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NAPLES, Fla. (April 4, 2019) – Blue Zones Project – Southwest Florida is celebrating Earth Day, April 22, and Every Kid Healthy™ Week, April 22-26, by working with Lee and Collier County schools to minimize plastic bottle use. As part of becoming a Blue Zones Project Approved school, schools have the option to add hydration stations throughout their campus. These wall-mounted water stations offer a tidier and more hygienic option than traditional water fountains. Students and faculty are able to bring re-usable bottles and re-fill them at the hydration stations throughout their day. This has resulted in students drinking more water during the day, as well as a significant reduction in plastic bottle waste. Of the 31 approved Blue Zones Project schools, approximately one million plastic water bottles have been saved to date and are no longer ending up in a landfill. “In PE, one of our learning goals is to teach the students the importance of staying hydrated,” stated Coach Winslow and Coach Ewerth at Corkscrew Elementary School. “We have encouraged the students to bring their own water bottles to PE so they can stay hydrated and fill up their bottles during or after class. Classroom teachers also continue to promote the hydration stations to their students and have done a great job setting the example by bring their own bottles as well. One of our wellness challenges for the staff is to drink half our body weight (in ounces) of water every day.” Earth Day Network’s mission is to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide. Growing out of the first Earth Day, Earth Day Network is the world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement, working with more than 50,000 partners in nearly 192 countries to build environmental democracy. More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world. We work through a combination of education, public policy, and consumer campaigns. Every Kid Healthy™ Week is an annual observance created to celebrate school health and wellness achievements and recognized on the calendar of National Health Observances. Observed the last week of April each year, this special week shines a spotlight on the great effort schools are making to improve the health and wellness of their students and the link between nutrition, physical activity, and learning – because healthy kids are better prepared to learn. Brought to Southwest Florida by NCH Healthcare System, in collaboration with Sharecare®, Inc. and Blue Zones, LLC, Blue Zones Project is a vital part of Southwest Florida’s well-being improvement initiative that encourages changes in the community that lead to healthier options. For more information about Blue Zones Project Southwest Florida, visit southwestflorida.bluezonesproject.com. About NCH Healthcare System The NCH Healthcare System is a not-for-profit, multi-facility healthcare system located in Naples, Florida, United States. The System is more than just two hospitals (referred to as the NCH Baker Downtown Naples Hospital, and NCH North Naples Hospital) with a total of 716 beds. The NCH Healthcare System is an alliance of 775 physicians and medical facilities in dozens of locations throughout Collier County and southwest Florida. The services offered by the NCH Healthcare System are extensive. Inpatient services include: medical, surgical, cardiac, orthopedic, obstetric, pediatric, rehabilitative, psychiatric, oncology, emergency treatment, and diagnostics. Outpatient services include: rehabilitation, home care, urgent care, wound healing, and more. This year the system had 39,000 admissions, 111,000 emergency room visits, 3,600 births, 405 open heart surgeries, 11,800 surgical procedures, and 4,300 employee colleagues. NCH is a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. NCH’s mission is to help everyone live a longer, happier, healthier life. NCH is sponsoring the Blue Zones Project for Southwest Florida. For more information, visit NCHmd.org. About Sharecare Sharecare is the digital health company that helps people manage all their health in one place. The Sharecare platform provides each person – no matter where they are in their health journey – with a comprehensive and personalized health profile, where they can dynamically and easily connect to the information, evidence-based programs, and health professionals they need to live their healthiest, happiest, and most productive life. With award-winning and innovative frictionless technologies, scientifically validated clinical protocols, and best-in-class coaching tools, Sharecare helps providers, employers, and health plans effectively scale outcomes-based health and wellness solutions across their entire populations. To learn more, visit sharecare.com. About Blue Zones Project Blue Zones Project® is a community-led well-being improvement initiative designed to make healthy choices easier through permanent changes to a city’s environment, policy, and social networks. Established in 2010, Blue Zones Project is inspired by Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Fellow and New York Times best-selling author who identified five regions of the world—or Blue Zones®—with the highest concentration of people living to 100 years or older. Blue Zones Project incorporates Buettner’s findings and works with cities to implement policies and programs that will move a community toward optimal health and well-being. Currently, 50 communities in ten states have joined Blue Zones Project, impacting more than 3.3 million Americans nationwide. The movement includes communities in California; 15 cities in Iowa; Albert Lea, Minnesota; the city of Fort Worth; and communities in Southwest Florida, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Oregon, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Blue Zones Project is an exclusive partnership between Blue Zones and Sharecare. For more information, visit bluezonesproject.com. ###