Outer Banks Launches Blue Zones Ignite™ to Help Transform the Health of the Region

Blue Zones to conduct a countywide assessment and propose a plan to help all residents live better, longer

OUTER BANKS, N.C., July 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Outer Banks Health and Dare County Department of Health & Human Services have joined forces with Blue Zones, the global leader in longevity research and community well-being transformation, to launch Blue Zones Ignite™ Outer Banks.

Blue Zones uses an evidence-based, environmental approach to making healthy choices easier where they live and spend most of their time. Blue Zones will work with Outer Banks Health, the County, and other community leaders to conduct an in-depth feasibility assessment to determine how to make it a healthier place to live, work, and thrive. Together with the community, the Blue Zones team will assess readiness and build a plan for change.

The launch of Blue Zones Ignite is a dream come true for Christina Bowen, MD, Outer Banks Health Center for Healthy Living Medical Director, and ECU Health Chief Well-being Officer. "We know that 20% of health and longevity is tied to genetics; while 80% is tied to where and how we live. Blue Zones Ignite Outer Banks is going to inspire us to celebrate and promote our strong sense of community while we find ways to make it even easier to eat healthy foods, move naturally and connect with our purpose – just a few of the ways we'll continue to enhance our well-being and make this an even better place to live and work," shared Dr. Bowen.

The Blue Zones Approach

Blue Zones employs a proven solution in collaboration with communities to help people live better and longer lives. The company's work is based on research and principles developed by National Geographic Fellow and New York Times bestselling author Dan Buettner, who identified the cultures of the world – or blue zones regions – with the healthiest, longest-living populations.

The Blue Zones approach focuses on the single largest determinant of health: the place we live. Instead of focusing solely on individual behavior change, Blue Zones helps communities make permanent and semi-permanent changes to policies, systems, streets, surroundings, and social networks so it's easier for residents to eat wisely, move naturally, and connect more with others as they move throughout their day. By improving the Life Radius^®—the area close to home where most Americans spend 90% of their lives—Blue Zones transformations have been able to move the needle dramatically in improving overall population health and well-being. Communities that have participated in the Blue Zone's Ignite project have seen double-digit drops in obesity and smoking rates, economic investment in downtown corridors, grant funding awards to support policies and programs to improve health equity, and measurable savings in healthcare costs.

"Together, Outer Banks Health and Dare County Health and Human Services are steadfast in our shared mission to enhance the health and well-being of all residents, so that they can live a happy, healthy and long life," said Dr. Sheila Davies, Director Health & Human Services.

Ben Leedle, CEO of Blue Zones and Co-founder of Blue Zones Project, said: "We are excited to partner with forward-thinking leaders in the joint effort of improving well-being in the Outer Banks. That improvement, at the community level, leads to healthier and happier residents, better and more productive workforces and student bodies, and a more vibrant economy. We are excited to collaborate to create a transformation plan that can generate lasting positive change and ignite a community-wide movement towards sustained well-being."

The Blue Zones expert team will connect with Outer Banks leaders and organizations to begin immediate work assessing the strengths, needs, and challenges that residents are facing today. Blue Zones will then create a policy-focused transformation plan that, once implemented, can drive widespread improvements in well-being, reductions in healthcare costs, and improve economic vitality in the region.

About Blue Zones

Blue Zones employs evidence-based ways to help people live better, longer. The company's work is rooted in explorations and research done by founder and National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner in blue zones regions around the world, where people live extraordinarily long and/or happy lives. The original research and findings were released in Buettner's bestselling books The Blue Zones Solution, The Blue Zones of Happiness, The Blue Zones, Thrive, Blue Zones Kitchen, Blue Zones Challenge, Blue Zones American Kitchen, and The Blue Zones Secrets for Living Longer—all published by National Geographic books. An Emmy-award winning docuseries, Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, was released on Netflix in 2023. Using original Blue Zones research, Blue Zones works with cities and counties to make healthy choices easier through permanent and semi-permanent changes to our human-made surroundings. Participating communities have experienced double-digit drops in obesity and tobacco use and have saved millions of dollars in healthcare costs. For more information, visit www.bluezones.com.

About Outer Banks Health

Outer Banks Health comprises a community hospital, five primary care and six specialty care practices, two urgent care facilities, an outpatient rehabilitation therapy center, and a state-of-the-art cancer center. Offering exceptional health care to the residents and visitors of Dare County and the surrounding region, Outer Banks Health is part of ECU Health and Chesapeake Regional Healthcare.

Contacts:
Naomi Imatome-Yun
[email protected]

Wendy Kelly
Outer Banks Health
[email protected]

Kelly Nettnin Fleming
Dare County Department of
Health & Human Services
[email protected]

SOURCE Blue Zones