Fairfield chosen for Blue Zones site visit

Local efforts were rewarded this morning with the news Fairfield has been named a Blue Zones Project finalist among communities under 10,000 in population.

City administrator Jeff Clawson received notification from Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Healthways today, but site visit details are not yet ready for release. Healthways will officially announce the 10 small cities that have been chosen for site visits in the next couple weeks.

?We?re delighted,? Mayor Ed Malloy said upon receiving the news. ?Our community has been preparing just as diligently as any other community in Iowa to make the cut.?

He said city leaders are excited about the opportunity to prove Fairfield is worthy of the honor when a Blue Zones team visits.

Earlier releases from the Blue Zones Project indicated site visits in small communities will occur in April and May, with Blue Zones communities named this summer.

In February, the initiative named 11 finalist communities with populations greater than 10,000: Ames, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Clinton, Davenport, Mason City, Muscatine, Ottumwa, Sioux City, Spencer and Waterloo. Their site visits began this month.

Blue Zones Project also launched its new website at www.bluezonesproject.com today. Citizens who have already pledged support need not re-register, but will be asked to activate their accounts.

The new website offers tools to support physical, emotional and social well-being, including a Vitality Compass to calculate biological age.

The Blue Zones Project is a centerpiece of the Healthiest State Initiative to make Iowa the healthiest state by 2016, as measured by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. Blue Zones takes a systematic, environmental approach to well-being that focuses on optimizing policy, building design, social networks and the built environment.