Jill Biden attends First Ladies Luncheon in Grand Rapids

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — First lady Jill Biden visited Grand Rapids Friday to attend the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation’s Annual First Ladies Luncheon.

Biden was expected to deliver the keynote address but was unable to do so because she was under the weather and lost her voice.

“I woke up this morning … and I said to myself, ‘Oh my god, what am I going to do?'” Biden said, speaking to the crowd only briefly. “And I said, ‘Well, what would Betty Ford do?’ So I got myself up and I got myself together, and as an American who really loved Betty Ford as our first lady, I decided I wanted to come here and be with all of you. So Betty, I’m here for you.”

Dr. Carolyn Mazure, the chair of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, presented the prepared speech in the first lady’s place.

Honesty, candor at the heart of Betty Ford’s legacy

This year, the luncheon at the JW Marriott downtown marked 50 years since President Ford’s wife Betty Ford was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was very open about her battle against cancer, an unusual attitude at the time that encouraged other women to be proactive about getting checked.

“It became almost commonplace to say the word breast when it hadn’t been before. She definitely changed the landscape there for the future of women in America,” Brooke Clement, the director of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum, previously told News 8.

Ford also struggled with abuse of alcohol and prescription painkillers. She was upfront about that, too.

“In her resilience and triumph, we found our own strength. ‘If Betty can do it, I can do it,’ as you heard this morning. How many men and women owe their lives to following her example? From breast cancer to addiction, Betty’s mark is lasting,” Mazure said, reading Biden’s remarks.

The speech referenced the work of historian Richard Norton Smith, who said that women’s health in America is divided into “two unequal periods: Before Betty and after Betty.”

It called for more studies of women’s health issues and more funding to support that research, saying that has caused “gaps” in understanding how illnesses like heart disease may affect women differently than men and of illnesses that affect primarily women.

“We can fundamentally change how our nation approaches and funds women’s health research,” Mazure read. “That’s what the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research is all about.”

New stamp commemorates first lady Betty Ford

The speech said the initiative has made progress, citing the signature of an executive order that calls for government-funded research to include women from the beginning and a push for Congress to devote $12 million to women’s health issues.

“This is a big problem with deep roots, and we’re not going to fix it overnight. But Betty has taught us lasting change isn’t quick or easy. It’s a daily practice, requiring constant tending and sustained vigilance; small steps each day that build a brighter tomorrow,” Mazure read.

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