From fiu.edu

Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine’s innovative approach to medical education received national exposure Wednesday, Jan. 5, when National Public Radio (NPR) featured the medical school’s Green Family Foundation NeighborhoodHELP initiative on its Morning Edition radio show that is broadcast to a national audience.

To access the radio piece and accompanying story, click here.

The Green Family Foundation NeighborhoodHELP initiative is a core component of the College of Medicine curriculum. Through NeighborhoodHELP, the community outreach arm of the Green Family Medicine & Society Program, each medical student is part of a team that includes students from nursing, social work, public health, law and other disciplines. Over a three-year period, each medical student will work with a household. The interdisciplinary cooperation is similar to the model that is taking shape in modern medicine, as doctors collaborate with counterparts such as social workers to address a patient’s needs.

Last year, the Green Family Foundation (GFF), a private, non-profit organization that supports social programs dedicated to improving community health and elevating universal socio-economic conditions, announced a $5 million gift – $10 million with state match – to fund the Medicine & Society program.

From NPR

With community-based health care a central part of its curriculum, Florida International University's medical school turned an RV into a mobile health clinic so that students could treat families in neighborhoods where medical care is scarce.

Read NPR article

From the Miami New Times

Three years after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, it's easy to look to the island nation and wonder, what has been done, what has improved, is there rebirth?

It can be a dark gaze -- so much to be done. But for rays of light, look no further than Haiti's premiere dance troupe Ayikodans, founded in 1987 by internationally renowned choreographer Jeanguy Saintus, which found a helping hand in Miami through an effort led by the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.
"Ayikodans represents a real life story of physical and spiritual renewal," says John Richard, president and CEO of the Arsht Center. "When the earthquake shocked our friends in Haiti and we learned that Ayikodans was in peril, we asked ourselves, 'How can we help? How can we make a difference?'"

They could make a difference by raising funds to build a new studio for the troupe, back in the Caribbean nation, as both a beacon of hope and a necessity to keep the company afloat. It opened earlier this month.

Continued...

Above: Ayikodans’ new studio (Photos by Ben Depp)

Article By the Caribbean Journal staff: http://www.caribjournal.com

Three years after the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti destroyed its studio, Ayikodans, the country’s leading dance group, has a new home.

The new 40-by-20 studio in the suburb of Petion-Ville, will house rehearsals, classes for students and perhaps inspire new works

The Miami-based Adrienne Arsht Center, which has hosted the troupe’s shows in Miami for the past two years, helped support the build-out of the new space.

“Ayikodans represents a real life story of physical and spiritual renewal — when the earthquake shocked our friends in Haiti and we learned that Ayikodans was in peril, we asked ourselves, ‘How can we help? How can we make a difference?’ Miami came together as a community to offer a hand,” said John Richard, President and CEO of the Adrienne Arsht Center. “Our response is ensuring one of the country’s artistic treasures lives on. We have been given this extraordinary choreographer and dance company that radiates Haitian culture and has something very significant to say through the power of dance.”

Ayikodans, which was founded in 1987 by Haitian-born choreographer Jeanguy Saintus, blends influences from folk dances, African and indigenous Indian art forms, French traditions and voodoo.

“Without the Arsht Center and the compassion and generosity of the Miami community, we would not have been able to rebuild our studio,” said Jeanguy Saintus, founding choreographer of Ayikodans. “We have danced on stages around the world but we will always consider Miami and the Arsht Center our true home away from home.”

Ayikodans has found support from a number of individuals since the quake, including Tom Murphy, founder of Coastal Construction, WIN Group managing partner Youri Mevs and Miami Herald World Editor John Yearwood, among others.

The Green Family Foundation, led by its president, Kimberly Green, has awarded a two-year grant to the Arsht Center to present Ayikodans this season and ensure its return next season in Miami.