Podcast | Episode 24: Blue Zones Project Jacksonville

 

Blue Zones Project Jacksonville Transcript

Tracy Davis:
Welcome to the Brooks Rehabilitation Podcast. My name is Tracy Davis. My name is Tracy Davis. On this episode, we have a conversation with Jessica Cummings, who is our VP of community engagement here at Brooks and Nicole Hamm, who is the Blue Zones Project Jacksonville. I think you’re really going to like this episode and we appreciate you listening.
Before we get into the episode, I wanted to remind you to check us out on social media. Look for @BrooksRehab on your favorite social media platform. You can stay engaged with us there. And also Brooksrehab.org is your main place to find out all about everything we have going on at Brooks. Let’s get right into the episode.
Jessica Cummings:
Hi, Nicole.
Nicole Hamm:
Hi, Jessica. How are you?
Jessica Cummings:
I’m doing great. How are you doing?
Nicole Hamm:
Doing so well, thank you.
Jessica Cummings:
Thanks for joining us here on our Brooks podcast. I’m really excited to chat with you and share with our listeners about Blue Zones, Blue Zones Project Jacksonville, all the amazing work that you all have been doing and working so diligently on over the past year. But maybe let’s start out and share with us, what is Blue Zones?
Nicole Hamm:
Sure. So I’m so excited to be here first and foremost, but Blue Zones is the project and the concept are both originated out of where the places and spaces where people were living a hundred years plus. So there are five original Blue Zones longevity hot spots, Okinawa, Japan, Loma Linda, California, Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, Sardinia, Italy and Ikaria, Greece.
And what we learned were that there were nine commonalities that we call our Power Nine that really shaped the culture and environment in which these people were living so that they could live a very long time. And so at Blue Zones Project Jacksonville, what we get to do is reverse engineer those concepts and say, how do we bring them into our community so that our people can live better and longer?
Jessica Cummings:
And are there other Blue Zones projects around the United States or elsewhere?
Nicole Hamm:
There are. So Jacksonville would be the 76 community.
Jessica Cummings:
Oh, wow.
Nicole Hamm:
But there have been projects in Hawaii, Brevard, North Carolina, Fort Worth, Texas, and even in Albert Lea, Minnesota.
Jessica Cummings:
Why Jacksonville? Why did they pick Jacksonville? How did they get here? It seems like we’re kind of just a little small dot in the big state of Florida, so why us?
Nicole Hamm:
Well, Duval County is special, you know that.
Jessica Cummings:
I do. I do.
Nicole Hamm:
But originally in 2019 at the invitation of Baptist Health, Blue Zones came in and did what we call a readiness and feasibility assessment, which really examined the landscape politically, socially, culturally, and even environmentally to say, “Is this the kind of project that would work for Jacksonville?” Which I think is a really good idea because as we know, not everything works for everybody in every community.
So from there it was really a rallying of community leaders and organizations such as Brooks Rehabilitation to say, “Let’s do this together and bring all hearts and minds to the table to bring this project to life and allow local community leaders to work here and inhabit it and move this work forward so that we can see an increase in well-being and quality of life in our communities and throughout our city.”
Jessica Cummings:
Great. And you said that Baptist Health brought it here, but who else is involved in this project? Obviously Brooks, since you’re chatting with us, but there have to be others that are also helpful.
Nicole Hamm:
Oh, we are so lucky to have so many incredible sponsors. So Baptist, Brooks, the city of Jacksonville, Community First Credit Union, Florida Blue, United Way of Northeast, Florida, UF Health, Mayo Clinic, the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, Jacksonville University, and the Jacksonville Jaguars Foundation.
Jessica Cummings:
So some of those don’t sound like healthcare groups. Why would they want to be involved?
Nicole Hamm:
You’re a hundred percent right. And what I think is so beautiful about our sponsors is that we have health, sports, philanthropy, all really coming to the table because we know it takes all pieces of the puzzle to make a project like this work and to create a healthier and happier Jacksonville. So we know it’s not just a health problem.
