Bell Helicopter Among Largest Area Employers to Join Blue Zones Project Movement to Better Well-Being

Bell Helicopter Among Largest Area Employers to Join Blue Zones Project Movement to Better Well-Being

Walking maps, meditation rooms, and healthier on-site dining options among changes for more than 4,100 employees in North Texas.

FORT WORTH, Texas (November 6th, 2017) – Well-being is certainly taking off at Bell Helicopter—the latest approved worksite to join the Blue Zones Project® movement for longer, better lives. Blue Zones Project is a community-led well-being improvement initiative working to make Fort Worth one of the nation’s healthiest cities.

As one of Fort Worth’s largest employers, Bell Helicopter impacts the well-being of more than 4,100 workers every day. The aircraft manufacturer of commercial and military aircraft joined the Blue Zones Project movement back in 2015, building upon its existing LIVE WellatBell program and taking significant measures to support overall well-being while making healthy choices easier for employees. 

Image : a Blue Zones Fleet Vehicle

It wasn’t long before Bell Helicopter began working toward Blue Zones Project approval in the fall of 2016, hoping to help its current and future employees improve their total well-being in the years to come.

“We want to empower our employees to live their best lives, not just here at work, but also at home and in their communities,” said Allison Mullis, executive vice president of Human Resources. “Blue Zones Project provided the resources and the framework for us to take our commitment to well-being to a new level.”

To date, more than 25 percent of employees at the company’s North Texas facilities have taken the Blue Zones® Personal Pledge to improve their own well-being, but Bell Helicopter didn’t stop there. Blue Zones Project also worked with Bell to implement a variety of evidence-based best practices based on lifestyles of the world’s longest living people. 

Image : Attendees at a Blue Zones Event

In addition to scheduling daily stretch breaks, Bell offers employees walking maps with paths to track their steps around its campus, individual quiet rooms for meditation or lactation, and designated Blue Zones Project parking spaces to encourage employees to walk a little farther. Meanwhile, the café at the Lawrence D. Bell Employee Center reworked its menu to increase the availability of healthy options and the company’s chef held the first plant-based cooking class for employees last year. Their efforts earned the café its own designation as a Blue Zones Project Approved™ restaurant and today, signage showcases Blue Zones inspired food and drink selections.

“Having Bell Helicopter as one of our early supporters has played a big role in the success of Blue Zones Project in Fort Worth,” said Matt Dufrene, vice president of Blue Zones Project, Fort Worth. “By becoming a Blue Zones Project Approved worksite and café, Bell is demonstrating how companies can support overall community well-being by providing employees the tools they need to live longer, better lives.”

Since efforts kicked off in Fort Worth nearly two years ago, more than 60,000 individuals have become involved in a Blue Zones Project engagement activity. Additionally, more than 200 organizations—including worksites like Bell Helicopter, restaurants, schools, grocery stores, and faith-based organizations—have become Blue Zones Project Approved™ or Participating Organizations. 

Image: Bell Helicopter Headquarters

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, 42 communities in nine states have joined Blue Zones Project, impacting more than 3.3 million Americans nationwide. The movement includes three beach cities in California; 15 cities in Iowa; Albert Lea, Minnesota; the city of Fort Worth; and communities in Southwest Florida, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Wisconsin. For more information, visit bluezonesproject.com.

About Bell Helicopter

Bell Helicopter, a wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Inc., is an industry-leading producer of commercial and military, manned and unmanned vertical-lift aircraft and the pioneer of the revolutionary tiltrotor aircraft. Globally recognized for world-class customer service, innovation and superior quality, Bell's global workforce serves customers flying Bell aircraft in more than 120 countries.

About Bell

Thinking above and beyond is what we do. For more than 85 years, we’ve been reimagining the experience of flight – and where it can take us.

We are pioneers. We were the first to break the sound barrier and to certify a commercial helicopter. We were a part of NASA’s first lunar mission and brought advanced tiltrotor systems to market. Today, we’re defining the future of advanced air mobility.

Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas – as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Textron Inc., – we have strategic locations around the globe. And with nearly one quarter of our workforce having served, helping our military achieve their missions is a passion of ours.

Above all, our breakthrough innovations deliver exceptional experiences to our customers. Efficiently. Reliably. And always, with safety at the forefront.

About Textron

Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell, Cessna, Beechcraft, Pipistrel, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Arctic Cat, and Textron Systems. For more information, visit: www.textron.com.

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements which may project revenues or describe strategies, goals, outlook or other non-historical matters; these statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, changes in aircraft delivery schedules or cancellations or deferrals of orders; our ability to keep pace with our competitors in the introduction of new products and upgrades with features and technologies desired by our customers; changes in government regulations or policies on the export and import of our products; volatility in the global economy or changes in worldwide political conditions that adversely impact demand for our products; volatility in interest rates or foreign exchange rates; and risks related to our international business, including establishing and maintaining facilities in locations around the world and relying on joint venture partners, subcontractors, suppliers, representatives, consultants and other business partners in connection with international business, including in emerging market countries.