The President of the Association of Mayors of Puerto Rico, Luis Javier Hernández, celebrated the award presented to the municipality’s epidemiologist, Fabiola Cruz López at the international event ‘Puerto Rico Experience, held last week in Palmas del Mar, Humacao.
“The event was dedicated to our dear Fabiola Cruz López. Personally, I was very proud to see other countries also recognize the work done in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic by the city of Avancina. We are very grateful to Fabiola and the entire work team for continuing to teach in the fight against the pandemic ”.
The ‘Puerto Rico Experience’ event is an initiative of local governments in the Caribbean and Latin America that serves as a platform for organizations such as the Federation of Latin American Cities, Municipalities and Associations (Flacma) to share their best practices in the field of management. from local governments to governments and associations in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Just last year, the Grupo de Diarios América (GDA) recognized the 2020 Medical Community as Person of the Year and reviewed the work of this Puerto Rican epidemiologist in the pandemic. Cruz López is known for structuring the tracking system for people infected with Covid-19, which started in Villalba and was later implemented all over Puerto Rico. Cruz López, 27, is a PhD student at the University of Puerto Rico Fabiola (UPR) Medical Sciences Campus.
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The tracking system implemented by the mayor of Villalba, Luis Hernández, initially included an epidemiologist, four social workers and a psychologist at a rate of every 25,000 residents. The mayor pointed out the importance of rapid access of municipalities to the system in order to create uniformity in the data of the infections from this virus. “The biggest advantage is that we could speak in one language, so the Health figures and those of the municipalities were the same,” he said.
Added to the original Villalbeña initiative was the signing of a collaboration agreement with the Trust for Science, Technology and Research of Puerto Rico nonprofit organization and its Puerto Rico Public Health Trust (PRPHT) program to identify infected patients. “This agreement included efforts to improve strategies to prevent future infections, save lives and determine the stages,” added the lawyer.