We know it’s not just an entertainment problem. We know it’s not just a philanthropic problem. We know that there’s an opportunity for all of us to come to the table and say, “If we’re going to create a better Jacksonville and get behind something, let’s do it this way and let’s do it with Blue Zones Project Jacksonville.”
Jessica Cummings:
Sure. So there’s, you said nine, Power Nine, what are the Power Nine and why are they impactful?
Nicole Hamm:
Oh, the Power Nine. Oh, they’re so incredible. And what I will say is the Power Nine are all free. You don’t have to be a millionaire to live better and live longer and to live well. So I’ll start with my personal favorite, which is purpose. People in the original Blue Zones knew their why when they woke up in the morning. They also took time to downshift, which would be the second one. I love the Greeks.
They like to nap, which I can absolutely get behind. But that could be yoga, that could be mindfulness, that could be that little piece of time in the car after you get in the driveway, before you go into the house with your families. Just that downshifting has made a real difference in those lives. And then we also have loved ones first. So these communities really understood the power of family.
And that’s not just the family that you may have by blood, but also the family that you choose. Which leads me to our next one, which we call our positive pack. My mom used to say, if you show me who your friends are, I can tell you about who you are. And that really does matter. When you have people that are around you that are positive and uplifting and giving you an opportunity to challenge yourself, to have a safe space, to dream and to worry, your quality of life is significantly better.
We also talk about eating wisely. So we talk about the 80% rule, which has really changed my life. I come from what you call the Clean Plate Club, military family. If I put it in front of you, better clean that plate. But the 80% rule says, “Can you eat until you’re just about 80% full and then really evaluate, are you still hungry, do you want more or maybe your eyes could have just been bigger than your stomach?”
For me that as someone that was raised with a Clean Plate Club and really loved the satisfaction of clearing my plate, we kind of always go back to maybe it’s just having a smaller plate where you can still have that full plate of food, but really taking an intentionality to how you’re eating and how much you’re eating. We also talk about plant slant, which is making sure that you’re incorporating more fruits and vegetables into your diet.
Those plants, nuts, seeds, all of those really make a difference in the way that our bodies regulate its internal system and allows us to thrive internally and allow us to do all of the things that we want to do. And we also talk about wine at five, or sometimes we call it Friends at Five. In the original Blue Zones, they did have a four ounce pour of red wine, but they also did it with community.
They would stop herding their sheep and get together locally and just have a little bit of downtime and socialization with each other, which has proved so important in our community. So this is an opportunity, if you do indulge in alcohol, absolutely you can do that. But also maybe it’s just coming after work and having some down times with friends. I have a girlfriend that says, “The happiest hour is the happiest that I’m with you,” and I think that really matters.
We also talk about movement and moving naturally. It is so important that we move our bodies. And what I love is that there’s no blueprint to what that looks like. I love to walk. I have a little dog, so we walk a couple times a day, but I have a girlfriend that is an avid CrossFit girly, and she likes to hit the gym and lift weights. But however you are moving as long as you are moving has really made a difference in those Blue Zones communities.
And then we also have Belong, which is believing in something bigger than yourself. In the original Blue Zones it’s what’s tied directly back to spirituality. But it can be anything. I think that we are at a place in humanity where we just want to believe in humanity. And I think that that’s a power and a beauty that if you are not religious, that that’s something that you can take advantage of. But also if you are religious, having an understanding that leaning into that faith, that spirituality really does impact your well-being.
Jessica Cummings:
Absolutely. And at Brooks we also recognize that having that community is so important to the mental health and well-being of our patients and our communities. And so it truly is just a really great fit between Blue Zones Project Jacksonville and Brooks Rehabilitation. Obviously, you all heard movement and maybe that movement doesn’t look the same for one who maybe moves in a different manner, but certainly that community comes together. So why is Brooks specifically important for Blue Zones Project Jacksonville?
