Newark, NJ.–The 16th New Jersey Conference on Dominican Affairs concluded successfully on Sunday, February 28, 2016 after a day of activities and forums about a variety of issues, including health, youth development, fear of math, women empowerment, Latinos and the 2016 presidential election, and the socio-economic crisis impacting Puerto Rico.
A full audio visual report will be published and made available via www.instituteforlatinostudies.org.
In the meantime, the Institute for Latino Studies has distilled the following brief video from conference footage to highlight a critical situation raised by one of the panelists about the current shortage of blood in Puerto Rico. Mr. Dennis Gonzalez, Executive Officer at U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, made the statement on the the Conference on Dominican Affairs’ forum entitled “Puerto Rico Today and Tomorrow.”
“Blood banks cannot use blood donated by Puerto Ricans because there is no way to test; that blood has been contaminated by the Zika virus,” said Mr. Gonzalez. “Puerto Rico now has been obligated to bring blood from here and that is extremely expensive. Puerto Rico needs about 10 thousands of units of blood a month.”
To hear an excerpt of his presentation, click on the following image to watch brief video.