After three years of trying to bring SilverSneakers to Andalusia, Andalusia Health and Fitness Owner Michael Jackson has finally partnered with the company that tries to get senior citizens up and moving.

“Over the years, we have tried to get them to partner with us,” Jackson said. “But year after year they would never want to come to this area. Finally, I called this year and they were interested.”

Jackson said the idea came to him because senior adults kept coming into the gym asking if they had any programs specifically for them.

“We started having a lot of elderly people coming in and asking about specific classes,” Jackson said. “And since we didn’t have any, I went straight to Google and did some research about what we could do.”

SilverSneakers offers several benefits including free unlimited access to every participating gym, fitness classes for all abilities and access to all amenities.

“We wanted to bring this to Andalusia because we want to help the older people get out of the house,” Jackson said. “Once we start getting enough people, we will start getting different classes going and SilverSneakers will teach a trainer to come in and train the elderly in the program.”

SilverSneakers partners with more than 60 Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplement insurance plans, but Jackson said that even if a customer does not have Medicare they can still join a class.

“We already have a discounted price for senior citizens,” Jackson said. “So they can come and join in if they want to pay $25.”

To see if customers are eligible, all they have to do is go to Andalusia Health and Fitness and tell their name and birthday. Jackson can then check to see if they are eligible for the program.

“We all have grandparents, and we want to help them,” Jackson said. “That is why we wanted to bring this program to the community.”

SilverSneakers is only available for adults 65 and older.

For more information, call Andalusia Health and Fitness at 334-582-2000.