Healthy You - Every Day

Blue Zones® Project-Allentown Kicks Off at PPL Center

Blue Zones welcomes volunteers to help improve the health of the community

Blue zones around the world are regions where people tend to be healthier and live longer. This has been the inspiration for Blue Zones® initiatives, where people and organizations in a certain region collaborate to help make healthy choices easy and more accessible.

That concept has arrived in Blue Zones Project-Allentown, a five-year initiative that enjoyed a successful kickoff at PPL Center on Saturday, April 19. Blue Zones staff notes, “The whole idea is let’s take ownership in our environment (and) in shaping our environment.”

Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN), now part of Jefferson Health, City Center Group, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and the Leonard Parker Pool Institute for Health (LPPIH) are sponsoring the Blue Zones® initiatives in Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton. This transformational work brings together local leaders and organizations, businesspeople and well-being experts to introduce evidence-based programs and changes to environment, policy and social networks. It’s based on the healthy principles learned from the blue zones’ longevity hotspots of the world.

“Blue Zones makes it possible to expand LVHN’s commitment to health and wellness by moving it beyond the walls of our hospitals and doctors’ offices into the streets and neighborhoods of Allentown.” - Brian Nester, DO, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Jefferson

Laura McHugh, of United Way of the Lehigh Valley, emceed Saturday’s event and introduced the speakers including Brian Nester, DO, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Jefferson.

He praised Blue Zones Project-Allentown as “transformational” and a way to make the city “a role model for health and wellness across our nation.”

“Blue Zones makes it possible to expand LVHN’s commitment to health and wellness by moving it beyond the walls of our hospitals and doctors’ offices into the streets and neighborhoods of Allentown,” Dr. Nester said.

Allentown Mayor Matthew Tuerk offered remarks as did Nick Buettner, Vice President of Community Engagement at Blue Zones, and Brooke Griffiths, Executive Director of Blue Zones Project-Allentown. Griffiths addressed how results from the project will be determined. “We took some baseline data back in the fall, and we’ll remeasure twice more throughout the length of the project to see if we are actually moving the needle,” she said.

This community event offered those who live, work and play in Allentown the chance to learn more about local resources, services and programs; explore the Blue Zones Power 9; eat wisely; move naturally with pickleball, hockey, yoga and parkour; and connect through art and music.

More than 500 people took part and helped celebrate the launch of this exciting project in Allentown. Everyone who attended was encouraged to get involved with the Blue Zones Project-Allentown so that community members can be an active part of the transformation of their city.

More information:

Blue Zones Project Lehigh Valley

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