ALLENTOWN, Pa. — An initiative to make the Lehigh Valley a healthier place to live, work and play is officially underway.
Over the next few years, local officials are committed to making the area a Blue Zone.
Blue Zones are places around the world where people are reaching age 100 at 10 times the rate that we are in the United States, said Dan Buettner Jr., chief development officer for Blue Zones, a company of the same name.
The places have been documented by research by National Geographic magazine and Buettner's father, Dan Buettner, he said.
"If you can make your environment and your culture healthier, you will become healthier as a byproduct."Dan Buettner Jr., Blue Zones
They use evidence-based research to work with cities and towns across the country to improve residents’ overall well-being and make healthy choices easier and more accessible.
"If you can make your environment and your culture healthier, you will become healthier as a byproduct,” Dan Buettner Jr. said.
Three cities' support
Buettner was joined Thursday by Lehigh Valley Health Network, along with the mayors of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton, to kick off the healthier living undertaking.
The three cities all have agreed to team up and work toward making the region a healthier place to live.
“We have the support of all three mayors across Lehigh Valley, and we've hired some of the infrastructure required to actually kick this off,” Lehigh Valley Health Network Chief Executive Officer Dr. Brian Nester said.
“If we just kind of continue, persisting and doing the good things that we're doing and in the good things our not-for-profit community organizations are doing alone, that's not enough. We need something more and Blue Zones is that.”Lehigh Valley Health Network Chief Executive Officer Brian Nester
“If we just kind of continue, persisting and doing the good things that we're doing and in the good things our not-for-profit community organizations are doing alone, that's not enough.
"We need something more and Blue Zones is that.”
There are 90 Blue Zones across the United States, but Buettner said the Lehigh Valley officially is on the way to becoming the first one in this part of the country.
“We're going to hire people from Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown, they're going to run the process to get a critical mass of schools and restaurants, grocery stores, employers, churches, synagogues, mosques, 15 percent to 20 percent of people, to be able to engage with this work and then policy," Nester said.
'Longer lives for our residents'
The initiative will start in Allentown and work into Bethlehem and Easton once a plan is in place, officials said.
"Our hope, as every city's hope is, is for better, longer lives for our residents. And I'm confident that through Blue Zone certification we'll be able to achieve that."Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk
"Our hope, as every city's hope is, is for better, longer lives for our residents," Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk said. "And I'm confident that through Blue Zone certification we'll be able to achieve that."
Nester said, "We're going to concentrate here in Allentown, try and get that titrated and calibrated correctly, so we're working with the right folks, establishing the right connections, the right governance, the right leadership, the right members from the community participating on committees.
“That's what we're going to be doing for the next six to nine months, setting that traveling plan to make sure that we can then extend it to our adjacent towns.”
The foundation for the initiative will be laid over the next nine months, and then it will take about five years to get a Blue Zone certification.
Nester said the project will take millions of dollars to execute over the next few years.
Lehigh Valley Health Network is funding the project along with partners including the City Center group, the Brooks Brothers who own the Phantoms, and the Leonard Parker Pool Institute for Health.
