With Wife Yvette Prieto Absent, Michael Jordan’s Mother Deloris Accompanies Son to Wilmington

It is a big day for Michael Jordan. While he is usually accompanied by his wife Yvette Prieto for important occasions, this time, it was his mother, Deloris Jordan, who accompanied him in Wilmington. And it was quite fitting. After all, MJ grew up there. The mother-son duo was in the city for the opening of the Novant Health Michael Jordan Family Medical Clinic.

Located at Greenfield St. in Wilmington, this marks the first Novant Health Michael Jordan Family Medical Clinic in the city by the 6x Champ and his family. In association with Novant Health, the clinic will provide healthcare facilities for those in need. 

For the special launch day, Jordan cut the ribbons and spoke to the attendees. Jordan, who wiped his tears, said, “We did it in Charlotte and now we are going to do it in Wilmington, which makes it even more special because this is where I come from. And no matter how you see Michael Jordan, this is where I started. This is where I am always gonna be a part of…”

The aim of this project is to provide equitable access to primary care. This includes behavioral health and other support services, too. “Everyone is worthy of access to quality health care, no matter where you live or if you have insurance,” believes Michael Jordan.

The first two such initiatives in 2019 and 2020 were a tremendous success. This clinic in Wilmington is the third clinic by Jordan and his family. However, one may also wonder about why MJ’s connection to Wilmington isn’t that well-known. What’s even more bizarre is that while he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, and FIBA Hall of Fame, he is still missing from the Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame.

There seem to be some reasons behind this. In 2022, John Staton from Wilmington StarNews spoke to plenty of people from the city. They felt Wilmington’s connection to MJ ought to be more up-front. However, the athlete has a love-hate relationship with the place due to the racism he experienced there.

The place was also going to honor MJ with his own museum. But that fell apart. “The Jordan family determined during its review they could not dedicate the time necessary at this point to see a stand-alone museum through to completion,” county spokesperson Alex Riley shared. Regardless, MJ has gone back to his hometown several times in the past for philanthropic reasons.

Michael Jordan donated $10 million to the noble cause 

Jordan interacted with many people during the event in Wilmington. In a photo shared by People Magazine, Jordan was seen sharing a few words with Dr. Michael Hoben. The photo was taken in the lobby of the clinic. The clinic will feature 12 patient rooms and will be fully taken care of by a special team of experts and a community health worker aiding patients.

The Chicago Bulls legend donated $10 million to Novant Health to bring one more Jordan Family Medicals Clinics in Charlotte. As mentioned, the Jordan family has helped build similar initiatives in other parts of the State too. Back in 2017, MJ donated about $7 million to the company to create the Michael Jordan clinics.

The President of Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Ernie Bovio said, “We’re bringing a new clinic to serve what’s been typically an underserved community to provide primary care, preventive care, screenings, those types of things, and we’re really excited about it, it’s going to be a tremendous community resource.”

The Novant Health Michael Jordan Family Medicine Clinics in Charlotte provided medical care to more than 9,000 patients last year. Their expansion of the same model in Wilmington is an outcome of its previous success. The crowd present at the event showed how much happiness the Chicago Bulls legend has brought to the people of his hometown.