141st APHA Annual Meeting

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290102
Living in a sustainable community can lengthen your life!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Jeanne Anthony , Education & Outreach, AARP, Washington, DC
Can a community transform itself in 2 years to reverse negative health outcomes, by changing city policies and budgets, restaurant menus, worksite wellness practices, schools, and even individuals' sense of purpose and social circles? Yes! Already seven communities across the United States are implementing the Blue Zones Project by Healthways. In a matter of months, not years, thousands of citizens and leaders across all sectors get involved making healthy choices easy choices. This approach is based on the lessons of the longest living communities in the world, called Blue Zones areas. Ten well-coordinated and research-backed strategies can lead to measurable improvements in well-being and longevity. The recommended practices include adopting Complete Streets policies and projects, creating safe routes to schools and walking schools buses, and other efforts to change the environment. The work started in 2009 with the AARP/Blue Zones Project and now is scaling to serve communities across the US.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs

Learning Objectives:
Describe The audience will be able to describe how to develop and implement a Blueprint for making permanent environmental, social, and policy changes that help nudge people towards healthier behaviors.

Keywords: Community Development, Health Promotion

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: It is my intention to serve as organizer of a panel of professional representatives of the following companies who are undertaking the project(S) defined in the abstract. If this abstract is selected the representatives will be drawn from a major health insurer, Healthways, Walkable and Livable Communities Institute and AARP.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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