Kossuth Wellness Initiative

Join the Kossuth Wellness Initiative

Kossuth Wellness Initiative meets every other month to share worksite wellness ideas, promote activities and events within the area and share best practices. This movement began with Algona's quest to become a Blue Zones designated community. 

Algona named a certified Blue Zones Community™

In June of 2014, the community of Algona was named a certified Blue Zones Community™.  The Blue Zones Project is a community well-being improvement initiative designed to make healthy choices easier. To become a certified Blue Zones Community™, committees and individuals in Algona completed the following achievements: 

• At least 20% of citizens signed the Personal Pledge and completed one action,
• At least 25% of public schools became a Blue Zones School®,
• At least 50% of the top 20 community-identified employers became a Blue Zones Worksite®,
• At least 25% of independently or locally owned restaurants became a Blue Zones Restaurant®,
• At least 25% of grocery stores became a Blue Zones Grocery Store®, and
• The community completed the Blue Zones Community Policy Pledge™.

Algona and the other demonstration communities around the state received assistance from experts to develop and implement a Blueprint for making permanent environmental, social and policy changes that transition people into healthier behaviors that can lead to longer, happier lives.

The Blue Zones Project is based on Blue Zones^® principles developed by Dan Buettner and is the centerpiece of the Healthiest State Initiative to make Iowa the healthiest state by 2016 as measured by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index^®, the first-ever daily assessment of U.S. residents' health and well-being. Blue Zones employs evidence-based ways to help people live longer, better lives by taking a systematic, environmental approach to well-being, which focuses on optimizing policy, social networks and the built environments where people spend their time.