Charles County Department of Health and University of Maryland Charles Regional Hospital to Launch Blue Zones Ignite™ to Improve Well-Being

Blue Zones to assess Charles County's well-being and create plan to help residents live better and longer

CHARLES COUNTY, Md., Feb. 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Charles County Department of Health, University of Maryland Charles Regional Hospital, and Blue Zones, the global leader in longevity research and community well-being transformation, have announced a partnership to launch Blue Zones Ignite in Charles County.

Blue Zones Ignite is an initiative that makes healthy choices easier in all the places people spend the most time. The effort begins with an in-depth readiness and feasibility assessment of Charles County that will help determine how to make it a healthier place to live, work, grow up, and grow older.

Blue Zones uses an evidence-based, environmental approach to making healthy choices easier in the places where people spend the most time. Blue Zones will work with the Charles County Department of Health, the University of Maryland Charles Regional Hospital, and other community leaders to conduct an in-depth readiness and feasibility assessment to determine how to make it a healthier place to live, work, and thrive. Together with the community, the Blue Zones team will assess readiness and build a plan for change.

"Our mission is to protect, promote, and improve the health, safety, and environment of Charles County residents, and we've been making incredible strides with our public health team," said Dianna E. Abney, M.D., Charles County Health Officer. "We're excited to partner with Blue Zones, along with direct collaboration from the community, to help identify current challenges and opportunities so that Charles County is a healthier, happier place where everyone can thrive."

"We are looking forward to working with Blue Zones and the Charles County Department of Health to assess the health care and wellness needs of the residents of Charles County, prioritize those needs, and identify innovative and effective programs that will improve the quality of life of our residents, and reduce health care costs," said Mary Hannah, Vice President of Population Health for UM Charles Regional.

The Blue Zones Approach
Blue Zones employs a proven solution in collaboration with communities to help people live better and longer lives. The company's work is based on research and principles developed by founder, National Geographic Fellow, and New York Times bestselling author Dan Buettner, who identified the cultures of the world – or blue zones – with the healthiest, longest-living populations.

The Blue Zones approach focuses on the largest determinant of health: the environment in which we live. Instead of focusing solely on individual behavior change, Blue Zones helps communities make permanent and semi-permanent changes to policies, systems, streets, surroundings, and social networks so it's easier for residents to eat wisely, move naturally, and connect more with others as they move throughout their day. By improving the Life Radius^®—the area close to home where most Americans spend 90% of their lives—Blue Zones transformations have been able to move the needle dramatically in improving overall population health and well-being. Participating communities have seen double-digit drops in obesity and smoking rates, economic investment in downtown corridors, grant funding awards to support policies and programs to improve health equity, and measurable savings in healthcare costs.

Ben Leedle, CEO of Blue Zones and Co-founder of Blue Zones Project, said: "We are excited to partner with the Charles County Department Health and the University of Maryland Charles Regional Hospital to bring the Blue Zones model to Charles County. Our model improves well-being at the community level by creating environments where the healthy choice is the easy choice. By working together with local leaders and residents, we will create a transformation plan that will make Charles County a place where people can live better, longer lives."

The Blue Zones expert team will connect with Charles County leaders and organizations to begin immediate work assessing the strengths, needs, and challenges that residents are facing today. Blue Zones will then create a policy-focused transformation plan that, once implemented, can drive widespread improvements in well-being, reductions in healthcare costs, and improve economic vitality in the region. Learn more at bluezones.com/ignite-charles-county.

About Blue Zones

Blue Zones employs evidence-based ways to help people live better, longer. The company's work is rooted in explorations and research done by founder and National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner in blue zones regions around the world, where people live extraordinarily long and/or happy lives. The original research and findings were released in Buettner's bestselling books The Blue Zones Solution, The Blue Zones of Happiness, The Blue Zones, Thrive, and Blue Zones Kitchen—all published by National Geographic books. An Emmy award-winning docuseries, Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, was released on Netflix in 2023. Using original Blue Zones research, Blue Zones works with cities and counties to make healthy choices easier through permanent and semi-permanent changes to our human-made surroundings. Participating communities have experienced double-digit drops in obesity and tobacco use and have saved millions of dollars in healthcare costs. For more information, visit www.bluezones.com.

About Charles County Department of Health

The Charles County Department of Health (CCDOH) is the local health department for Charles County, Maryland. Under the direction of the Health Officer CCDOH is responsible for protecting, promoting, and improving the health, safety, and environment of Charles County. The CCDOH provides a variety of public health services and administers and enforces State and local health laws and regulations within Charles County. Programs meet the public health needs of the community and provide services not offered by the private sector. CCDOH is committed to providing accurate and timely information to the public, policy makers, and partner agencies to meet the public health needs of the County. For more information, visit www.charlescountyhealth.org

Naomi Imatome-Yun
[email protected]

Linda Warren, Public Information Officer
Office: 301-609-6759 | Mobile: 301-848-5735
Email: [email protected] 

Craig Renner, Director, Marketing and Communications
Office: 301-609-4394 Cell: 240-337-2430
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Blue Zones