In January, the Clinton Foundation announced Knox County as one of six communities across the country that will be part of a healthy-living initiative. Tomorrow, area leaders and stakeholders are meeting to start the process.
Galesburg Mayor John Pritchard says he will deliver remarks at 9 a.m. tomorrow in Carl Sandburg College for the Clinton Health Matters Initiative “convening meeting.”
“They’ve invited various community leaders and government officials from all over Knox County, he says. “All the mayors, I know, are invited from Knox County.”
A Clinton Foundation news release says the CHMI is a national health initiative aiming to address health disparities, reduce preventable disease rates and bolster investments in health.
Pritchard says the area’s involvement started in Aug. 2014 when he ran into representatives from AstraZeneca, the U.K.-based bio-pharmaceutical company acting as benefactor for the local initiative.
“Initially, they were looking to find a site to do a multi-year effort to improve certain chronic diseases,” he says, listing “heart disease, diabetes, asthma and lung-related disease.”
He says AstraZeneca was unable to reach their funding goals to start their own health initiative, leading to the team up with the Clinton Foundation.
Other communities working with the CHMI include Adams County, Mississippi; the Coachella Valley in California; Central Arkansas; Northeast Florida and Greater Houston.
