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On March 30, 2007, The Miami-Dade County Health Department (MDCHD) officially did the Grand Opening of “Little Haiti Health Center” (LHHC) to serve the Little Haiti neighborhood. This Health Center located at 300 NE 80 Terrace in Miami has been seeing patients of different ethnic groups: Haitian, Hispanic, and American seeking medical services in the following areas: Women’s Health, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Tuberculosis Prevention and Control, Immunizations for Children and Adults, Lead Screening for Children from 6 months to 6 years old and Primary Care only on Mondays. There is a client sliding Fee Scale per patient through eligibility determination.
 
The number of clients receiving services from January to November 2011 is: Family Planning: 2,528; TB Prevention and Control: 2806; Immunizations-State Provided Vaccines: 5,031; Immunizations-Non-State Provided Vaccines: 716; STD: 887; Lead screening: 293 children; Healthy Homes Program: 54 homes visited. In addition to the services provided, we do community outreach. While the patients are waiting to be seen, we educate them on several topics such as, STDs, colorectal cancer, family planning, cervical cancer, nutrition, smoking, lead poisoning and healthy homes. To promote our services, we distribute flyers in some key areas in the community and do presentations in different places. Among those places visited are: churches, senior citizen centers, and adult night schools where we speak about the services available at LHHC and the health issues: chronic diseases, screenings and prevention. We also organize free community health fairs. It is an opportunity to offer free medical screening to the participants and inform them about other services available in the community. In addition, we work in partnership with CBO/CO such as “Catholic Charities, Sant La, Haitian Women in Miami, Center for Haitian Studies (CHS), Borinquen Health Center, Center of Information (COIN) and with community leaders. We are using the Creole Radio Stations and TV stations to keep the community informed and pass along the message of the Health Department. The Radio and TV Stations are: WJCC 1700 AM, WHSR 980 AM, WKAT 1360 AM, WLQY 1320 AM, WSRF 1580 AM and Island TV.
 
The financial situation of the population in the neighborhood is not good. The community is comprised of mostly low income people who are not working. After the earthquake in Haiti that occurred on January 12, 2010, we are receiving a lot of Haitian Families seeking medical attention. The children need to go to school and their parents have medical and social needs. The Little Haiti Health Center which is in the heart of the Little Haiti (Ti Ayiti) is their reference. We are receiving most of the victims. In addition to health and psychological issues following the earthquake, these victims need jobs and are looking for new social interaction. Presently, the clinic’s main issues are resources and capacity. The demand is greater than our capacity. We are limited in space, finance and services and unable to respond to the needs of those seeking all types of help.