CLEVELAND, Ohio —Oak Street Health officials say they’re not the average health care center.

• Oak Street Health Center of Cleveland hosted the inaugural Not Your Average Senior Fitness Expo Tuesday, featuring activities like Zumba, yoga, and smoothie demonstrations
• Oak Street Health officials say one of their missions is to spread the word about preventative care, with the goal of keeping seniors out of hospitals and emergency rooms
• One of Oak Street Health’s fitness ambassadors is a former Cavaliers player, who is inspiring seniors to stay active

They care specifically for senior citizens over 65, seeing each patient for primary and preventative checkups more than 7 times per year.

They also provide round-trip transportation, and spend at least 30 minutes with them each visit. 

So, it’s no surprise that their senior fitness expo was also far from average.

“We have Zumba, yoga, line dancing, but we also have things that some people may not think about when they think about physical health,” said Natavia Howell, Oak Street Health. “We have meditation. We have smoothie demos. We have a cooking demonstration with Chef Wells. And so, we're trying to cater to the entire person.”

Along with countless activities, more than 40 vendors were at the Not Your Average Senior Fitness Expo.

“The folks who we kind of pulled on board were more aligned with our mission at Oak Street Health, and they also offer a lot of different resources in the community that we don't offer,” said Howell.

One of Oak Street Health’s fitness ambassadors, former Cleveland Cavaliers player World B. Free, says fitness has always been a part of his life, but a health scare made him realize looking fit and being fit aren’t the same. 

“I had a heart attack about six years ago. And when I had a heart attack I said to myself, you know, I wanted to try to tell the world,” said World B. Free.

The 65-year-old now uses his personal experience to motivate seniors to get active and stay active.

“When they approached me, it was like a vehicle for me to get this out there that, you know, you have to go ahead and move around. You can't just think you know that everything is not, you gotta use your body,” said World B. Free.

Oak Street Health Medical Director Loalu Fayanju says his mission at the expo is to spread the word about preventative care —as Oak Street Health’s mission is to keep seniors out of hospitals and emergency rooms. 

“One of our main tenets, one of our most important ideas in family medicine is that an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure,” said Fayanju. “In other words, when we can address issues early on, while a patient is still doing very well, without seeing the worst aspects of the disease manifesting and impacting their lives in a negative way, that's when we can make the impact.”

Oak Street Health has three locations in Cleveland — in Glenville , Westown and the Lee-Harvard neighborhood.