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Dr. Delicia Pruitt
Saginaw
Hero Story
Dr. Delicia Pruitt has worked as a doctor in Saginaw for 19 years, but just as COVID-19 made its way to the U.S. in January 2020, Delicia began working as the Medical Director of Saginaw County.
“When Saginaw County had its first case in March 2020, I immediately gathered the medical community to discuss our approach to handling COVID-19,” said Delicia.
Together, they organized a Medical Command and Control (MCC) task force to provide care for the community and met weekly to decide how to distribute medical supplies and other resources when the demand was high, but supply was low.
With Delicia’s direction, COVID-19 testing sites were scattered across the county to allow access to people from both affluent and underserved communities, respectively.
When vaccine rollout began, Delicia could sense that many individuals were hesitant and concerned about receiving their COVID-19 vaccines. She, along with her colleague, Health Officer Chris Harrington, live-streamed receiving their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on the Saginaw County Health Department’s Facebook page. The pair did over 65 episodes on Facebook Live with psychiatrists, pediatricians, infectious disease experts, and other physicians as guests to inform the public about important COVID-19 information. As their medical director, Delicia hoped this would increase vaccine confidence, especially among people of color.
“In African American culture, it’s a mistrust that’s been there for years, and there are definitely disparities when it comes to health care access,” said Delicia.
Understanding this, Delicia wrote for a grant to give underserved communities access to vaccinations. She gathered resources and organized mass vaccination clinics at four churches located in underserved areas with the help of multiple health systems. In just two days, over 2,500 vaccines were administered at these clinics, thanks to volunteers from the churches and health systems, including Delicia herself.
In addition to these important efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, Delicia has also been appointed by Governor Whitmer to the Protect Michigan Commission (PMC) and the Food Security Council.
She shared the information that was successful in keeping Saginaw County as safe and informed as possible throughout the pandemic to the other members of PMC, such as the Facebook Live events and the mass vaccination clinics.
Delicia felt drawn to assist the Food Security Council due to growing up food insecure herself. She felt as though her background in healthcare, as well as her personal experiences, could really benefit the committee.
“It was important for me to have a voice in how we can help identify and help those who are food insecure. There were many perspectives of food insecurity addressed in this committee. As a part of the healthcare committee, I gave the perspective of a physician. I felt that food insecurity should be a medical diagnosis so that insurance and other medical professionals, like social workers, could easily identify these patients and make it easier to give them help.”
On top of all the incredible work she does for her community and the state of Michigan, Delicia is also an associate professor of family medicine for CMU College Of Medicine, as well as a wife and mother of four children.
Dr. Delicia Pruitt
Saginaw
Hero Story
Dr. Delicia Pruitt has worked as a doctor in Saginaw for 19 years, but just as COVID-19 made its way to the U.S. in January 2020, Delicia began working as the Medical Director of Saginaw County.
“When Saginaw County had its first case in March 2020, I immediately gathered the medical community to discuss our approach to handling COVID-19,” said Delicia.
Together, they organized a Medical Command and Control (MCC) task force to provide care for the community and met weekly to decide how to distribute medical supplies and other resources when the demand was high, but supply was low.
With Delicia’s direction, COVID-19 testing sites were scattered across the county to allow access to people from both affluent and underserved communities, respectively.
When vaccine rollout began, Delicia could sense that many individuals were hesitant and concerned about receiving their COVID-19 vaccines. She, along with her colleague, Health Officer Chris Harrington, live-streamed receiving their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on the Saginaw County Health Department’s Facebook page. The pair did over 65 episodes on Facebook Live with psychiatrists, pediatricians, infectious disease experts, and other physicians as guests to inform the public about important COVID-19 information. As their medical director, Delicia hoped this would increase vaccine confidence, especially among people of color.
“In African American culture, it’s a mistrust that’s been there for years, and there are definitely disparities when it comes to health care access,” said Delicia.
Understanding this, Delicia wrote for a grant to give underserved communities access to vaccinations. She gathered resources and organized mass vaccination clinics at four churches located in underserved areas with the help of multiple health systems. In just two days, over 2,500 vaccines were administered at these clinics, thanks to volunteers from the churches and health systems, including Delicia herself.
In addition to these important efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, Delicia has also been appointed by Governor Whitmer to the Protect Michigan Commission (PMC) and the Food Security Council.
She shared the information that was successful in keeping Saginaw County as safe and informed as possible throughout the pandemic to the other members of PMC, such as the Facebook Live events and the mass vaccination clinics.
Delicia felt drawn to assist the Food Security Council due to growing up food insecure herself. She felt as though her background in healthcare, as well as her personal experiences, could really benefit the committee.
“It was important for me to have a voice in how we can help identify and help those who are food insecure. There were many perspectives of food insecurity addressed in this committee. As a part of the healthcare committee, I gave the perspective of a physician. I felt that food insecurity should be a medical diagnosis so that insurance and other medical professionals, like social workers, could easily identify these patients and make it easier to give them help.”
On top of all the incredible work she does for her community and the state of Michigan, Delicia is also an associate professor of family medicine for CMU College Of Medicine, as well as a wife and mother of four children.