Robert L. Thomas

The Jessie Trice Community Health Center, Inc. (JTCHC), is a Florida 501 (c) 3, not-for-profit, Federally Qualified Health Center, which has been serving Miami-Dade County since 1967. The target population is the uninsured, underinsured, 95% of which live at or below the Federal Poverty Level of 200%. JTCHC served its first patients from a trailer. Now, forty (40) years after its founding, JTCHC owns and operates sixteen (16) facilities, including six(6) Comprehensive Primary Care centers, twenty (20) school-based centers, and other medical facilities. The ethnic make-up of the service area varies significantly and to meet this challenge, JTCHC has taken a proactive role by adopting the Culturally, Linguistically Appropriate Standards(CLAS) model of cultural proficiency. Multicultural, Multilingual, and multidisciplinary staff of approximately 250 service a very diverse population of 28,000 clients who make more than 111,000 visits annually. JTCHC's medical staff includes 27 physicians, dentists, and nurse practitioners, and more than 80% are board-certified. With many more services available via referral, JTCHC is able to provide virtually seamless comprehensive primary care through contracts and business associate agreements.