MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
One of my greatest inspirations has always been Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a man of service and advocated for all people. He gave of himself to speak out for those in need. In the 1960’s, he was quoted as saying “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhumane because it often results in physical death.” Today, his words still ring true. But the options for access to care have changed. Today I’m proud to say that organizations like Community Health of South Florida, Inc. (CHI) are closing that gap to care and ensuring that everyone – regardless of race or income level has access to high quality, compassionate healthcare.
In February, we celebrated leaders such as Dr. King, by doing a Black History Month speakers bureau series on ending health disparities among African Americans. Our doctors spoke at four churches and our outreach team conducted free health screenings to help educate the community about key issues such as hypertension, diabetes, smoking, high-cholesterol, depression and HIV/AIDs. If you missed those events you can still catch one of our doctors speaking at Bethel Church on March 15th during the 9am service. The address is 14440 Lincoln Blvd., Miami, FL 33176.
As we roll into 2020, our vision is to continue advocating for equality in healthcare. We have ordered a new custom mobile medical unit to provide primary care and behavioral health access to the homeless and the hard to reach communities. The new unit will take our services to people outside of our health center walls. This will be our second mobile unit. Our mobile dental trailer treats about 3,000 adults and children a year at schools, daycare centers and communities throughout South Florida.
The recent ribbon cutting for our newly renovated Marathon Health Center was a welcome addition to the Middle Keys community. Plus, we are planning on opening centers in Key West’s Bahama Village and in Key Largo. This continued growth is part of our commitment to ensure everyone has access to healthcare.
Greetings,
Brodes H. Hartley, Jr.
President/CEO