INTRODUCTION TO

THRIVE UMPQUA

Thrive Umpqua is our community’s well-being initiative, continuing the transformative work of Blue Zones Project-Umpqua, and coming together around the goal of improving well-being of people living in the Umpqua Valley since 2017. Using longevity principles from the Blue Zones, home to the longest living populations in the world, small changes are contributing to huge benefits: lowered healthcare costs, improved productivity, and ultimately, a higher quality of life. Earning our region the offficial designation of a Certifed Blue Zones Community, Thrive Umpqua is making the healthy choice the easy choice across the places where we spend the most time.

HISTORY OF BLUE ZONES

National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner, along with a team of demographers, studied the places around the world with the highest concentrations of centenarians. From Sardinia, Italy, to Okinawa, Japan, to Loma Linda, California, people are living vibrant, active lives well into their hundreds. Buettner calls these areas Blue Zones. Buettner’s research, along with a global longevity study, has evolved into a global movement that’s inspiring people to live longer, more active lives with lower rates of chronic disease.

OUR COMMUNITY’S WELL-BEING INITIATIVE

Thrive Umpqua is making the healthy choice the easy choice across the places where we spend the most time.

Worksites: Healthy and connected workers are more productive, miss less work and have lower healthcare costs.

Schools: Creating life-long habits through better eating, tobacco/vaping prevention, social-emotional well-being and increased physical activity. 

Restaurants: More fresh and plant-slant foods for improved customer satisfaction and increased business.

Grocery Stores: Easier access to nutritious foods empowers families to improve how they eat.

Individuals: Small changes in daily routines, like moving more and finding individual purpose leads to happier and healthier lives.

Community Policy

Built Environment: Creating safe and inviting outdoor spaces and streets for all to connect and move more.

Food Systems: Creating an environment where healthy foods are accessible and embraced.

Tobacco: Reducing the use of all tobacco and smoke products.

LONGEVITY PRINCIPLES

Live a longer, healthier life by applying longevity principles inspired by the people who have lived the longest.