The AARP/Blue Zones City Health Makeover will give Albert Lea the opportunity to inspire and teach people all over the nation, officials with AARP and Blue Zones said Thursday during a press conference in the Albert Lea Children’s Library.

Surrounded by Albert Lea’s leaders, AARP and Blue Zones officials congratulated the Albert Lea community for being chosen as the recipient of an intense 10-month pilot health makeover.

In what is a collaboration of AARP, the world’s largest membership organization for people age 50 and older, and Blue Zones, one of the world’s leading expert organizations studying longevity, the project aims to add 10,000 years of added life to the city, which equals out to two years of projected life for each participant.

The makeover will help people look better, feel better and live longer, Blue Zones founder Dan Buettner said. And many will probably lose weight.

Starting Thursday and going into October, there will be large community-wide events featuring national experts, who will work in close collaboration with Albert Lea’s community leaders. They will work to enhance the health and wellness of people of all ages who live in the city.

In addition to work on the community level, the makeover will encourage individuals to make changes to their personal living environments.

Buettner, a Minnesotan, said Albert Lea was chosen for the makeover after an exhaustive search and much competition with other cities.

The University of Minnesota helped design the right size of town to select, and Albert Lea fell within that criteria. The city also mirrors the health statistics of most of rural America, he said.

The main reason, however, that Albert Lea was selected was because of the “amazingly enlightened leadership,” Buettner said.

This makeover will be different than most diet and exercise plans in that it focuses on the environment, he said. Some of the nation’s top experts will also be brought to town to discuss many issues.

Buettner said 90 percent of people who start a diet fail it in six months, and eight out of the remaining 10 fail it within the next two years.

The average life expectancy in America is only about 78, he said, but the capacity is 90. Where’s the other 12 years, he questioned.

The makeover will focus on four domains, including how the physical environment of the community is laid out, how people organize their social circles, how people organize their homes and kitchens and how people organize their inner self.

The domains that focus on individuals will begin in phase two of the project, which will start in late March or early April.

Buettner said the makeover will “teach the rest of America a great lesson.”

Newly seated Albert Lea Mayor Mike Murtaugh said he never would have imagined that only two weeks into office something this exciting would be happening in the city.

He encouraged the community to get involved, as this is a project that is on a much “grander scale,” than even the recent ABC “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” project.

“This is a chance for everyone to benefit,” Murtaugh said.

Michele Kimball, state director of AARP in Minnesota, said she thinks Albert Lea was the right choice for the makeover.

AARP is involved with it because one of it’s top priorities is health and economic security for all.

“I’m really thrilled and excited about this project and that it’s taking place here in Minnesota,” Kimball said.

Dan Burden, the founder of Walkable Communities, an international expert on walkability and townmaking, was going to lead AARP and Blue Zones officials, along with community leaders on a walking audit of the city to see what ways the city can become more bikeable, walkable and livable.

Burden joked that with the below zero temperatures outside on Thursday, it was going to be the “coldest walking audit on earth.”

Buettner said Burden has been to more than 2,500 communities in the country to help make them more walkable. He is an internationally recognized photographer with National Geographic magazine and is an authority on smart growth, sustainability, livable communities and active living.

He said making communities healthier is not just about physical health but about emotional health too.

This makeover is going to be an inspiration not only to Minnesotans and Midwesterners but the entire nation, Burden said.

The makeover is funded by United Health Foundation.