Nicole Hamm:
Brooks is so important because we talk about inclusion and accessibility, and that is the entire mission and vision of Brooks Rehabilitation. I am so inspired each and every day that we are challenged by Brooks to think about our concepts differently. I’ll share with you, Jessica, that when we talk about Moais in the traditional sense, we always say they’re walking Moais, they’re running Moais, but you even challenge us to think about just movement.
So we now call them movement Moais because however you’re moving is perfect. And when we’re talking about creating an inclusive city and a quality of life where all can find themselves, it’s important that our words matter and our language matters. And so Brooks is really that guiding light of making sure that all feel welcome and whole and seen in this project. And we’re so grateful to have that lens.
Jessica Cummings:
Now there’s a yoga Moai that’s coming up, right?
Nicole Hamm:
There is.
Jessica Cummings:
Tell me about that.
Nicole Hamm:
Oh, we are so excited. So in partnership with Yoga For Change, we’re actually doing a full year of free yoga. So we are bouncing around the city of Jacksonville doing yoga. And that yoga can look however. We have a couple of women that come and they grab their chair and they do yoga from a chair. We have a gentleman that joins us every so often that brings his therapy pet, his therapy dog with him to bring him some of that comfort. And then we also have people that join us that are doing these incredible things with their body fully.
And we also always take time for gratitude and breath work, which no matter where you are, you can absolutely do. And so it’s so beautiful to really to hone in on mental health, downshifting and a gratitude practice because in our lives and the way that society is run, sometimes we forget the power of the pause as we like to call it. So we’ve started at the Legend Center in 32208 on the North side. We will be going to the west side in 32244 at Walmart Health. We’ll be in 32209 at the Emmett Reed Center of Hope. And we will be in 32206 at Rethreaded, in 32210 at Inspire to Rise.
Jessica Cummings:
Wait, so I didn’t hear what maybe I would consider more well-known zip codes in Duval County.
Nicole Hamm:
Mm-hmm.
Jessica Cummings:
Why?
Nicole Hamm:
So we know that if we’re going to create a Duval for all that we really need to take time to understand the unique challenges and opportunities that some of our most vulnerable zip codes experience. And when we say that, we’re looking at that from a data perspective, but we’re also looking at that from an asset-based approach. There are over a hundred churches in 32209.
Jessica Cummings:
Wow.
Nicole Hamm:
When we talk about Belong, when we talk about that positive pack, that’s already inherently there. So how do we leverage that? Right? But also being able to say, as great as that is, we do have a food desert problem in some of these neighborhoods and we can’t ask people to eat more plants or eat wiser if they don’t have an opportunity or access to live better.
So these zip codes were chosen by design and intentionally, but the beautiful thing about Duval County is that we’re going to see a ripple effect through all of our neighborhoods and all of our zip codes with this work. We say that we are focused in prioritizing these zip codes, but I’ll share with you when we’re talking to restaurants and grocery stores and places of work, all are welcome to join this movement because it really is a culture shift that we are building throughout our community.
Jessica Cummings:
Now tell me because I know recently there’s been some real excitement around 1 Foxy Lady and the very first Blue Zones approved restaurant. Tell me about it.
Nicole Hamm:
Oh, this was such an exciting moment and process, I guess I should say. So we approached 1 Foxy Lady actually via connection of a community leader locally that said, “I know the owner of this restaurant and she’s doing some of this work, and she could probably get connected with you guys.” From there, the ball just started rolling. She is a Southern cuisine restaurant, but she also has vegan options.
And I don’t know about you, but if you can tell me that I can still have some grits and eggs that are completely vegan, I’m interested, I’m intrigued. And so with 1 Foxy Lady, we were really able to understand her why and her purpose. And she had her own experience with health and well-being, and she brought that into her business. So our goal wasn’t to change or modify her business.
Our goal was to understand what are some opportunities that we can identify alignment and give you space to be creative even more so than you already have been. So we have elevated a couple of dishes off of her menu as Blue Zones inspired entrees, but she has also created an anti-inflammatory drink inspired by Blue Zones that lives on her menu with a Blue Zones label that anyone can stop by and grab.
