Community-wide event shows individuals and families how to make the healthy choice the easy choice where they live, work and play
FORT WORTH, Texas (February 9, 2015) – Fort Worth is counting down to the kick-off of the biggest well-being initiative in city history. As part of a multi-year effort to make healthier choices easier for individuals who live and work in the city, Blue Zones Project® – Fort Worth is hosting a free community-wide event from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, February 21, in the Round Up Inn at the Will Rogers Memorial Center to introduce people to ways they can live longer and better.
Blue Zones Project was brought to Fort Worth in 2013 through an innovative sponsorship by Mayor Betsy Price, Texas Health Resources, and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with Healthways and Blue Zones, LLC. The Blue Zones Project team partnered with local Fort Worth community leaders to conduct an assessment to find out if Fort Worth was ready to become a certified Blue Zones Community®. The answer was a resounding “yes,” making Fort Worth the largest city to ever partner with Blue Zones Project.
Based on principles developed by Dan Buettner, National Geographic explorer and best-selling author of The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, Blue Zones Project is designed to make healthy choices easier through permanent changes to the built environment. Blue Zones® areas are places where people live measurably longer, happier lives with lower rates of chronic diseases and a higher quality of life.
Now people who live and work in Fort Worth can learn first-hand how to incorporate Blue Zones® principles into their daily lives and transform their well-being. The Blue Zones Project kick-off event is a free, family-friendly event that will feature cooking presentations, interactive games, and local music, dance, and theatrical performances. Doors will open at 12:30 p.m.
Participants will learn how to get involved through community groups, personal pledges, and volunteering. The event will feature Buettner as keynote speaker, along with Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price. Complimentary childcare will be available during the keynote presentation.
To build excitement for the Blue Zones Project kick-off, the city has designated February 16-21 “Blue Week” in Fort Worth. Blue lights will adorn many city office buildings, the Lancaster Street Avenue of Lights and Sundance Square for the occasion. On February 20, everyone who lives, works, and plays in Fort Worth will also be encouraged to don blue attire.
Fort Worth is currently a Blue Zones Project Demonstration Site. Over the next four years, the city will be implementing environmental changes in six key areas, including worksites, schools, grocery stores, restaurants, individuals, and community policy. Once city-specific goals are met, Fort Worth will be certified as a Blue Zones Community.
About Healthways
Healthways (NASDAQ: HWAY) is the largest independent global provider of well-being improvement solutions. Dedicated to creating a healthier world one person at a time, the Company uses the science of behavior change to produce and measure positive change in well-being for our customers, which include employers, integrated health systems, hospitals, physicians, health plans, communities and government entities. We provide highly specific and personalized support for each individual and their team of experts to optimize each participant’s health and productivity and to reduce health-related costs. Results are achieved by addressing longitudinal health risks and care needs of everyone in a given population. The Company has scaled its proprietary technology infrastructure and delivery capabilities developed over 30 years and now serves approximately 68 million people on four continents. Learn more at www.healthways.com.
About Blue Zones®
Blue Zones employs evidence-based ways to help people live longer, better. The Company's work is rooted in the New York Times best-selling books The Blue Zones and Thrive—both published by National Geographic books. In 2009, Blue Zones applied the tenets of the books to Albert Lea, MN and successfully raised life expectancy and lowered health care costs for city workers by 40%. Blue Zones takes a systematic, environmental approach to well-being which focuses on optimizing policy, building design, social networks, and the built environment. The Blue Zones Project is based on this innovative approach. For more information, visit www.bluezonesproject.com.
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