Organizational Profile

The Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County (DOH-Miami-Dade) is the local branch of a state public agency, the Florida Department of Health, created by the legislature in 1997. The Health Department is charged with promoting and protecting the health and safety of all residents and visitors to Miami-Dade County. Although the Florida Department of Health is a relatively new agency, DOH-Miami-Dade has served the Greater Miami-Dade County community since the 1940's under various organizational structures.

Protecting and Promoting Health
The responsibilities of DOH-Miami-Dade are to:

• Prevent epidemics and the spread of disease
• Protect against environmental hazards
• Prevent injuries
• Promote and encourage healthy behaviors
• Respond to disasters and assist communities in recovery efforts
• Assure the quality and accessibility of health services     
  
  

DOH-Miami-Dade is charged with the broad responsibility of maintaining public health and safety in many areas including drinking water, sewage treatment, biomedical waste, public bathing places, and other areas of concern. The Department also responds to reports of communicable diseases such as invasive meningococcal disease, measles, pertussis, hepatitis, salmonellosis, and shigellosis; disease outbreaks such as food poisoning, gastroenteritis, hepatitis, etc. Additionally, DOH-Miami-Dade participates in disaster planning and facilitates the staffing of shelters for people with special health care needs in the event of hurricanes or other disasters. The Department has the responsibility of maintaining vital records recording all births and deaths in the county and educating the public regarding healthy behaviors such as tobacco use, healthy weight, injury prevention, etc.

In addition to these global concerns, the DOH-Miami-Dade has identified certain populations to target specific programs or services based on its public health mission. These include providing testing and treatment for persons with preventable communicable diseases such as sexually transmitted diseases (STD), tuberculosis (TB), and HIV/AIDS. DOH-Miami-Dade also offers a wide range of programs aimed at women, infants and children. These family health programs include school-based health clinics, immunizations, family planning clinics, nutritional programs, programs that target high-risk pregnant women and high-risk children, teen pregnancy programs and others.

Organizational Structure
DOH-Miami-Dade has several facilities located throughout the county. There are three full-service locations located in the North, Central and South regions of the county and six smaller health clinics that serve specific areas. Administrative functions are centralized at the downtown location.