Our Story

When COVID pandemic began in early 2020, the city of Burlington recruited Dr. Jules Wetchi for its Trusted Community Voices Outreach Team, to communicate health information to New Americans from Africa. The team hands out masks and helps people find childcare, recovery, and employment.

That year the multilingual Dr. Wetchi also began hosting a radio program Samedi Matin (Saturday Morning), on Big Heavy World community radio (105.9 FM). Every week he provides Burlington’s minority and immigrant communities with clear, accurate, and practical health information in their own languages, leavened with African music. The show continues to this day.

In August 2021 Dr. Wetchi initiated The African Variety Show on Burlington’s Town Meeting TV. Speaking in French, Lingala, and Swahili, as well as English, he explained to African communities the importance of wearing masks and getting vaccinated and boosted. The show also provides essential information to New Americans, mixing it with familiar music and cultural references.

With the New American Public Health Initiative, Dr. Wetchi hopes to further bring his public health expertise to New Americans, helping them build second lives on a foundation of solid health information.