BOSTON (WHDH) - A large crowd turned out to mark the Day of the Dead with a lively celebration in East Boston on Sunday.
The festivities at the ICA Watershed on Marginal Street featured dancing, face paint, and offered an opportunity for New England Donor Services an opportunity to partner with the Veronica Robles Cultural Center to pay tribute to those who have given the gift of life through organ donation, while also raising awareness about the vital need for organ donors.
Día de los Muertos is an annual Mexican holiday, also celebrated by Latinos throughout the Americas, where families remember and welcome the souls of their deceased relatives for a celebratory reunion. The holiday is usually celebrated from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3.
The Hispanic community is disproportionately affected by health issues that could result in the need for an organ transplant. Hispanic individuals currently represent 23 percent of the national organ transplant waiting list and are at risk of death if the needed organ is not donated and transplanted in time. Research has shown that compatible blood types and biological markers, important factors in donor matching, are found in members of the same race or ethnicity, highlighting the need for more Hispanic organ donors. While the number of Hispanic patients receiving a transplant has steadily increased for over a decade, there is still a racial and ethnic imbalance in the donor pool. NEDS continuously works to draw attention to and address the racial disparities in organ donation.
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