- Hello and welcome to Living in the Lehigh Valley, where our focus is your health and wellness.

I'm your host, Brittany Sweeney.

An effort is underway to make Allentown a healthier place to live.

Lehigh Valley Health Network and the City of Allentown launched the Blue Zones' Activate Allentown project.

- I think we have a common goal, and that is to make Allentown a healthier place to live.

What if your surroundings helped you practice healthy behaviors as you went about your daily activities?

Evidence shows that when such circumstances exist, people live better and longer lives, students and employees are more productive, the economy is more robust, and people feel their community is thriving.

- We take lessons from the original Blue Zones on how to make the healthy choice the easy choice in your community.

- Dan Buettner, Jr. is the chief development officer for a company called Blue Zones.

Its philosophy is based off the concept of locations referred to as "blue zones," places in the world where people have the longest life expectancy.

The company uses evidence-based research conducted in blue zones around the world.

It works with cities and towns across the US to improve residents' overall well-being and make healthy choices easier and more accessible.

- Well, the whole onus on health has always been on individual discipline, but individual discipline is a muscle, and muscles fatigue.

And the people in the blue zones, they don't have better discipline than we do, but they live in environments.

They hang out with people, they dine at restaurants or grocery stores where they go to pray, where they go to school, they're surrounded by the healthy choice is the easy choice.

- Over a six-week period, Allentown is partnering with Lehigh Valley Health Network to assess the city and see what can be changed for the better.

- I think that residents are committed to investments in the social fabric, that people in our city want ways to come together.

They're invested in their networks, they're invested in supporting each other's health.

And so, this is something that I think helps us support that.

- Mayor Matt Tuerk provided a tour of the city to leaders from Blue Zones and LVHN to show them what is already working for the city, and what can be improved upon.

- A lot of what they're proposing to do, at least initially, looks like policy decisions that we should be making of the city anyway.

So investing in more close-knit communities, investing in a built environment that supports an active lifestyle, and investing in food systems that support the health of our residents.

Some of the ways suggested to improve health include creating community gardens or teaching people how to grow their own fruits and vegetables.

- Some of the recommendations are a natural fit for what we do in the city.

We're health-focused.

We are focused on making sure that people have access to quality health care, that they have educational opportunities and economic opportunities, making sure that their built environment supports a healthy lifestyle, and fundamentally making sure that the social context is there to support those healthy outcomes.

- An example would be making good choices on what foods to eat, making sure those healthy foods are nearby and easy to access, and part of your daily life, making it easy to make good decisions.

- Blue Zones has helped convert more than 70 towns, cities, and counties across the US.

After the six-week assessment of Allentown, a full report of findings will be provided, and the decision to move forward will then be determined.

- So, it's a multi-year, multimillion dollar effort.

But if you compare that to the rising cost of health care, the rising costs of diminished productivity, it's a much better ROI than what we consider traditional sick care.

- Funding for the project in Allentown will come from Lehigh Valley Health Network.

- Our mission is all about healing, comforting and caring, but that often means taking extra care of those people most vulnerable that are challenged, if you will, with social determinants of health, socioeconomic issues.

Just challenges on a daily basis.

- Blue Zones focuses their efforts on where people live, work, learn, and play.

During the assessment, they'll determine if Allentown is ready to undertake this task, and help to build a plan.

From there, city leaders will be responsible for implementing that plan.

And that'll do it for this edition of Living in the Lehigh Valley, I'm Brittany Sweeney, hoping you stay happy and healthy.