Colette Lamothe-Galette is often described as a bright light, a beautiful spirit, a public-health champion and a loving daughter, sister, wife, mother and friend who was passionate about helping people live better lives. Lamothe-Galette, a New Jersey native, died April 4, 2020, an early victim of the emerging COVID-19 pandemic.
To honor her, the New Jersey Department of Health — where Lamothe-Galette worked for more than a decade and was the first to oversee the Office of Population Health, which seeks to improve the health of all residents — built a comprehensive program that provides free community health worker training. The Colette Lamothe-Galette Community Health Worker Institute has since graduated nearly 800 people who work in various ways to bridge the gap between hospitals, doctors and other clinicians and their patients’ communities. Read the Full Article