We are so excited to elevate a local business and business owner. She’s born and raised in Duval County. She was a school teacher, so she taught our young people. And even throughout her journey, she comes back to the community. So it was just so inspiring to work with her, and we are so looking forward to doing that with other restaurants throughout the area.
Jessica Cummings:
Great. So if there are any restauranteurs out there, what do they need to do in order to be Blue Zones qualified?
Nicole Hamm:
Sure. So reach out to our team.
Jessica Cummings:
Okay.
Nicole Hamm:
We’re more than happy to have that conversation. The first thing that we do is really look at what are you already doing? There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. It’s just an opportunity to say, “Okay. Well, this is how your business works.” And again, we don’t want to change their business model. And then we say, “Is there an opportunity to not offer sweet tea as the first drink?” And maybe that’s water.
Is there an opportunity that your sandwiches are not all bread, but maybe there’s a lettuce wrap option?” Maybe there’s an opportunity to have a kid’s menu that has fruit as the default side rather than chips. So we really try to work with the institution and we also understand that their revenue and their bottom line is extremely important. And so when we talk about being engaged with Blue Zones, we absolutely put the call to action out to our community to go patronize these places, see what they’re up to.
We’re such a big city, and sometimes we might not always hear about what’s going on down the street or in a different neighborhood or in a different community. And so when they get this exposure and they have these opportunities to share more about what they’re doing, that will give them the capacity to do more as they see fit and continue to evolve and grow their business, their menus, et cetera.
Jessica Cummings:
And also in those different zip codes that you had mentioned before too, which may be less socioeconomically advanced than others, which not only then enhances that zip code, but also the residents that are around it all as well.
Nicole Hamm:
A hundred percent. And giving people an opportunity to visually see that this is a healthy choice. Sometimes it’s so confusing when you walk in and place and you’re like, “I don’t know. Should I get this? Should I not get this? Is this too much? Is this too little?” And so we do that on the front end. So then you walk in, you see this Blue Zones icon and you say, “I know that’s a healthy choice. I’ll get that.”
Jessica Cummings:
Great. And probably a little bit more unique than maybe something else and something that you can practice at home as well.
Nicole Hamm:
That’s right.
Jessica Cummings:
With some of those different vegetables. When you look at a kohlrabi and you say, “I don’t even know, is this a fruit? Is this a vegetable? It’s just a fun word to say and how to prepare it, I have no idea.” But now we can give it a try.
Nicole Hamm:
That’s right.
Jessica Cummings:
So tell me, what do you think or what are in your ideal world, the collaborations that Brooks and Blue Zones has together to truly elicit change?
Nicole Hamm:
Oh, there’s so many, and I’ll give you two that I think stick out the most. And one is with our young people specifically. So the more that we listen to young people about well-being and what a world of well-being looks like through their lens, it’s very different now. They’re interacting more, they’re asking more questions about who and why and where.
And so I think there’s a unique opportunity for Blue Zones and Brooks to not necessarily answer some of those questions, but to give an opportunity to have safe discovery, especially with some in the Duval County public school system around creating that safe space with all of our students, whether that is the ones in the classroom full-time, the ones that are hybrid because of accessibility issues, or if there is even something on the back end.
I have a great friend that used to teach special education. He said, “Sometimes we’re just completely ostracized from some of the opportunities because they weren’t created for my children.”And so I think there’s a unique opportunity to create safe discovery around well-being and what that looks like for everybody because sometimes you hear running and not everybody is running in that classroom.
Jessica Cummings:
Sure.
Nicole Hamm:
Right? Or sometimes it’s this and there’s something else beyond that that they might not quite understand what that means in teaching inclusivity early. And then the second one specifically is also giving families an opportunity to understand and feel like they can do something fully and participate altogether in a project. I’ll go back to our yoga Moai.
It was a sister, two sisters that came and one uses a walking device, a assistive device. And her sister, they came together and they could experience yoga together in the same space at the same time without worry. And I just think that’s so beautiful because it wasn’t a, “She can’t come and I…” it was, “Let’s do this together.” And as we create programming and things that people can say, “All of us can go,” that’s going to be the real win because this project is for everybody. We want to make sure it feels that way.
