Katie Laskey-Donovan and the Power of Advocacy as Medicine

For nearly a decade, Katie Laskey-Donovan has served as a senior attorney at The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland within MetroHealth’s Community Advocacy Program (CAP).

Katie is proud of the extraordinary partnership between MetroHealth and Legal Aid — the oldest medical legal partnership in Ohio and one of the earliest in the nation.

Across the health system, CAP attorneys manage about 400 cases each year, impacting nearly 1,200 household members. Cases span income benefits, immigration issues for victims of crime and violence, education, domestic violence, housing and more — all social drivers of health that directly influence medical outcomes.

“MetroHealth serves the most vulnerable patients in Northeast Ohio,” Katie said. “And with CAP, we can address the legal issues affecting their health that medicine alone can’t fix.”

A Safe Place to Ask for Help

Katie spends two days a week embedded directly inside the MetroHealth Ohio City Health Center – a place where patients already feel safe, supported and seen.

“Coming here to the same place where they see their doctor, where the staff knows them – it changes everything. The patients feel comfortable sharing what’s really going on in their lives,” Katie said.

Katie estimates that 95% of her caseload comes from MetroHealth referrals – often from physicians, social workers, psychologists, bilingual community health workers and sometimes even the front desk staff who notice a patient is struggling.

Katie’s commitment to justice began long before she stepped into a MetroHealth clinic.

Years ago, before law school, she volunteered at a workers’ rights clinic in Washington, D.C. “That experience really stayed with me,” she said. “Helping vulnerable people receive the right legal advice made all the difference. I realized this was where I wanted to devote my work.”

That early exposure shaped the attorney she would become - someone who pairs deep legal expertise with compassion.

Healing Through Stability: A Citizenship Story

One of Katie’s most memorable cases involved an older patient living with memory deficits, depression and insomnia, which had been brought on by a concussion he suffered years previously. He also suffered from anxiety, which was made worse by the effects of the concussion. He was a lawful permanent resident who had lived in the United States for many years, but because of memory loss, he feared he would fail the civics exam required for citizenship.

Katie worked with his physician to request a disability exemption, ensuring the patient could complete the naturalization process without the impossible burden of memorizing test answers.

When he was approved, he wept.  The immigration officer was so moved, she asked if she could hug him.

“He hugged her,” Katie recalled. “In all my years doing this work, that was the only time I’ve seen an officer hug a client.”

Supporting Survivors, Protecting Families

Another patient that Katie helped was a mom with a newborn baby who was diagnosed with Down syndrome. The mother applied for Medicaid for her son and kept sending in verifications to Job & Family Services (JFS), but Medicaid still had not been approved for her newborn.

Medicaid was also expiring for her older children. Katie worked with her Legal Aid colleagues to assist this family. Legal Aid worked with JFS to get Medicaid approved for the baby and helped to renew Medicaid for his older siblings as well. Now the baby can get the vital therapies he needs.

When asked what she loves most about her job, Katie didn’t hesitate.

“It’s the patients. They’ve gone through so much, and they’re still such remarkable survivors. Helping them find safety and stability – and knowing we’re making a real difference – that’s what keeps me going,” she said.

How You Can Help

Donor support allows the Community Advocacy Program to:

• Keep attorneys embedded where care happens.
• Train healthcare providers to identify legal barriers to health.
• Intervene early when families’ stability – and health – are at risk.

Your support sustains and grows a program that removes legal barriers to good health. With your generosity, more MetroHealth patients will have access to attorneys like Katie – professionals who deliver safety, stability and hope.

Your gift to the MetroHealth Foundation helps ensure every patient receives the full care they need and deserve – medically, legally and humanely.

For more information, please contact Greg Sanders, Vice President of Philanthropy, at 440-592-1319 and gsanders@metrohealth.org. Make an online gift at www.metrohealth.org/donate.