LATINOS SALUD INC
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Mission Statement
Latinos Salud exists to provide client-centered, culturally competent health education and integrated preventive, screening, and linkage services throughout South Florida in order to reduce the burden of communicable diseases and improve health outcomes. To achieve this mission in a diverse community, Latinos Salud serves all Latino gay, bisexual or otherwise identified Men Who Have Sex with Men, all persons living with HIV, and all persons who identify as transgender.
About This Cause
South Florida has the highest new HIV rates in the nation. The epidemic most impacts gay and bisexual men, especially men of color. South Florida is a region of immigrants; many arrive from countries of homophobic repression, where they never learned about health, much less HIV and safer sex. Many are distrustful of government entities and healthcare systems, or never lived in a region that provided health care to anyone except the very rich. For all of these reasons, Latino gay men fare poorly with HIV. Many are diagnosed late, don't know how to get into care, or need help with other life challenges that make it hard for them to prioritize staying HIV-negative, or getting life-saving treatment for HIV. Latinos Salud was founded in 2008 to knock down these barriers. Each of our three full time locations creates a safe space for Latino gay guys and their partners to find friends, support and resources. People often come in for activities and events, and then seamlessly transition to getting the counseling, screening, or navigation services they urgently need. How do we ensure we reach those clients least like to seek out education, screening, or health care services? We are open late every evening (until 9 p.m.). We don't require an appointment for most services. We take mobile testing and outreach vans out late into the weekend hours. And most of call, our community members encounter a familiar face, and build rapport. All of our program staff members are bilingual, and all are certified test counselors, in addition to facilitating other specific programs. Most are themselves or immigrants to the mainland U.S., or their parents were, with heritage hailing from: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Honduras, México, Nicaragua, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, and Venezuela. Our programs give guys the skills they need to stay safe from HIV, or to live healthier with HIV. As result, they understand the cultural norms that impact health and behaviors Our free services include Wellness Clinic PrEP navigation and prescriptions HIV rapid testing STD screening Vaccinations HIV treatment Linkage-to-care Ryan White case management Youth Services programs Health and Culture programs Peer leadership development Life coaching (counseling) Clinical research studies For its innovative efforts, Latinos Salud won the state of Florida's first Hispanic HIV Leadership award, Florida International University's community partner award, South Florida Gay News' "Best Of" award, and the Miami Department of Health's "Test Miami" award.