Imagine if you lived a healthy lifestyle by accident, making healthy choices without superhuman willpower. Starting in 2015, Blue Zones Project by Sharecare partnered with Cambia Health Foundation and local sponsors to set Oregon communities on a path to longer, better lives through shifts in people, policy, and places.
The results speak for themselves. In Klamath County, which had suffered from consistently low health rankings:
- Smoking has decreased by 24%.
- Obesity has dropped by 14%.
- Sense of safety has jumped by 14%.
- Community pride has increased by 15%.
- Between 2015 and 2018, the city of Klamath Falls saved more than $900,000 in medical- and productivity-related costs and won roughly $1.5 million in grants between 2018 and 2021.
In Douglas County, just a few years of focused population health interventions vaulted its place in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s County Health Rankings from 29th to 23rd. Between 2017 and 2019, the region saved approximately $1.5 million and medical- and productivity-related costs and won roughly $7 million in grants between 2017 and 2021.
We recently shared the full story of Oregon’s success with Oregon Business Magazine. Check it out and let us know what sorts of positive health changes you’d like to see in your community.
