Dominican Day Parade to honor NYC front-line workers

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Ahead of the first-ever virtual Dominican Day Parade, Eyewitness News is celebrating the accomplishments of Dominicans in our area -- including the front-line workers who put up a fight against COVID-19.

At the onset of the pandemic, Dr. Miguelina German says there were mothers at Montefiore Medical Center with COVID-19 who couldn't nurse for various reasons and there were children in the pediatric practices who needed to eat.

"It just became this perfect storm where really the infants were forgotten," German said. "Although the mayor did a wonderful job committing to providing food to the department of education, that didn't include babies."

That is when German created infant survival kits that include diapers, wipes and if a family requested it, formula.

German and her team how now given out 1,400 kits to date and for this, she is one of the health care heroes being honored at this year's Dominican Day Parade.

"As someone who has attended the parade in years past I could never have imagined that I would be honored," German said. "It's a little shocking and fills me with joy and pride."

Dr. Denise Nuñez, a pediatric ICU physician, is also being honored this year.

When she's not on the front lines in the ICU at Montefiore, she volunteers with Somos Community Care to administer COVID-19 tests.

"I'm just grateful that we are here and able to celebrate somehow. Especially going through what we went through and being in the ICU and seeing so many people just pass away," Nuñez said. "It's just the fact that we're celebrating, it's good. I'm very happy."

But for Nuñez, her commitment to providing health care to the Latino community in the Bronx goes back 10 years when she went on medical mission trips to Latin America and when she opened a pediatric practice, an urgent care and started the Niño de la Caridad Foundation.

The virtual Dominican Day Parade will be shown on ABC7NY.com this Sunday at 1 p.m.

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