Jessica Cummings:
And Brooks is a pretty large employer. And so I think we have a little bit of a platform that we can stand on with our employees. So maybe help me understand, what is Blue Zones doing with some of our larger employers? Those that I heard you say were their, or our partners, how are those partners coming together and rallying together in order to change kind of the workplace?
Nicole Hamm:
Yes. So that’s a great question. And we have challenged all of our sponsors to help us get more engaged. We know that you guys are large, so sometimes it’s not as easy as just having an all hands meeting and having Blue Zones speak, it’s opportunities like to have a podcast. It’s opportunities to have members from our steering committee elevate some of the work that we’re doing, but even more so what we get to do is say there’s already so many things that are happening that are so well, and what if we created more?
And so we walk hand in hand with our partners in any organization to say, “How can we create a better work environment on all spectrums?” So not just physicality, I love my sit/stand desk, but that is not going to make me well and whole for the rest of my life, but also socially. Right? Can we just stop and do a volunteer day? Are there a couple people throughout departments that want to lead a movement group or a downshift group?
Are there opportunities to talk about purpose in the workplace and making sure that your employees feel like they’re doing what they are purposed to do and that they are energized by what they’re doing every day? And if there isn’t that alignment, as an employer, how do we work together to help make sure that we are able to create those for those employees?
And ultimately, and what I love about this community is how do we bring all of us beyond the employee title into this work? So it’s the workplace, but it’s also family fun day or Blue Zones is going to bring here and bring your kids, bring your grandmother, bring your mother, bring your sister, bring your brother.
And so there’s really this holistic approach to quality of life. So whether you are going to work, dropping the kiddos off at school or taking a yoga class, that your quality of life is really enhanced and it has started it in the very place that you’re probably spending the very most time, which is in your career and in your workplace.
Jessica Cummings:
Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, we are just thrilled at the work that we’ll see over the next couple of years here at Brooks for our employees. And hopefully that trickles down into our patients as well. And they can start to see, “Hey, what is that Blue Zones? What are you guys doing now? I saw in the cafe that you guys have some different food options that I haven’t seen elsewhere,” and that can trickle into change within everybody’s place of work and play and into life, and it becomes more quote unquote “Normal.”
Nicole Hamm:
Right.
Jessica Cummings:
Which I think would be just super fun for all of us. So maybe help me understand kind of what are the benchmarks? What is Blue Zones going to do? How do we know if it’s here? How do we know if it’s not here? How do we know if we’ve succeeded?
Nicole Hamm:
Sure. So quite a few things. So we have a qualitative and a quantitative approach. So quantitative says, based on all of our research, if you hit 10% of restaurants and 25% of grocery stores and 25% of the workforce and 15% of the population, that’s when you start to see the needle move forward. So our goal is to say, if that is the floor, what’s our ceiling? And so our goal even internally almost, is to dream of what if we doubled that? What if we doubled it?
What if we just said, “Let’s just try to do, if the target is 24 restaurants, what if we did 48?” Right? So we really are looking at this as an opportunity to say, “Quantitative is great and it gives us a start,” and then we can see how we can continue to move and use that momentum and effort to keep that going into dream of a continuous ceiling. So it may start by what if we doubled and then we might get close, and then we might say, “Well, what if we triple it?” And we just kind of keep going.
But that quantitative approach is a great floor and start to have. And then the qualitative approach is really understanding how this is changing people’s lives. So we do a lot of pre and post, if you will. So a pre four-week challenge, why’d you show up? Why’d you come? What’s going on? And you have people that say, “Well, I’m really healthy. I was just kind of curious about this Blue Zones thing.” You have people say, “I’ve got the diet down and I’ve got the workout, but I don’t really talk to anybody.”
And you’ve got people that are like, “I’ve never done anything like this before, and so I’m just willing to try.” And then you have the post. And again, that quantitative and quantitative piece is important because we can say, “Ms. Lisa lost 30 pounds and her blood pressure went down, but Ms. Lisa also made three friends that she still talks to and is hosting dinner parties with.”
