True Wellness, Inc Launches Blue Zones Ignite™ to Improve Well-Being in Northwest Wisconsin

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

EAU CLAIRE, Wis., March 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- True Wellness, Inc announced the launch of Blue Zones Ignite, a well-being initiative that uses an evidence-based approach to make healthy choices easier in all the places people spend the most time. True Wellness will work closely with local community leaders, organizations, and stakeholders to guide the effort and ensure solutions reflect the unique strengths and needs of each community.

Blue Zones will work with True Wellness, Inc  and the community to conduct an in-depth readiness and feasibility assessment of the communities of Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, Menomonie, Rice Lake, and River Falls as well as the Northwest Wisconsin region that will help determine how to make it a healthier place to live, work, grow up, and grow older. Together with the community, the Blue Zones team will assess readiness and build a plan for change.

Natasha Ward, Executive Director, True Wellness said: "At True Wellness, our mission is to build health and wellness into the flow of community life. That's why we are so excited about partnering with Blue Zones– it's a proven approach that really works. Together, we'll dig into what makes our region unique, understand what's working and what's not, and then co-create solutions with our communities. Real change happens when we design strategies together that actually fit people's lives and make a lasting difference."

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 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: "As a Wisconsin native, I've always believed this region embodies some of the best qualities in America — strong community ties, a deep commitment to looking out for one another, and a steadfast work ethic. Together with True Wellness, Inc and local leaders, we're excited to build on the neighborly spirit and resilience that makes this area special. When a place like this aligns around well‑being, the impact is powerful: healthier families, stronger local economies, and a better, longer life for everyone who calls this region home."

The Blue Zones expert team will connect with community 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.

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. A hit 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 True Wellness, Inc.

True Wellness is a community-based nonprofit organization transforming health and wellbeing across Northwest Wisconsin by tackling the root causes of chronic disease and building health and wellness into the flow of community life. Guided by the six pillars of lifestyle medicine—nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress management, social connection, and avoidance of risky substances and an additional seventh pillar of purpose—True Wellness partners with local leaders, academic and public health institutions, and evidence-based initiatives such as Blue Zones® to advance whole-person wellbeing. Through sustainable, data-driven strategies, the organization makes healthy choices easier where people live, work, learn, and play. True Wellness is also developing a long-term, communitywide chronic disease biomarker registry to support research, measure outcomes, and drive effective, lasting systems-level change. Together, these efforts create lasting, systems-level change that helps people in Northwest Wisconsin live longer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives. Learn more at www.truewellness.org.

Contacts:

Blue Zones
Naomi Imatome-Yun
[email protected]

True Wellness
Joel Markquart
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Blue Zones