MGM Medical Center, a Black-owned, mother-daughter medical clinic aimed at bringing quality care and medical insights to East Orange and its neighboring communities, opened over Memorial Day weekend.
MGM, founded by Maleka Robinson and her daughter, Dr. Marcella Garner, will be focused on primary care, with services including routine checkups, in-office labs, in-office electrocardiograms and other preventative care and chronic disease management services.
The facility, which is located at 262 Williams St., will be open on Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., moving forward. It will accept all major insurance programs, including Medicaid and Medicare. Uninsured visits will cost $80.
Robinson and Garner, who have more than 26 years of combined acute hospital care experience, said they hope the facility will educate and teach its community how to prevent common preventive diseases, Robinson said.
In addition, they aim to educate — and stress the importance of —chronic disease management to prevent recurring hospitalization.
Robinson said MGM Medical Center has an extensive network of referring specialist doctors (e.g., cardiologists, dermatologists, gastroenterologists, infectious disease, neurologists, nephrologists, oncologists, psychiatrists, pulmonologists and rheumatologists) in the region — and that it will have the ability to refer patients to these doctors for further care as necessary.
“However, we will embrace your specialist if you already have a specialist,” she said.
The goal, Garner said, is to provide quality, comprehensive and loving health care, offering peace of mind to clients and their families during their time of need.
Here’s a quick look at Robinson and Garner, who will remain at their current jobs while working at the center on Saturdays:
- Robinson: An RN, she currently is employed at Morristown Medical Center as an acute care hospitalist. She was awarded the 2020 Advance Nurse Practitioner Award at MMC. During the 16 years she has been in the medical field, Robinson has worked from bedside nursing to where she is today. She also has been on many medical missions. “My goal with each encounter is to inspire and impact my community by providing them with knowledge they can take back to their family,” she said.
- Garner: She is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner at the Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. She has more than 10 years of experience in various aspects of health care, including neuroscience, medical intensive care units and medical client services. She said her goal is to be a role model to her patients and community, especially the millennials and women, by providing expertise medical service along with showing them what hard work brings if you just persevere.
