#2412: Cancer league reaches out to Haitians (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:nozier@tradewind.net

Published Friday, February 18, 2000, in the Miami Herald               
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY_____Cancer league reaches out to Haitians

 La Liga Contra el Cancer  -- the League Against Cancer -- and the
Haitian American Foundation are teaming up to bring cancer screening and
treatment to poor and uninsured Haitians. The nonprofit league offers
mammograms, pap smears, prostate and colon cancer screening tests as
well as medical treatment. It has always treated a diverse population
but had few Haitian patients, said Executive Director Brenda Moreira.
 ``It's just a way of reaching out more directly to the Haitian
community,'' Moreira said. ``We felt there was a need for them to know
us a little better.'' With the help of the Haitian American Foundation,
the league hopes to recruit Creole-speaking doctors. They also will
offer pamphlets in Creole. The foundation will even make appointments
and transport patients. Foundation volunteers will interpret until
Creole-speaking doctors are on board, said Leonie Hermantin, executive
director of the foundation. ``This is a really nice way and a very
functional way for us to come together as communities,'' said Hermantin.