ST. CLOUD — Under a big white tent in the parking lot of a busy St. Cloud strip mall on Aug. 29, nurses in black scrubs strapped blood pressure cuffs and pricked the fingers of waiting patients.

To mark the one-year anniversary of Hayat Clinic opening, staff were offering free blood pressure and glucose checks. The clinic’s founder, Dr. Bashir Moallin, chatted in Somali with a smiling man who’d just gotten an all-clear on a pre-diabetes test.

“He didn't check his blood sugars for a while, so he was happy to know his blood sugar is normal and he doesn’t have diabetes,” Moallin said.

Moallin opened the clinic with the goal of providing primary care to the community's most underserved residents, including immigrants and refugees.

Hayat Clinic is open to all patients, but serves mainly mem

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