Living longer

Representatives from a new health program will be in the Winter Park area on Friday to meet with the local community and conduct evaluations to see if the cities are ready to be the first ‘Vitality City.’

The Healthways Blue Zones Vitality City Quest creates communities where people “live longer, have higher productivity, and share a common purpose to drive social and economic progress.”

The Central Florida cities of Baldwin Park, College Park, Eatonville, Maitland and Winter Park have all been named finalists.

Ken Bradley, mayor of Winter Park, said his definition of a vitality city is a place where the community has longevity.

“It’s a place where we are going to live better as we live longer,” said Bradley.

Justin Smith, co-director of the Healthways-Blue Zones Vitality Quest, said the Central Florida cities were chosen as finalists because of the community leadership shown in the application process with the Winter Park Health Foundation, Florida Hospitals and city officials.

“We are looking at motivation, readiness and general commitment to the project from communities that really take this seriously and really want to go in and improve their well-being,” he said.

The Gallup Healthways Well-Being Index will track the well-being of each community finalist. It measures life evaluation, emotional health, physical health, healthy behaviors, work environment and basic access of a community.

The winner of the vitality quest will be announced in mid-July.

Patty Maddox, president and CEO of the Winter Park Health Foundation, said she is expecting two things from the site visit.

“One, we’ll have the opportunity to showcase the communities and the things we already have going on that would be enhanced through this project,” Maddox said.

A community program that has already been implemented is a grant the Winter Park Health Foundation received for seven gardens to be planted in Eatonville, Maitland and Winter Park.

The Central Florida Vitality Zone website said the gardens are designed to give local organizations a tangible way to promote positive community change, and it’s a way to encourage healthy eating.

Vitality City is based off a pilot program in Albert Lea, Minn. Smith said residents and Healthways and Blue Zones representatives helped implement programs like walking school buses where children were dropped off a 1/2 mile from school, and senior citizens walked the children the remainder of the way to school.

Smith said another change that was implemented in Albert Lea was the reorganizing of food menus in local restaurants to focus on healthier food options. He said, instead of putting fries as the first side option, they put fries in small print as the last side option.

Smith said residents of Albert Lea also improved the “walkability” and “bikeability” of their town by connecting portions of the sidewalks that weren’t originally connected.

Other Vitality City contestants include Ashville, N.C., and the beach cities in Southern California: Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Bach and Redondo Beach.

To look at the Central Florida cities application for the Vitality City Quest, visit Centralfloridavitalityzone.com.