4 Memorial Medical Milestones • 2026 Issue 2 Living with a chronic illness means managing more than symptoms. It means appointments, treatments, lab work, questions and the uncertainty that comes when answers are not always clear. For Jill Galmarini, those concerns became a part of her life when she was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in her mid‑30s. “I was diagnosed pretty late in life,” Galmarini says. “Things really went downhill after that. I had six surgeries in two years.” When she and her family moved to Lake Charles in 2018, one of her first priorities was finding a gastroenterologist who could help her continue the ongoing care her condition required. That search led her to Eric Fontenot, MD. “I just always really appreciated the way he talked to me,” Galmarini says. “He was very frank and straightforward, but showed a lot of care.” More than her diagnosis Learning to manage the unknown, with help from Memorial Finding a physician who listened The trust she had in the care provided by Dr. Fontenot became one of the most important parts of her healthcare journey. Galmarini started experiencing symptoms that weren’t typical Crohn’s symptoms, and test results didn’t provide clear answers. It was frustrating, and she began to wonder if what she was feeling was all in her head. Dr. Fontenot quickly reassured her. “No, it’s not in your head,” he told her. “Something’s wrong, and we just have to rule out what it isn’t to figure out what it is.” “That was a light bulb moment,” Galmarini says. “He believed me.” Connected care when it matters The value of that connected care became even clearer in 2021, shortly after Galmarini started a new Tammy TateGobert, NP, and Jill Galmarini.
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