In keeping with the celebration of Women’s History Month, Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. recognized essential workers last week who have been giving back to the community this past year during the pandemic.
These visits were part of a series of socially distant events being held to honor essential workers in the borough. They were sponsored by Empire BlueCross BlueShield, but were not open to the public.
“We cannot minimize the important contributions women have made to our borough, and I am proud to have been able to honor so many deserving women that have served the Bronx throughout this pandemic,” Diaz said. “The women honored have not only stayed their course to accomplish their dreams and are champions and role models to our young girls of today, but they have also gone above and beyond to help our borough this past year. I thank them for the daily work that they do in making our communities a better place.”
This year’s honorees included Miguelina Germán, director of pediatric behavioral health services and director of HealthySteps at Montefiore Medical Center, Melissa Baker, chief operating officer at the National Black Leadership Commission on Health, Inc. and Iris Rodriguez-Rosa, Bronx Parks commissioner as well as parks team members Marta Vega, Nathanya Rosario, Dila Pernocia, Silvia Munoz-Torres and Jennifer Cucchiarella.
Miguelina Germán has been serving the Bronx community firsthand on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. She has been providing bereavement counseling to those who lost loved ones, facilitating video visits between patients and families and creating survival kits for families facing economic distress.
Baker has served the Bronx through education and community mobilization programs throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. She has shown leadership on a number of awareness campaigns, testing programs and vaccine education efforts.
Rodriguez-Rosa and her team joined the Office of The Bronx Borough President and other elected officials for the Meaningful Monday initiative. This project began in July and ran through October, and aimed to promote volunteerism, civic engagement and neighborhood pride among Bronx communities through weekly park clean-ups.
