PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE DECEMBER 2018

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all of you. Its been a tremendous year for Community Health of South Florida, Inc (CHI) and I want to thank you for your support. Our Teaching Health Center graduated its second class of residents in 2018 and became an ACGME accredited program. CHI made national headlines when we hosted Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for a roundtable discussion with our leadership and patients about access to care. We also started a new forensic program to bridge court services with mental health care. Plus, in 2018, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) recognized CHI as a Health Center Quality Leader, placing us among the top 30 percent of Federally Qualified Health Centers nationwide in clinical quality measures. Those are just a few of the outstanding achievements of this organization and I could not be prouder of the accomplishments of this team.

None of this would be possible if legislators in Washington didn’t lend their support. I want to thank our Senate and Congressional leaders for ensuring that Community Health Centers like CHI have the funding we need to carry out our mission.
We have come so far, yet we have so much further to go. CHI is committed to making the Children’s Crisis Center a reality. We hope to break ground next year so that families have the intensive treatment that is needed for children with severe mental health issues. Beyond this, we will be starting our Coconut Grove expansion project to better meet the needs of our community in the Grove. Our health center at 3831 Grand Avenue, Miami FL 33133 will nearly double in size after the completion of this project. This will allow us to offer more services at that site.

Parking is almost always an issue in South Florida and CHI promised our patients easier access to our health centers. This year we completed the expansion of the parking lot at our Doris Ison Health Center and we recently added lifts to our West Kendall Health Center to increase parking availability. The same was added previously to the South Miami Health Center. West Kendall, South Miami and Coconut Grove Health Centers also offer free valet parking.

This organization was founded in 1971 to ensure that everyone has access to care and we remain committed to that objective. May the New Year bring even more possibilities for CHI and those that we serve.

Warm Greetings,

Brodes H. Hartley Jr.
President and CEO