And so when we kind of begin to capture both of those, then we can say that we are succeeding in making a difference. Now what I will say is I think we are moving at the direction of community. So I think they are really guiding us into what makes the most sense in creating the community that they want to see at the end of the five years, which is really exciting because that allows us to kind of take our hands off the wheel.
But it is so exciting to see and know that we can work from these quantitative measures, we can create programming to support this qualitative measures, and then at the end of the five years, we’re going to have a Jacksonville that people have wanted to see in their community. And that’s the really fun part of creation.
Jessica Cummings:
I think you’re right. And I think we’re hitting some of those areas that maybe have felt a little bit forgotten. I also feel like maybe we’re stepping back in time a little bit. It feels a little bit more like maybe it’s the 1950s where I do know my neighbors and I am willing to go outside and I hang out in the cul-de-sac and we chit-chat about life just for a few minutes and I get to know each other instead of pulling in from work, going in my house, turning off the lights and hoping nobody reaches out to me while I scroll social media.
Nicole Hamm:
Right.
Jessica Cummings:
So I think it’s super exciting for the community. I think it’s ultra exciting for the zip codes that you all are targeting. And I think you said earlier that those zip codes were identified, was it in that first approach that you all had?
Nicole Hamm:
Yes. So during the feasibility and readiness assessment, it went through all zip codes.
Jessica Cummings:
Okay.
Nicole Hamm:
And then from there it was really able to see based off of all the things that we have in front of us, where’s the most opportunity. And so I’ll share zip code 32208, they had the highest level of optimism of what life would look like in the next 10 years. That’s something to leverage. You’ve got all these faith-based organizations in 32209.
You’ve got out East with all of the development happening in the sports and entertainment district and in the Brentwood neighborhood. So what does that look like? So this was by design and by intention, and I think it was a really beautiful way to craft it.
And that means as we go, we get to find out the formula for Arlington and for Mandarin and for Ortega, but knowing that if we can extend the longevity in our most vulnerable populations, because there’s no reason that a woman in Durkeeville should be living 20 years less than a woman in Mandarin. Right? So we’ve really got to begin to even that playing field, and then we can all live in a population, in a city where we can live to 100 possibly.
Jessica Cummings:
And hopefully that’s why we’re still moving naturally and enjoying-
Nicole Hamm:
That’s right.
Jessica Cummings:
… maybe some wine at five or friends at five and not just being forgotten about.
Nicole Hamm:
That’s right.
Jessica Cummings:
So there’s a lot of excitement. You said that there’s a steering committee who’s leading this effort and leading the charge and doing some great things. And it’s just business leaders that are in this steering committee or are there others that are included?
Nicole Hamm:
Sure. So yes, we have brought the community into our governing body. So of course our partners and sponsors really kind of helping us navigate this very new uncharted course, but also saying, “I can’t talk about the West side if I don’t live there.” So if you live on the West side, come join us, right?
Jessica Cummings:
Sure.
Nicole Hamm:
Or if you live on the East side, come be a part of this. So we actually did a kind of call to action saying, “If you live in these five zip codes, we want you to be a part of our steering committee.” And we were able to select and grab people from the neighborhood that are part of the direction of this project.
And even beyond the direction of the project, they are the community leaders that are already trusted in these neighborhoods and have given a great lift to the work that we are trying to do. And that is wives and mothers and civic leaders and community leaders and retired PTA and current branch managers, but they’re all people that live, work, play, and pray in these neighborhoods and want to bring that energy and that insight and that feedback to Blue Zones project.
Jessica Cummings:
And that’s what I love most about Blue Zones project Jacksonville is that it’s bringing together the community, the business world. It’s not being led by money necessarily. Sometimes our government, we see policy gets changed only by those of the rich. And so I love that you guys have included some of those community leaders in there to help elicit change and help gain trust too, which I think is really important. Maybe share with us a little bit about what are those pillars of change and what are you guys looking for?
