United Regional Health Care System and Blue Zones, a faith-based nonprofit, have partnered for a BlueZones Ignite assessment in Wichita Falls, according to a media release from the hospital.
The release said Blue Zones uses “an evidence-based, environmental approach to making healthy choices easierin the places where people spend the most time.”
Corey Edmondson, URHCS CEO, said the purpose of the patrnership is “to created an environment where Wichita Falls can be a thriving environment when it comes to making healthy choices.”
Edmondson said, “The reason Blue Zone even considered Wichita Falls as a potential candidate for this is because we are one of the most unhealthy counties in Texas, and we don’t want to be known for that.”
He said even though URHCS is in the partnership, the project is a community-wide event.
“The community’s got to want this, or it won’t be successful,” he said.
Edmondson said for the next six months Blue Zones will be investigating the community.
“They’re going to be doing focus groups. They’re going to be talking to community leaders, the independent school district,” Edmondson said. “They’re going to be talking with government, the city, the county, large businesses about the health and wellness of this community.”
Edmondson said there are food deserts in certain parts of Wichita Falls where people don’t have access to food or quality food and don’t have cars.
“So how can they go to the grocery store? They don’t have access to that kind of stuff,” he said.
Edmondson said there will be a community-wide kickoff in September, and Blue Zones will conduct a three-day tour and provide the results of their assessment.
From 5-7:30 p.m. Sept. 9 at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Wichita Falls Convention Center, community members can attend the Blue Zones Ignite Wichita Falls Community Keynote Event to hear national speaker Danny Beuttner Jr. present “research on the longest-lived and healthiest places in the world, as well as the common lifestyle and cultural traits of those regions,” the Blue Zones Ignite site for Wichita Falls said.
“You’ll then learn how these traits have been implemented in communities across the United States and what communities can do to promote health and well-being,” the website said.
To RSVP, go to bluezones.com/ignite-wichita-falls.
Margarent Brown, vice president of business development with Blue Zones, said the Gallup company will also conduct a scientific random sampling survey in the community.
Edmondson said if the nonprofit determines Wichita Falls is ready for a Blue Zones initiative, the next step will be a four-year project that will include creation of a Blue Zones board consisting of a variety of community leaders.
He said URHCS will fund the first six months of the project, which would then rely on grants, foundations and businesses for further support. He said the healthcare system’s contribution would not be passed on to patients.
According to URCS’s release, “Participating communities have experienced double-digit drops in obesity and tobacco use and have saved millions of dollars in healthcare costs.”
According to the Blue Zones website, Blue Zones was founded by author Dan Buettner in 2008 and was acquired in 2020 by Adventist Health, which is affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
In 2023, Netflix released a docuseries on Dan Buettner’s theories called, “Live to 100.”
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: URHCS to partner with nonprofit for Wichita Falls health initiative
Reporting by Lynn Walker, Wichita Falls Times Record News / Wichita Falls Times Record News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Lynn Walker, Wichita Falls Times Record News | USA TODAY Network
