent 75 Amazon Fire tablets to hospitals across Minnesota.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything we can do to make things a little bit easier for these patients and their families we would love to be able to do it,\u201d Linda told WCCO in a recent interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can help the Axelrods buy more tablets by donating to the Olivia and Howard Geller Foundation for Patient Safety<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Connect with these faculty to support prisoners freed on medical release<\/strong><\/p>\n

During a time when public health officials are asking people to socially distance, states are also grappling with how to stem the spread of COVID-19 in prison populations.<\/p>\n

Reducing the overall population is one way, and all three of Minnesota\u2019s law schools have teamed up to try to help. Mitchell Hamline\u2019s LAMP<\/a> and Reentry<\/a> clinics are part of an effort to help people who are incarcerated in Minnesota apply for medical release. Students from Mitchell Hamline, University of Minnesota, and University of St. Thomas law schools are volunteering to work with individual applicants as they fill out the necessary forms.<\/p>\n

Mitchell Hamline faculty members Jon Geffen and Brad Colbert are working with Perry Moriearty from the University of Minnesota Law School and Mark Osler from the University of St. Thomas College of Law. They\u2019ve already received funding from the Graves Foundation<\/a> to support the work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese students have really stepped up,\u201d said Jon Geffen. \u201cThey’re hard-working and making an amazing impact on individuals seeking medical release.”<\/p>\n

In short order, the law schools helped create a guide for incarcerated people and their families to use to fill out the medical release forms, which the Department of Corrections posted on its website<\/a>. Student volunteers now operate a hotline on weekdays, meaning any incarcerated person who calls can get help completing the form during one call. \u201cThis expedites the process significantly,\u201d Geffen added.<\/p>\n

But, Colbert added, \u201cgetting people released from prison is only the first step. People who are released from prison generally need lots of support; people released under these extraordinary circumstances will need even more support.\u201d<\/p>\n

People are who are interested in helping provide support to those recently released from prison can contact Jon Geffen at Jon.Geffen @mitchellhamline.edu or Brad Colbert at brad.colbert @mitchellhamline.edu.<\/p>\n

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More information<\/h2>\n

For current health-related information, we encourage you to visit the World Health Organization<\/a>,\u00a0the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>, and\u00a0the Minnesota Department of Health<\/a> websites. We will also update school information on the website.<\/p>\n

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Coronavirus updates<\/h2>See All<\/a><\/span><\/header>\r\n