Bill Clinton to Preside Over Health Parley in Indian Wells

Former President Bill Clinton was on hand at the awards ceremony of the 2016 CareerBuilder Challenge in La Quinta on Jan. 24, 2016. Photo by Jim Edwards.

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INDIAN WELLS, CA- Former President Bill Clinton will be in Indian Wells Monday to preside over a health conference named after him.

The Bill Clinton Foundation’s Health Matters conference ends Monday at the Renaissance Indian Wells Resort and Spa.

The conference -- an annual event started four years ago -- focuses on various community-centered health outreach efforts, including one for thousands of impoverished residents of the Coachella Valley just a few miles from the swank spa.

Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea Clinton, had been slated to speak at the conference, but she and some other scheduled speakers were unable to attend due to Winter Storm Jonas, which slammed the East Coast the past few days.

However, the event hosted by Bill Clinton and Clinton Foundation President Donna E. Shalala continues today almost as planned.

It will feature talks from medical professionals, athletes and business leaders regarding health issues and potential solutions for the Coachella Valley and the nation.

The two-day summit kicked off Sunday at La Quinta High School, where volunteers built a community garden for the campus and prepared 150 meals for the Joslyn Center’s Meals on Wheels Program.

The day’s activities concluded with a Town Hall-style meeting at the Renaissance resort’s Crystal Ballroom.

Clinton last night moderated a forum on the effects that technological innovation in health can have for underserved populations.

Today’s program begins with a 7 a.m. workout for attendees, followed by a variety of forums covering such issues as rising death, suicide and substance abuse rates among middle-aged white Americans, scaling health solutions for public, private and philanthropic health ventures, health equity, improving employee health, and the community’s role in health innovation.

Those attending this morning’s 9 a.m. Opening plenary session also will see a one-on-one discussion with Shalala and World Cup and Olympic soccer champion Abby Wambach regarding women and girls in sports.

Clinton, Shalala, Rock Health co-founder Dr. Nate Gross and Victoria Kumpuris Brown, Senior Program Officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will be today’s moderators.

Live webcasts of the Town Hall, opening, and closing plenary sessions can be seen at http://www.clintonfoundation.org/healthmatters2016 .

— By City News Service.