Ensuring a healthy ‘you’ at home

The last two months must have taken a toll on our health, in one way or another.

With Metro Manila and provinces placed under quarantine, many of us were forced to stay inside our homes as the government sought to help curb the spread of the deadly COVID-19. This quarantine, however, has also drastically cut off all social activities and face-to-face interactions.

Suddenly, most people, save for the front-liners, find themselves with nothing much to do as all forms of mass gatherings and celebrations had to be called off, while malls, restaurants, bars, gyms and even coffee shops had to temporarily shut down operations. Interactions are done via phone calls, apps, e-mails, and online collaboration platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Most offices had to implement a work-from-home schemes and maintained a skeleton workforce only when necessary. We can now only move within the smaller confines of our homes.

Such a drastic change in lifestyle and this isolation we now endure could exact a heavy toll on our health. For some, the lack of their usual physical activities may have caused certain sluggishness and weakness. The absence of social interactions and diversions, as well as our growing stress, fear and anxiety over COVID-19, could also affect our emotional and mental health.

Medicard Philippines Inc. is well aware of the impact of COVID-19 on one’s well-being and has thus taken steps to help members and non-members alike in coping with this health crisis. It has kept some of its free-standing clinics open and offers other ways to consult with doctors, namely via telemedicine and the MyPocketDoctor app. Its website, medicardphils.com, also offers useful tips during this difficult time.

Medicard has conducted a series of webinars to help people cope with the pandemic.

But apart from rolling out these innovative measures to ensure its doctors and services are within convenient reach, the leading health maintenance organization also recently hosted a series of webinars that dealt with your concerns about COVID-19.

Dr. Ysabel Regina H. Ortiz led an insightful discussion on how to deal with stress and anxiety amid COVID-19, while Dr. Francine Rose A. DC. Bofill talked about how you can work effectively at home. Jonathan Yabut, founder and managing director of JY Consultancy and Ventures offered useful insights on how organizations can align themselves with the new normal while Coach Jim and Toni Saret held an adrenaline-filled online fitness session to get you back on track of your health goals.

Clearly, Medicard has already shown its staunch commitment to ensure that more Filipinos will have access to quality healthcare especially during this deadly pandemic. But it didn’t stop there.

Instead, Medicard looked for new means and platforms to reach out to more Filipinos and help them remain healthy physically, emotionally and mentally during such a a challenging time, right in the comfort of their homes. This only proves once more that Medicard is a company that genuinely cares, that it is truly one with the nation in fighting against this deadly virus.