When Devon Lesene wanted to get dental work done, he considered visiting dentists with offices throughout the District, but a friend made a recommendation that piqued his interest.
The friend recommended that he visit Whitman-Walker’s Max Robinson Center located on the campus of St. Elizabeths East in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Ward 8. Lesene, a former advisory neighborhood commission (ANC) chair of 8D and a resident of Congress Heights, knew about the Robinson Center, but was not aware that it offered dental services to the public.
He quickly learned otherwise and was elated once visiting the health care center.
“I am a Ward 8 resident, and I have passed this building many times,” Lesene, 34, said. “When I heard that they offered dental services, I had to come check the building out, see what was on the inside. I am impressed. I like it because it is clean, and the decorum is nice. The workers are friendly, and the technology is top notch.”
Lesene and dozens of other residents were able to take in much of the organization’s comprehensive services at Meet Max Robinson, a community open house held July 31.
“The Max Robinson Center is available to anyone who needs medical attention,” said Lisa Amore, senior communications director for Whitman-Walker. “This is not just for people who are gay or have HIV. We want people to understand who we are and what we do.”
The History of the Robinson Center: ‘We Can Take Care of You Here’
Whitman-Walker is a nonprofit community health center located in the District with three locations, and the Max Robinson Center is the only hub located east of the Anacostia River.
Founded in 1978 and co-named after poet Walt Whitman and Civil War era surgeon and women’s suffrage advocate Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, the center served the health needs of gay men in its initial stages. In its 47 years, the center has evolved into an organization offering comprehensive health care services for all.
Having been long associated with the LGBTQ+ community in the District, Whitman-Walker has played a key role in fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic since the 1980s, providing education, serving as advocates, and offering services such as an AIDS hotline and housing for those afflicted with the disease. Further, the organization has been nationally recognized for its research of HIV/AIDS and the causes and implications of the epidemic.
The Robinson Center opened in 1993 and was named in honor of Max Robinson, the first African American to anchor a news broadcast in the District and nationally, who died of complications of AIDS in 1988.
“We opened an office in Anacostia,” said Amore, speaking of the shuttered facility located on Martin Luther King Jr., Avenue SE. “We wanted to make sure that the residents of Ward 7 and Ward 8 have access to health care and to serve as a health care provider.”
The Robinson Center moved to its present location in 2023 and is close to the Cedar Hill Regional Medical Center, also located on the St. Elizabeths East campus.
In addition to offering dental services that people like Lesene seek, the Robinson Center provides a broad range of assistance and activities such as yoga and acupuncture, behavioral health care, nurse-based management, colposcopy, health insurance navigation, legal services, pharmacy, primary care physician and psychiatry.
“There is no need to go to the ER (emergency room) if you have a headache or a fever or a cough,” said Naseema Shafi, CEO of Whitman-Walker. “We can take care of you here. We also take insurance and if you don’t have insurance, we can work with you so that you can pay on a sliding scale.”
Amore said while District residents who reside east of the Anacostia River are the target audience of the Robinson Center, people from other states also use their services.
“Seventy percent of our patients are from D.C.,” said Amore. “Thirty percent are from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.”
Open House Visitors Praise Robinson Center
Shannon Webster works for Community College Preparatory Academy in Southeast D.C. Located in Ward 8, the academy is an adult charter school that offers free vocational and academic training for its students.
Webster learned about the Meet Max Robinson event from Monica T. Ray, the chair of the board of the academy and Community College Preparatory CEO Gerald Konohia. She was impressed by the facility after taking a tour of the dental and medical wings during the open house.
“I came here to make connections, network and learn more about the Robinson Center,” Webster, 55, told The Informer. “I found out that anyone over the age of 10 can come here for health care services. They accept insurance, and if you don’t have insurance, they can treat on a sliding scale. The people in Ward 8 need this.”
Daryl Ross, the longtime treasurer of the Ward 8 Democrats, also took a tour.
Pleased with what he saw, Ross said the Robinson Center was needed now more than ever.
“I live right in the neighborhood, and I got a flyer talking about the open house, so I decided to come over,” Ross, 65, said. “I think this is great, and it is needed, especially with the Trump administration attacking the funding of programs like this.”
