The Miami Herald, Inc.; Thursday, June 26, 1997
Cristina Llado and Peggy Rogers; Herald Staff Writers
Something had to give: Two state health clinics are expected to either close or be turned over to other operators by July 31.
It's part of a process the state began in 1995, when authorities turned over operation of four state medical clinics to Dade County's Public Health Trust. The two additional centers now set to close or undergo a change in operators are South Beach's Prevention, Education and Treatment center and the Quail Roost Drive center in South Dade.
Rather than treating disease patient by patient, the health department's goal is to use the "little precious dollars we have left" for controlling disease at its source, Annie Neasman, the state health chief in Dade, said Wednesday.
The possible closing of South Beach's PET center for people with AIDS and HIV has prompted the most concern from patients. Nearby centers that treat people with AIDS include the publicly supported Stanley C. Myers Community Health Center and the nonprofit clinic at South Shore Hospital, both in South Beach.
About one-third can be handled at the health department's remaining downtown Miami medical center, Neasman said.
Still, the possible loss comes as a shock to patients and workers.
One by one, or in small groups, dozens of employees were summoned to the agency's main office to discuss the future.
Some were told they could keep their jobs only if they agreed to reductions in job categories and cuts in salaries. Many others, particularly doctors and specialists, were given a choice: Move to a medical center unaffected by the budget cuts or lose your job.
Others, like Vida Diana Alvarez, a 50-year-old administrative assistant, heard that their jobs would be eliminated July 31.
"At my age, and with an operation coming up, who'll want to hire me?" she said.
About 20 patients picketed the PET Center on South Beach, which has stopped taking in new patients.
The health department, bracing for an estimated $4 million drop from last year's $43 million budget, is also cutting 62 temporary positions and will have to reassign or lay off as many as several dozen other full or part-time workers, Neasman said.
The loss in money is attributed to several sources: less in Medicaid insurance payments because the health department is treating fewer patients; a statewide legislative cut in the health department's budget; the end of Hurricane Andrew grant money; and the end of a federal immunization grant.
Some of the temporary workers, who included nurses and clerks, were hired for the length of the grants and helped provide services such as speedy immunizations. Some permanent workers from the South Beach and Quail Roost centers may take their positions.
Patients who benefited from such services will either have to travel to one of the two remaining state-run clinics -- in downtown Miami or Little Haiti -- or they will have to enroll at publicly financed medical centers closer to home, health authorities said.
CAPTION: photo: Patients protesting (a)
C.M. GUERRERO / Herald Staff HEALTH CENTER DEMONSTRATION: About 20 patients protest Wednesday outside the Dade County health department's Prevention, Education and Treatment center in South Beach.
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