Nicole Hamm:
Sure. So our pillars are people, places, policy and schools. So we have a very large school district, so that is its own separate endeavor. But that’s really I think the most holistic way to think about Blue Zones project because our young people are in school and say they have, “This is what I’m eating today. This is what recess or PE looks like. My friends are here.” It’s like its own little community that we have to cultivate through people, places and policy.
And even being governed by the school board, making sure that there are policies in place that support the well-being and quality of life of our young people. And then people, as you mentioned, connecting with your neighbors, with friends, with people that you may not have met until you showed up to this four-week challenge thing that Blue Zones project put on.
But even volunteerism, even seeing something beyond what you thought you saw in yourself. There’s a question that we ask on our Gallup data that says, “Do you feel like you use your strengths daily for yourself and or for others?” That’s a big one.
Jessica Cummings:
Sure.
Nicole Hamm:
I might not work in empathy or work in an environment of communication, but do I use that skill anywhere else? And how do I use it and with whom do I use it? And also purpose workshops and those movement Moais, whether that be yoga or biking or downshifting, whatever that looks like. In places like 1 Foxy Lady, so restaurants, grocery stores, work sites like Brooks, how are we engaging in rallying around the places that we’re spending a lot of our time and even policy? So we really break that down into the built environment.
So how structurally and infrastructurally have we designed this community? That is pedestrianism, that is biking safety, that is the Emerald trail, and making sure that parks and fresh green spaces are prioritized. And even food systems.
We’ve got a big community and it’s not just the restaurant that you eat at, there’s farmers, there’s distributors, there’s producers, there’s growers, there’s beekeepers, there’s so many pieces to the food systems, how we’re bringing them all together to identify how we strengthen that and utilize each other. And even tobacco. So we recently were able to work with city council to pass smoke-free parks.
Jessica Cummings:
Great.
Nicole Hamm:
So we’ve got a large park system, probably the largest urban park system in the United States, and we now have parks that are smoke-free, so that when you do want to take the kiddo out for some fresh air, you’re not getting secondhand smoke and 7,000 chemicals. Hopefully it will deter our young people that are vaping. Right?
And then also alcohol policy. We want people to enjoy themselves and enjoy them lives, but we also want people to be safe. And we also want people to enjoy themselves for a long time, not just one night or one day. So really working to amplify healthy options and healthy behaviors surrounding alcohol. And so that’s also really important. So again, this holistic approach to community health I think is incredibly powerful. And I think this project gets to really figure out how all of that works together.
Jessica Cummings:
And you mentioned policy and policy is its own beast, but you’ve been involved for over a year now, which means that you’ve seen a change in administration in the city. How has that gone?
Nicole Hamm:
It’s gone well. So we had the city of Jacksonville as a sponsor in 2022 when we started, and that was with the Curry administration. And so we had a point person on the steering committee and we really got to connect with some of the employees in the administration as well as some of the city council members that were there. And so after that, it was kind of going back to basics and saying, “Hi, we’re here.” This has already been something that’s been in motion, but we also want to understand and align ourselves with the new administration’s priorities as well.
Jessica Cummings:
Sure.
Nicole Hamm:
So I think it was a really great conversation between understanding, okay, this is where the city is being led now, and how do we align with that and how can we amplify that in our relationship as well as understanding that transitions happen and they should. And so being able to navigate that was a really key, I think, point in our project as well as understanding the landscape politically, because that was not part of the assessment. This is a brand new administration, so-.
Jessica Cummings:
Sure.
Nicole Hamm:
… what we’ve read up on for the landscape politically, and the assessment is not the same. And so now we do our own assessment and say, “This is what the city’s at, this is where they are.” And our policy team has been so great keeping us updated with who’s leading what, who’s passionate about what, even on city council and who are the department heads and what are they aligning themselves with, and how do we begin to leverage relationships and pull them into this work beyond just another project that the city is taking on. But this is a relationship so that we can both work to create a healthier and happier Jacksonville.
Jessica Cummings:
I think it leads to a long-term success for the city, for the county, that it’s not based upon one party’s affiliation.
