Miami Herald - November 6, 2007
Rebecca Dellagloria, rdellagloria@MiamiHerald.com

"It's been a struggle," said Docher, 43.

The clinic, run by the university's Comprehensive AIDS program, closed Oct. 31 because there weren't enough patients like Docher seeking treatment at the center at the Florida City/Homestead Neighborhood Center in Florida City, said Dr. Michael Kolber, director of UM's AIDS program.

The center was opened about 10 years ago to meet the needs of a community that was largely underserved, Kolber said. But since then, several other medical centers -- including two run by Community Health Inc. of South Dade, or CHI -- have been handling the medical needs of South Dade's large HIV and AIDS population, he said.

And many of the people who walked through the center's doors never came back, Kolber said. Only about 100 people returned for treatment on a continuous basis, a review showed, he said. The center should have been serving about 300 to 400 to stay open, he said.

"I don't think we were serving the patients as well as we could have," said Kolber, who took over the AIDS program in July after longtime director Ann Carter retired. "It was primarily a patient care issue. We would have kept it open if we were serving the population we could serve."

But that explanation doesn't sit well with Docher, a recovering drug addict who said the Outreach center "saved my life." Docher has to go to the Martin Luther King clinic -- a CHI satellite center in Homestead -- on certain days at certain times to get her medicines. And she has to take two buses to get to Jackson Memorial Hospital in downtown Miami if she wants to continue to be treated by her doctors from the Florida City center.

"The doctors, the social workers, they went above and beyond for us. Their phones were open 24 hours a day. You couldn't have asked for anything more," Docher said of the Project Outreach staff. "Thanks to them, I'm an upbeat person. I used to be on the street; I used to use drugs. And now I'm clean over a year and a half, and it was because of their care. I have a completely different life now because of this clinic and these people."

Docher is not alone.

Bette Hollard, who owns Mowry Coin Laundry on Mowry Drive near the Martin Luther King clinic, said many of her customers and one of her employees counted on the Outreach center for care. Now, they have to travel downtown or wait on lines to be seen at the CHI on Mowry or the main location in Goulds, she said.

"All the people are without care now unless they go downtown, which is what the real shame is," said Hollard. "They are telling them they can go to Martin Luther King, but Martin Luther King is overwhelmed. The clinic was easy to deal with, always there to help them."

Kolber said he was glad to hear the center had helped many people but noted that the clinic was limited in its function.

There was a social worker on staff, and a nurse as well as two outreach specialists. Doctors made weekly visits, but were not there daily, which was a problem for those who needed immediate attention, he said. And many patients who needed to see specialists still had to make the trip downtown to Jackson, he said.

"We didn't do this to spite patients, we did this to help patients," Kolber said. "We tried very hard to keep it open with what we had."

Col. Brodes Hartley, CHI president and CEO, said Project Outreach staff contacted him about the center's closing and that his centers are fully prepared to take over the medical care of their patients.

"We have a team and have been treating HIV and AIDS patients for many, many years, even before the outreach center opened up," said Hartley, who noted there can never been enough resources to help everyone.

"We are going to pick up the slack for those patients who are willing to utilize [our] services."

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