Congratulations to the residents of Albert Lea behind the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project. Our fair city was shown in many attractive ways in a “Nightline” segment about the 10 1/2-month health-minded effort.

Moreover, the segment on ABC’s “Nightline” was head and shoulders above other TV reports about the project. It explained it well, showed Albert Lea scenery in many locations, gave anecdotes about real people who live right here in Albert Lea (we would like the segment even if the Tribune’s publisher was not interviewed) and used fun cartoons to illustrate some of the prominent Blue Zones suggestions, such as socializing and having a good reason to get up in the morning.

It did a fine job of showing other cities that they, too, can make life better for their residents by encouraging simple changes.

And that’s the whole point of the Vitality Project. It’s about the rest of America, not merely Albert Lea.

Like we have said before, we hope “Nightline” and other media outlets return in coming years to see how the health effort in Albert Lea is coming along. Will the walking school buses still be around? Will the walking moais will be together? Will the schools be serving healthy food or will they be struggling from lost school-lunch revenue?

Naturally, we hope the Blue Zones changes stick around. But it’s one thing to get a community fired up for a summer. It’s an even greater accomplishment to get it on the right track to longevity for years on end.