Nicole Hamm:
Yeah.
Jessica Cummings:
But this is something that we’re going to do, which is just fantastic. So how do we ensure that all residents live better and longer and happier and healthier lives?
Nicole Hamm:
So what we aim to do is to make sure that this project touches every single person in some way. And I think what’s really great is we don’t know what that looks like. It could be hearing a podcast and saying, “All right, I’m going to volunteer a little bit more.” It could be attending a purpose workshop and saying, “Gosh, I’m doing something so in alignment and maybe I can do more and maybe I’ll reach out to my manager and find out if there’s additional opportunity to leverage my talent so I can stay here and be satisfied with my quality of life.”
Or maybe it’s just watching the Netflix documentary and saying, “That seems really cool, and Jacksonville’s pretty cool to have that. Maybe I’ll get around to seeing what they’re up to.” But our goal is to make sure that this project touches someone, everyone at least once. And we are confident that when you touch it once, you’re going to touch it again. And maybe it’s indirectly. It’s maybe, “Oh yeah, I heard about that thing,” and someone says, “Oh, well, I’m going to go volunteer next Saturday. Do you want to come?”
And you say, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Well, that’s kind of part of that culture shift. Right? And then just making sure environmentally that these places sustain the changes that they have made. So we have extensive sustainability plans to say, “How’s it going? Is this working? Is it not working? How can we ensure better support or however we need to shift or pivot?”
And so I think that what’s really important is as we’re working with faith-based leaders or social organizations or civic organizations or individuals that we ask them in the call to action is, talk to somebody about this and take a challenge on for yourself whether that is moving naturally more, whether that’s Meatless Monday as we do in our house, one small step. Or maybe it’s saying, raising your hand and saying, “I just want to figure out what this looks like in my own neighborhood. I’ll host a friends at five.”
Jessica Cummings:
Sure.
Nicole Hamm:
So we want people to feel creative and feel like they can own this space, whatever that looks like for them. Because the thing about humans and people is you can’t tell them what it’s supposed to look like for themselves. If it needs to look like volunteerism, it should look like that.
If it needs to look like getting with your local restaurant owner and saying, “I heard about this great project and you should totally be engaged,” it may look like that. It could also just be patronizing or supporting an organization that’s working through creating a better workplace environment and say, “I just want to be a part of that with you.” So it is open to interpretation, but our goal is that we are extending enough that everybody feels like they’ve seen it, heard it, touched it, and then touch it again.
Jessica Cummings:
Absolutely. So tell me, Brooks has kind of a wide audience that listens to our podcast. So it could be people that just happen to stumble across some really great content, most of which are our employees, our patients, their caregivers, their families. If they want to become involved in Blue Zones Project Jacksonville, where do they go? Do they just reach out to you, Nicole? What do they do?
Nicole Hamm:
Yeah. So they can reach out to myself. I’m more than happy to connect. We also have a website that has as much stuff as we could fit on there. So that’s www.bluezonesprojectjacksonville.com, which has events, which has the team, which has those list of organizations that are involved and engaged with us.
And we also have social media. So I think we’re on every possible platform that you can imagine, and our handle is BZP Jacksonville, where you can follow along, not just for updates for the project, but also what’s happening in the community.
We love to elevate the good work that’s happening in community, whether that’s a food drive, a clothing drive, an incredible workshop or event that is happening. We love, love, love to highlight Jacksonville and all the incredible things about it. So our website, myself, or even social media is the best way to get in touch and engaged.
Jessica Cummings:
Perfect. Anything else for our listeners?
Nicole Hamm:
No, thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to be here.
Jessica Cummings:
So Nicole, thank you for your time. Thank you for leading Blue Zones Project Jacksonville. I know it is a behemoth of an undertaking, but we are so thrilled that you are here, that you’re eliciting change not only for our community and our residents, but also for those with differing abilities. So thank you so very much for being here and speaking with us.
Nicole Hamm:
Thank you. And thank you so much for your support and leadership in Brooks Rehabilitation. We could not do this work without you.