City officials will kick off an initiative next week focused on making the region a healthier place to live.
Earlier this year, Lodi was chosen as an area in which a Blue Zones team will assess the strengths, needs and challenges its residents face as part of the Blue Zones Ignite pilot.
Blue Zones, which was purchased by Adventist Health in 2020, is the name and trademark used to describe the world’s longest-lived cultures and the common characteristics that explain their longevity. Assessment activities will include community meetings, focus groups with local residents and stakeholders and a community readiness evaluation report.
On Tuesday, Mayor Cameron Bregman and other members of the city council will visit locations such as Adventist Lodi Memorial and Community Medical Centers’ East Lodi Clinic with Blue Zone representatives and other partners from county agencies.
Other site visits include Lodi and Tokay high schools, Wine & Roses Hotel, Hale Park, the LOEL Center and Pacific Coast Producers, among others.
County staff will also conduct engagement sessions with community stakeholders that will include focus groups and one-on-one interviews March 4-6.
The purpose of the pilot program is to to incorporate widespread improvements in well-being, reductions in healthcare costs, and improve economic vitality in the region, according to county health officials. San Joaquin County spokeswoman Hilary Crowley said the pilot costs about $100,000, with about $70,000 paid for by San Joaquin County Public Health Services.
Following next week’s visit, the Blue Zones team will create a policy-focused transformation plan that will complement San Joaquin County’s Community Health Needs Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan.
The term “Blue Zones” was first coined by Blue Zones co-founder Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Explorer and Fellow and journalist, during an exploratory project he led in 2004. After a 2000 expedition to investigate longevity in Okinawa, Japan, he set out to explore other regions of the world where people not only lived longer, but also enjoyed a high quality of life as they grew older.
The concept of the zones grew from the demographic work co-founders Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain outlined in the Journal of Experimental Gerontology that identified Sardinia, Italy as the region with the highest concentration of male centenarians.
Pes and Poulain drew concentric blue circles on a map highlighting villages of extreme longevity and began to refer to areas inside the circles as Blue Zones. Buettner, Pes and Poulain pinpointed other longevity hotspots worldwide, including Ikaria, Greece and Nicoya, Costa Rica.
Loma Linda, an Adventist community located in Riverside County, is the only Blue Zone in the United States. Residents of the Southern California town reportedly live as much as a decade longer, and much of their longevity can be attributed to vegetarianism and regular exercise, according to Buettner’s team. In addition, Adventists don’t smoke or drink alcohol.
Buettner’s team found that Adventists encourage a “well-balanced diet” that includes nuts, fruits and legumes, low in sugar, salt, and refined grains, according to www.bluezones.com.