By Nita McCann

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ —Representatives from the Clinton Foundation will meet with city and county officials Monday and Tuesday to flesh out the details of what Mayor Butch Brown called “a blueprint to improve the health of our citizens.”

The City of Natchez and Adams County were selected last fall by the Clinton Foundation to be the site of a pilot program sponsored by the foundation and Humana. “We’re the only city in America to be chosen by both those bodies for the Health Matters Initiative,” Brown said

Rain Henderson, CEO of the Clinton Health Matters Initiative, said he applauds Natchez, Adams County and Humana “for their systems-change approach to address the health and well-being of (their) residents.”

The goal is to improve the health of Natchez-Adams County 20 percent by 2020, according to information from the foundation.

“Once we’ve finished that blueprint, it will include exercise and eating a healthy diet … and targeting things such as diabetes, which is prevalent in this area,” said Brown. He attended a Clinton Foundation seminar last week that included remarks by former President Bill Clinton.

“As it now stands, we’re looking at rolling out the (first) five-year plan by May 1,” Brown said.

He noted that next week’s meetings are not open to the public, but meetings will be held closer to May 1 to get citizens’ input.

“We just want to have the details down first ” he said.

Local governmental bodies will not be getting funding from the foundation, just help in formulating the plan, he added.