On Friday, December 16, 2011 the Miami-Dade County Health Department (MDCHD) held an art dedication ceremony at their newest Health Center, The Health District Center located at 1350 NW 14th street. Former employees, business partners and current health department employees attended the dedication ceremony which was hosted by Lillian Rivera, RN, MSN, PhD, Administrator of the Miami-Dade County Health Department.The dedication served as a reminder to the many employees who have dedicated their lives throughout the years to help promote and protect the health of all residents in Dade County and will serve as a constant reminder that public health has conquered many challenges within our community.
Among those invited were Governor Rick Scott, State Surgeon General Frank Farmer, former Florida Senator Durrell Peadon, Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, Shirlee M. Moreau-LaFleur, Director of Field Operation for Congresswoman Wilson, Community partners such as Dr. Armando Ferrer, President of Miami-Dade College Medical Center Campus, Pat Handler, Executive Vice President for Dade County Medical Association, Barry Johnson, President/CEO for Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, Maria Luisa Gonzalez Silva, Government & Community Relations Manager at Baptist Health of South Florida, Ana Maria Rodriguez, Business Development Manager at Health Choice Network, and the artist, Nancy O’Neil and her husband/partner James O’Neil who lives and works in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The art exhibit that is located in the main lobby of the 64,000 square-foot facility depicts the history of public health and tells the story of major events that occurred in the South Florida community as early as the 1800’s.
Through her expertise and her artistic rendition of public health, O’Neil was able to capture milestone events such as the Yellow fever epidemic in the 1800s, two young boys wearing a protective mask during the 1918 influenza epidemic, a public health nurse and doctor administering inoculations, a former employee, nurse May Dean as she administered oral polio vaccine, a satellite view of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, a young child receiving the H1N1 vaccine.O’Neil also captured the story of human beings who has served our community such as Joseph Porter, M.D., Florida’s First Public Health Officer (1889-1917), James M. Jackson, M.D., who was Miami’s first physician, T. Elam Cato, M.D., MPH who served as the Health Commissioner for Dade County from (1942-1968), Milton Saslaw, M.D., Ph.D., who served as Director of MDCHD from (1970- 1976) Ms. Annie Neasman who served as Executive Administrator of MDCHD from (1990-2000), Ana M. Viamonte Ros, M.D., MPH, the first State Surgeon General and Lillian Rivera who serves as the present Administrator for MDCHD since 2003.
The exhibit consists of 20 mouth-blown glass panels which are spread throughout the front foyer area of the newly constructed facility and can be viewed Monday- Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
