Health & Fitness
Health and Fitness
Health and Fitness
Thu, May 27, 2010
Wed, May 26, 2010 Healthways, Blue Zones Announce Vitality City Finalists
NASHVILLE, Tenn. & MINNEAPOLIS--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Today, Healthways, Inc. (NASDAQ: HWAY) and Blue Zones, LLC, announced the selection of three area finalists vying to be chosen to implement innovative solutions to improve community well-being.
"Well-being is about more than physical health a" it also includes social and emotional health factors that directly impact the vitality of its citizens and businesses and overall progress of the community"
Asheville, North Carolina, a group of Central Florida cities including Winter Park, Maitland, Eatonville, College Park and Baldwin Park and the Beach Cities in Southern California (Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach) are seeking to earn designation as a Healthways| Blue Zones Vitality CitySM, a community in which people are healthier, happier and live longer, have higher productivity and share a common purpose to drive social and economic progress. The coordinated effort will involve public officials, business leaders, schools, retailers, restaurants and thousands of community residents.
As part of the selection process, the Healthways|Blue Zones team will be visiting each of the finalists in June. Each community will be evaluated primarily according to its readiness and motivation prior to the selection of the lead city/area in mid-July 2010.
aWell-being is about more than physical health a" it also includes social and emotional health factors that directly impact the vitality of its citizens and businesses and overall progress of the community,a said Ben R. Leedle, Jr., Healthwaysa™ chief executive officer. aWea™re out to prove that, by leveraging the research from the Blue Zones and our 30 yearsa™ expertise as a leader in well-being improvement, communities can achieve a better overall quality and quantity of life by changing the environments where people live, work, learn, eat, shop and socialize.a
The concept of transforming a community into a Vitality City is based upon a successful pilot program conducted in 2008-2009 in Albert Lea, Minnesota. In Albert Lea, Blue Zones worked with local government and community leaders for more than a year to design and implement large- and small-scale environmental and policy changes to encourage residents to adopt and maintain healthier lifestyles, while developing the social, commercial, communal and professional networks needed to support them, resulting in:
- An average weight loss of two pounds for every Albert Lea resident
- An increase in average life expectancy of 3.1 years
- A 20 percent reduction in absenteeism for key employers
- A community-wide effort that actively engaged 60 percent of the citya™s restaurants, 51 percent of its employers, 100 percent of its schools and 27 percent of its citizens
aWe need to make the healthy choices the easy choices,a said Blue Zones founder and world-renowned explorer Dan Buettner. aEstablishing permanent and semi-permanent environmental changes will lead to lasting behavioral changes in individuals and, in turn, entire communities.a
The selected community will benefit from the combined capabilities and expertise of Blue Zones,
Healthways and additional partners, including the Purpose Institute. Blue Zones brings unparalleled expertise in the understanding and promotion of human longevity and its successful translation into practice, while Healthways' proven solutions for improving well-being for both individuals and large populations. The project will utilize the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being IndexTM ([ www.well-beingindex.com ]) to set a baseline in chosen cities and measure progress along the way.
About Healthways
Healthways is the leading provider of specialized, comprehensive solutions to help millions of people maintain or improve their health and well-being and, as a result, reduce overall costs. Healthwaysa™ solutions are designed to help healthy individuals stay healthy, mitigate and slow the progression to disease associated with family or lifestyle risk factors and promote the best possible health for those already affected by disease. Our proven, evidence-based programs provide highly specific and personalized interventions for each individual in a population, irrespective of age or health status, and are delivered to consumers by phone, mail, internet and face-to-face interactions, both domestically and internationally. Healthways also provides a national, fully accredited complementary and alternative Health Provider Network, offering convenient access to individuals who seek health services outside of, and in conjunction with, the traditional healthcare system. For more information, please visit [ www.healthways.com ].
About Blue Zones
Blue Zones has rapidly emerged as an authority in the area of human longevity and health principles that lead to improved well-being. The Minneapolis, Minn.,-based Company has integrated the findings from a vast array of scientific research along with a proprietary eight year study of the worlda™s longest living populations. This research was first reported in the third best selling cover story in National Geographic Magazine history and a New York Times bestselling book, The Blue Zones, Lessons for Living Longer from the People who have Lived the Longest.
About The Purpose Institute
"Our purpose is to help others fulfill theirs." Co-founded by Roy Spence, Judy Trabulsi and Haley Rushing, The Purpose Institute was created to enlighten and enable leaders and organizations to discover and then unleash the power of purpose in order to make a meaningful difference in the lives of their organizations, employees, consumers and the world. Through its proprietary and tested purpose discovery process and proven curriculum, The Purpose Institute and its founders have worked with Whole Foods, P&G, Wal-Mart, American Red Cross, PGA Tour, American Council on Education and others whose focus is improving the lives of all their stakeholders and, in the process, helped them build vibrant and high performing cultures and organizations. Spence and Rushing co-authored the Wall-Street Journal's Best Selling book "It's Not What You Sell, It's What You Stand For-Why Every Extraordinary Business is Driven by Purpose."
