PRESIDENT BRINGS HEALTH SOLUTIONS TO THE VALLEY

By Richard Noble

President Clinton and the Clinton Foundation held its Fifth Annual Health Matters Activation Summit in Indian Wells, bringing with them new programs and partnerships to advance the health and wellness of the United States.

The Summit brought together 450 leaders in healthcare, public policy, business, technology, education, and professional sports in an action-oriented dialogue on what’s working and what more can be done to improve the health and well being of communities across the United States.

CHMI and its partners engaged key thought leaders and community stakeholders to develop a framework for improved health to decrease preventable disease and address health inequities and disparities.

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In attendance was the first person to sequence the human genome, Dr. J. Craig Ventor; World Cup Champion, Abby Wambach, who spoke about how including women and girls in sports improves their health; along with dozens of experts, who joined in panel discussions on Sunday and Monday.

In the quest for longevity in our rising death rates, President Clinton briefly touched on the broken heart in relation to the epidemic of suicides, opioid addiction, alcoholism and heroin overdoses in middle age white America.

Adapt Pharma, Limited, announced their collaboration with CHMI to offer a free carton of NARCAN® (naloxone hydrochloride) Nasal Spray to all high schools in the United States through the state departments of education. NARCAN is a life-saving medication that can stop or reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

Oglala Sioux, Dr. Donald Warne, Director of the Master of Public Health Program of North Dakota State University, talked about the need for an app that helps an individual to sign up to all the health care services they need at the same time, while Dr. Ventor suggested everyone have their genome sequence done to give them early detection to prevent things such as heart disease, while making it affordable to all.

Fruits and vegetables seem to be a recurrent theme, with exercise and fresh produce, the recipe for healthy communities.

If we have community-based solutions that involve all stakeholders, we can make a lot of difference,” said President Bill Clinton.

The Clinton Foundation hosted a Day of Action at La Quinta High School where more than 75 students, teachers, and parents came together to cultivate a community garden and prepare 150 healthy meals that were donated to the Joslyn Center’s Meals on Wheels program.

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy presented the winners of the “Fight the Ladykiller” codeathon in October 2015, organized and run by CHMI in partnership with Cal State LA and The Women’s Heart Alliance. Over three days, 40 Cal State LA students came together in six teams to learn about women’s heart health and develop educational apps geared toward increasing awareness of cardiovascular disease, the leading killer of women.

There are a lot of exciting things to learn about and participate in locally. Please visit the Clinton Foundation at clintonfoundation.org and see how you can get involved.

(Photos by Richard Noble)