David Hopkins of Wilton Manors said he doesn’t make a lot of money or receive health insurance working for a local nonprofit.
When Hopkins heard about nearby Midland Medical’s PrEP program, he learned the Oakland Park clinic offers not just HIV services, but the full range of healthcare.
Midland Medical helped him get insurance, too.
“I really appreciate that it's not just you go in, they give you your Descovy and that’s the end of it. It's full care. It’s primary care in addition to everything else, which you can't really find in this town,” said Hopkins, 43. “Midland has [a] program that helps you get full care instead of just a patchwork PrEP program.”
Midland Medical launched in 1999. Four years ago, Tampa-based CAN Community Health, which operates 40 clinics in Florida, Arizona, Nevada, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia, acquired Midland. It serves 26,472 individual patients nationwide, 21,036 of them in Florida, according to CAN’s 2024 annual report.
Originally the Community AIDS Network, CAN began 34 years inside a Sarasota laundromat. Back then, HIV was decimating the global queer community and CAN focused on finding medical care for local people dying from the virus.
“CAN stands out as that beacon of hope. And stands for progress, especially with their commitment to eradicate HIV by the year 2030. That's been a huge goal,” said Kal Gajraj of Plantation, the company’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer. “And I feel like since CAN was founded in 1991, they have evolved pretty much into this powerhouse in the fight to end a global health crisis.”
CAN now coordinates or provides comprehensive healthcare for thousands of LGBTQ+ people throughout South Florida.
“I absolutely love CAN’s holistic approach to healthcare,” said Gajraj, a well-known Broward businessman and activist who joined CAN in August 2024. “The medical treatment and the wide range of services that we provide: medical, dental, pharmacy. Even our approach to mental-health support and assistance with accessing vital resources such as housing and transportation.”
Gajraj said CAN is intimately involved with South Florida’s LGBTQ community, sponsoring many of its most-popular events.
“We're a half-billion dollar company,” he said. “We're also involved in giving back a large percentage of that to the community.”
Among the events CAN sponsors:
- Presenting sponsor of Miami Beach Pride
- Title sponsor of Stonewall Pride Black Excellence Stage
- Sponsor of Palm Beach Pride.
“We just became a Kodiak sponsor (highest level sponsor) for the Bears of South Florida providing prevention and testing at 2025 events,” Gajraj said. “Starting off the year we were the title sponsor for HOTspots’ The Cookout for Black History Month and sponsored the pole flags in Wilton Manors honoring Black History Month.
“We’ve been presenting sponsor for The Smart Ride/Joy Ride the past three years. Supporter of the Arts sponsor for HarmonyWaves, sponsoring events like the Wilton Manors Holiday Spectacular, Rock the Block, and other concerts. Title sponsor for the 2025 Miss and Mr. Noche Latina Pageant. We are also the presenting sponsor for the Mizz OutSFL Pageant.”
CAN operates eight clinic locations in South Florida: Coral Springs, Fort Lauderdale, Lake Worth Beach, Lighthouse Point, Miami Gardens, Oakland Park, Plantation and South Beach.
Compass Community Center in Lake Worth Beach partners with CAN to provide a full range of medical services, said Compass CEO Julie Seaver.
“It's really essential because it ensures that not only people who are affected by HIV and other STIs, but LGBTQ+ individuals have the opportunity and access to receive respectful, knowledgeable, affirming healthcare,” Seaver said.
“We recognize that LGBTQ+ individuals face unique health challenges, including higher rates of mental-health concerns, substance abuse, chronic illnesses due to stress from anything from discrimination to stigma.”
Compass has had a long relationship with CAN.
“Before we decided to basically get married, we had been dating CAN Community Health for a couple of years,” Seaver said. “Not only did they sponsor our March annual Palm Beach Pride event, they also helped us bring the CAN Community Health testing van, so that they could bring their staff and volunteers to do HIV testing at Palm Beach Pride.”
CAN built and opened the clinic during the pandemic. The clinic held a soft opening in April 2021 – then a grand opening in June of that year. It started off with two days a week, quickly adding more days a week they provided services.
Before the clinic opened, Seaver expected it would regularly serve 200 active patients.
“Active patients is defined by ‘patients needing follow-up visits,’” she said. “As of December, we had in just this clinic 433 active patients – which is pretty darn cool.”
Said Seaver: “CAN has informed us that it has been the fastest growing clinic that they have, and they have clinics, of course, from Las Vegas to Miami to everything in between. We're pretty proud of that. We really are.”
CAN provides AIDS drug assistance to patients with HIV/AIDS regardless of their income, and accepts Medicare, Medicaid, commercial and private insurances, according to its website.
Nancy Dulisse, executive director of CAN’s Midland Medical in Oakland Park, said that last year her clinic provided service to about 8,000 clients.
“The majority of our patients are in Broward County, but we service the tri-county area, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward,” said Dulisse, Midland Medical’s executive director.
Through CAN, Midland participates in the federal 340B program, which offers patients clinic and pharmacy access to HIV and PrEP medications at a discount, Dulisse said.
“That money we get at a discount goes back into the community to give services,” she said. “It helps pay for premiums for health insurance and offer community services. It allows us to partner with multiple organizations for outreach.”
According to its website, Midland Cares Insurance Program partners with TransSOCIAL, which advocates and provides services for the transgender community, and health insurance company Florida Blue.
Midland helps clients navigate the Affordable Care Act to obtain health insurance, and provide them access to food and transportation.
“If they live within 45 miles, we pay for their transportation for care,” Dulisse said. “We look at removing any barriers they have.”
David Hopkins, the Midland client who didn’t have health insurance, now has less to worry about.
“I have a lot of health issues in my family. I've outlived most of my family members. My father died at 38. My mother died at 52. My little sister died at 35,” he said.
Under care at Midland, he was diagnosed about 18 months ago with diabetes. “Part of what my little sister died from was complications from that. And if I didn't have regular healthcare, who knows?”
Hopkins, a producer and travel planner for nonprofit Happening Out Television Network in Fort Lauderdale, said that after a car accident a few years ago, he visited a pain management doctor who mistakenly assumed that because Hopkins took Descovy, he was HIV positive.
“I'm like, ‘No, it's PrEP. And he was like, ‘Well, what does that mean?’ I'm like, ‘You're a doctor in South Florida and you don't know these things?’”
That would never happen at Midland, he said.
“They have a lot of LGBTQ members on their medical staff, between the doctors and the physician assistants and stuff. It’s a very comfortable environment to go in there with any issues I might have or concerns I might have.”
At Midland, Hopkins is always treated with respect and understanding.
“I've done everything from work for Hotspots/Happening Out to work at Ramrod. When I can go and talk to a doctor and be like, ‘Hey, Pig Week's coming up’ – and not have to feel embarrassed – he’ll be like, ‘OK, are you gonna need Doxy PEP [Doxycycline Post-Exposure Prophylaxis]?’”
Said Hopkins: “They're aware of the community, they don't judge, they have comfortable conversations about your health, which can be difficult.”
For more information
- Midland Medical, 1421 E. Oakland Park Blvd, Suite 200, Oakland Park. 954-565-0875 or visit midlandmed.com
- Compass, 201 N. Dixie Hwy., Lake Worth Beach. 561-533-9699 or visit compasslgbtq.com
- CAN Community Health, 315 SE 14th St, Fort Lauderdale. 754-701-6920, or visit cancommunityhealth.org
Journalist Steve Rothaus covered LGBTQ issues for 22 years at the Miami Herald. @steve.rothaus on Threads.
