Beaumonth Health's nursing director fights misinformation on COVID

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (FOX 2) - Over the course of the past two years, Imana 'Mo' Minard has been having a positive impact on the Black community by working to erase healthcare inequalities and the mistrust some have on the medical system.

Minard is the Director of Nursing at Beaumont Farming Hills and she's been able to use her position as a member of the medical community during the COVID-19 pandemic to help combat misinformation, especially in the Black community.

"I did not want people to get stuck in the information they were hearing from friends and from social media," Minard said.

As many members of the Black community continued to remain hesitant in getting the vaccine, Minard could not keep quiet.

"I went on this campaign. I wasn’t telling people to get vaccinated I was telling people let me help you research so you can make an informed decision," Minard said.

Minard understands that hesitation over the vaccine is rooted in the mistrust some African Americans have after the US Government conducting an unethical experiment called Tuskegee Syphillis Study on African Americans starting in the 1930s without their consent

"I don’t know how we would ever successfully repair it if we do not continue the conversation. The conversation should not only come up because of a vaccine. There are other reasons there is mistrust there," Minard said.

So Minard continues to speak out and is working to bring more diversity and awareness about careers in medicine  through her work with the non profit Nursing Detroit.

"We helped them navigate through healthcare and different roles they might like to do and interview skills and résumé writing," she said.

Minard also hosted a recent five part podcast series which examined the pressures many African American women nurses were facing during the deadly pandemic.

"It really went back to the resiliency piece in the African American woman and the expectations of being this strong woman  that is do often attached to us that we have to be this dynamic force - even in the most difficult time which we’re human, too," minard said.

Minard hopes that by making her voice heard she will continue to make positive change

"I think probably the biggest thing is just don’t  stop the conversation," Minard said.