Launch features healthy living expo and Dan Buettner, New York Times best-selling author of ‘The Blue Zones’
Klamath Falls, Oregon – March 4, 2016 – The public is invited to help launch Blue Zones Project® — a community-led well-being initiative designed to make healthy choices easier for everyone who lives, works, learns and plays in Klamath Falls. The event will be held from 2-5:30 p.m., Saturday March 12, at Ross Ragland Theatre, 218 N 7th St., Klamath Falls.
The free, family-friendly event will begin with a well-being expo and conclude with a speech by Dan Buettner, National Geographic Fellow and New York Times best-selling author of “The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest” and “The Blue Zones Solution.
The well-being expo features local entertainment; healthy cooking and gardening demonstrations; food samples; a Relaxation Station with yoga, Tai Chi, and massage; a KidZone with fun activities. Local performances include Latina Dancers and Tribal Drummers. Attendees will receive free t-shirts, reusable grocery bags, and other giveaways. Blue Zones founder Dan Buettner will share insights from his longevity research on the places in the world where people live measurably longer, happier lives with lower rates of chronic diseases and a higher quality of life. Buettner will describe the nine practices these places have in common and link them to the well-being improvement efforts taking place in Klamath Falls as part of the Blue Zones Project initiative.
“Klamath Falls is joining 27 other communities across the country that are putting proven Blue Zones Project practices to work,” said Buettner. “This is an exciting healthy living initiative and this kickoff is a great opportunity for people to explore all that Blue Zones Project has to offer for personal and community well-being.”
In addition to Buettner, speakers will include Paul Stewart, CEO, Sky Lakes Medical Center; Maureen Hamilton, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Cambia Health Foundation; and Kelly Minty-Morris, Klamath County Commissioner. Based on principles developed by Buettner, Blue Zones Project is designed to make healthy choices easier through sustainable change where people live, work, learn and play. In partnership with local leaders from across the community, Blue Zones Project Klamath Falls is working to optimize the settings where people routinely spend their time, making healthy choices easier by reimagining the environments that influence day-to-day health and well-being.
Blue Zones Project is brought to Oregon through leadership funding by Cambia Health Foundation to support Oregon Healthiest State, in collaboration with Healthways, Inc. and Blue Zones, LLC. Sky Lakes Medical Center, a community champion, answered Cambia’s 2-to-1 funding match to support the Blue Zones Project initiative in Klamath Falls.
“As the first Blue Zones Project demonstration community in Oregon, Klamath Falls is setting the bar for a powerful well-being movement for the state and for the region,” said Cambia Health Foundation President Peggy Maguire. “We are proud to bring the Blue Zones Project to Oregon and inspired by the incredible community response in Klamath Falls.”
For more information about the event and to register go to Go.bluezonesproject.com/kfallskickoff.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dan Buettner will be available for phone interviews in the days leading up to the kickoff and in person the morning of the kickoff. Please contact Cort Cox at [email protected] for more information.
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 Solution: Eating and Living Like the World’s Healthiest People, The Blue Zones and Thrive—all published by National Geographic books. Since 2009, Blue Zones has applied the tenets of the books to communities and corporations across the U.S. and has successfully raised life expectancy and lowered health care costs while bringing down smoking and obesity rates. 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, about Blue Zones visit www.bluezones.com. For more information about Blue Zones Project visit www.bluezonesproject.com.
About Cambia Health Foundation
Cambia Health Foundation is the corporate foundation of Cambia Health Solutions, a total health solutions company dedicated to transforming the way people experience the health care system. A 501(c)(3) grant-making organization, the Foundation invests and partners with organizations to advance palliative care quality, access and understanding; improve the behavioral health of underserved children; and transform health care to a more person-focused and economically sustainable system. Learn more at cambiahealthfoundation.org and follow us on Twitter.
About Sky Lakes Medical Center
Sky Lakes Medical Center is a community-owned, internationally accredited acute-care hospital located in Klamath Falls, Oregon. It is licensed for 176 beds and offers a full range of inpatient and outpatient services, a home health agency, and a variety of primary care and specialty physician clinics. The Sky Lakes family also includes the award-winning Sky Lakes Cancer Treatment Center and Cascades East Family Medicine Residency. Sky Lakes is proud to be part of the Blue Zones Project in Klamath Falls and honored to be a part of making our community a healthier place to live. Learn more at skylakes.org.
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 http://www.healthways.com/.
