Despite outstanding efforts to reverse the trend, the bane of obesity continues to plague our nation, our community and our youth. Diabetes is on the rise and cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the U.S., accounting for more than 480,000 deaths every year. Sixty-eight percent of Americans are overweight or obese and, for the first time in human history, it is projected that our children will live lives shorter than ours.
By any account, these statistics are staggering. As a community, how do we get started reversing these troubling trends in a systematic, proven way? A community concern like the health of our neighbors requires a full-blown community response with the entire community working together toward one goal: getting healthier. This means organizations with diverse interests, businesses, faith communities and governments, even competitors, working together to actuate positive change aimed at improved health for all.
Becoming a Blue Zone
Not long ago, Dan Buettner wrote the best-selling book, “The Blue Zones, 9 Lessons For Living Longer From The People Who’ve Lived The Longest.” In 2004, Buettner teamed up with National Geographic and the world’s best longevity researchers to identify pockets around the world where people live measurably longer and better.
In these Blue Zones, they found that people reach age 100 at rates 10 times greater than in the U.S. After identifying five of the world’s Blue Zones, Buettner and National Geographic took teams of scientists to each location to identify lifestyle characteristics that might explain the longevity of the people living in each. They found that the lifestyles of all Blue Zone residents shared nine specific characteristics.
Blue Zones Project is a community and employer-based initiative based upon findings from this worldwide longevity study to identify common elements of the world’s longest-lived cultures. Blue Zones, in concert with Healthways, has developed and deployed a health improvement program that could be tailored to our community’s needs, and deployed and orchestrated by our community. It has the potential to transform our community’s health, leading to lower obesity, reduced tobacco usage, increased physical activity, increased healthy eating, reduced medical costs and claims, and a reduction in incidents of chronic disease.
Taking the lead
Akron General is taking a lead in working with Buettner and his brother Tony, and all other interested health care providers, institutions and community organizations, to determine whether we can turn the Akron region into a Blue Zone and dramatically improve the health of our community. I would welcome your group’s involvement. Drop me a note through email to find out more.
Working together, we can make a huge difference in improving the health of our community. Thanks for being a part of the solution.
Thomas L. “Tim” Stover, M.D., MBA, is president and CEO of Akron General Health System, which is trying to keep people out of the hospital.
