Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Miami Herald - March 17, 2007
TANIA VALDEMORO, tvaldemoro@MiamiHerald
"We're honored that we're able to serve the community, keep them healthy and improve their quality of life," said Lillian Rivera, who heads the health department.
Known as The Miami-Dade County Health Department Little Haiti Health Center, the clinic at 300 NE 80 Ter. will offer a range of preventive services to all people, regardless of their income and immigration status. It will be open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Health officials are considering offering services on the weekend.
The clinic is already seeing patients.
People can drop by to receive pap smears, or tests for pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, AIDS and tuberculosis. They can also get their blood pressure and cholesterol checked.
The range of these services disappointed some Haitian activists like Gepsie Metellus, executive director of Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center.
"Some of the services they will provide will be helpful. But, we were hoping the clinic would be a primary care clinic and had lobbied the health department for that. The challenge for us now is to convince the policy makers to help make the Center for Haitian Studies into a primary care clinic," she said.
The new clinic will refer patients seeking primary care to the Center for Haitian Studies at 8260 NE Second Ave., Rivera said.
Laurinius Pierre, executive director of the Center for Haitian Studies, said the referrals are beneficial because they will cut the time between diagnosis and treatment for a patient.
He welcomed the clinic's opening, saying it would help serve the needs of a predominantly underserved community. Haitians' healthcare issues run the gamut, Pierre said.
According to Rivera, an anonymous donor gave his one-story home -- where the new clinic is now -- to the Miami-Dade County Health Department in the 1960s. The health department began making plans in 1998 to build a two-story clinic on the site. Delays in acquiring additional land from Miami-Dade County to expand the property stalled the project.
In 2001, the Florida Legislature granted the health department money for the clinic. The $2.3 million facility broke ground in June 2004 and was completed almost two years later.
The health department held a soft opening last month to make sure the clinic functioned properly. Many people have already visited, said Rivera, although she could not provide exact figures.
'It's busy, which goes to show you, 'If you build it, they will come.' "
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