When Devon Lesene wished to get dental work performed, he thought of visiting dentists with places of work all through the District, however a buddy made a advice that piqued his curiosity.
The buddy beneficial that he go to Whitman-Walker’s Max Robinson Heart positioned on the campus of St. Elizabeths East within the Congress Heights neighborhood of Ward 8. Lesene, a former advisory neighborhood fee (ANC) chair of 8D and a resident of Congress Heights, knew concerning the Robinson Heart, however was not conscious that it provided dental providers to the general public.
He shortly discovered in any other case and was elated as soon as visiting the well being care middle.
“I’m a Ward 8 resident, and I’ve handed this constructing many instances,” Lesene, 34, stated. “After I heard that they provided dental providers, I needed to come verify the constructing out, see what was on the within. I’m impressed. I prefer it as a result of it’s clear, and the decorum is sweet. The employees are pleasant, and the expertise is prime notch.”
Lesene and dozens of different residents had been in a position to soak up a lot of the group’s complete providers at Meet Max Robinson, a neighborhood open home held July 31.
“The Max Robinson Heart is on the market to anybody who wants medical consideration,” stated Lisa Amore, senior communications director for Whitman-Walker. “This isn’t only for people who find themselves homosexual or have HIV. We wish folks to grasp who we’re and what we do.”
The Historical past of the Robinson Heart: ‘We Can Take Care of You Right here’
Whitman-Walker is a nonprofit neighborhood well being middle positioned within the District with three places, and the Max Robinson Heart is the one hub positioned east of the Anacostia River.
Based in 1978 and co-named after poet Walt Whitman and Civil Battle period surgeon and ladies’s suffrage advocate Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, the middle served the well being wants of homosexual males in its preliminary levels. In its 47 years, the middle has advanced into a company providing complete well being care providers for all.
Having been lengthy related to the LGBTQ+ neighborhood within the District, Whitman-Walker has performed a key position in preventing the HIV/AIDS epidemic for the reason that Nineteen Eighties, offering training, serving as advocates, and providing providers reminiscent of an AIDS hotline and housing for these troubled with the illness. Additional, the group has been nationally acknowledged for its analysis of HIV/AIDS and the causes and implications of the epidemic.
The Robinson Heart opened in 1993 and was named in honor of Max Robinson, the primary African American to anchor a information broadcast within the District and nationally, who died of problems of AIDS in 1988.
“We opened an workplace in Anacostia,” stated Amore, talking of the shuttered facility positioned on Martin Luther King Jr., Avenue SE. “We wished to ensure that the residents of Ward 7 and Ward 8 have entry to well being care and to function a well being care supplier.”
The Robinson Heart moved to its current location in 2023 and is near the Cedar Hill Regional Medical Heart, additionally positioned on the St. Elizabeths East campus.
Along with providing dental providers that folks like Lesene search, the Robinson Heart gives a broad vary of help and actions reminiscent of yoga and acupuncture, behavioral well being care, nurse-based administration, colposcopy, medical health insurance navigation, authorized providers, pharmacy, major care doctor and psychiatry.
“There isn’t a must go to the ER (emergency room) you probably have a headache or a fever or a cough,” stated Naseema Shafi, CEO of Whitman-Walker. “We are able to deal with you right here. We additionally take insurance coverage and should you don’t have insurance coverage, we will work with you with the intention to pay on a sliding scale.”
Amore stated whereas District residents who reside east of the Anacostia River are the target market of the Robinson Heart, folks from different states additionally use their providers.
“Seventy % of our sufferers are from D.C.,” stated Amore. “Thirty % are from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.”
Open Home Guests Reward Robinson Heart
Shannon Webster works for Neighborhood School Preparatory Academy in Southeast D.C. Positioned in Ward 8, the academy is an grownup constitution faculty that gives free vocational and tutorial coaching for its college students.
Webster discovered concerning the Meet Max Robinson occasion from Monica T. Ray, the chair of the board of the academy and Neighborhood School Preparatory CEO Gerald Konohia. She was impressed by the ability after taking a tour of the dental and medical wings in the course of the open home.
“I got here right here to make connections, community and study extra concerning the Robinson Heart,” Webster, 55, advised The Informer. “I discovered that anybody over the age of 10 can come right here for well being care providers. They settle for insurance coverage, and should you don’t have insurance coverage, they will deal with on a sliding scale. The folks in Ward 8 want this.”
Daryl Ross, the longtime treasurer of the Ward 8 Democrats, additionally took a tour.
Happy with what he noticed, Ross stated the Robinson Heart was wanted now greater than ever.
“I reside proper within the neighborhood, and I received a flyer speaking concerning the open home, so I made a decision to return over,” Ross, 65, stated. “I believe that is nice, and it’s wanted, particularly with the Trump administration attacking the funding of packages like this.”
