Strengthen healthy family habits this Easter

It is well known that families who regularly spend quality time together establish strong emotional bonds. Family values such as trust, respect and support flourish in households where parents and children have healthy relationships. Your family is not only your support structure in difficult times, but is also there to celebrate your achievements with you.

The Easter holiday gives us a much-needed opportunity to reconnect with our loved ones.

Reinforcing healthy family habits

Use the Easter weekend to re-introduce fun and healthy activities in your children’s lives:

• Explore nature reserves or trail and biking parks in your area, load the kids and bicycles in the car and spend a morning together in the outdoors. Or take your furry friends to the nearby dog park and let them run free.
• Pick a day during the Easter weekend when you as a family will prepare a special meal together. Take the whole family to go grocery shopping for the ingredients and make it a bonding activity with your children as you create something healthy and delicious together as a family.
• Put away the smartphones and organise a family game night. Having a good laugh will release dopamine and endorphins, the feel-good hormones which are also natural mood-boosters.

Take action with your family’s healthcare

Proactive healthcare is an important part of keeping the family healthy and ensuring that your family’s healthcare needs are always well taken care of. Practising good health habits such as going for regular health tests also teaches your children the value of preventive care.

Medihelp medical aid has a range of medical aid plans to suit your pocket while providing comprehensive medical cover tailored to your family’s unique healthcare needs:

• Dependants pay significantly less on Medihelp’s Prime range, and you get free cover for your third and subsequent children younger than 18 years. You also pay child dependant rates until your kids are 26 years old.
• We cover hospitalisation in full, subject to protocols and pre-authorisation.
• All our plans include extensive added insured benefits consisting of preventive and other life stage-specific benefits, such as cover for routine screenings and immunisation, women’s and men’s health tests, and additional child benefits.
• Babies under two years receive two additional visits to a GP, paediatrician or ear, nose and throat specialist on all our plans.
• We cover standard child immunisations for children up to seven years.
• On our Unify savings plan, a special benefit for GP consultations for children between two and 12 years old is activated once your savings account is depleted.

Join HealthPrint and get access to added value

HealthPrint is Medihelp’s free online health and wellness programme and offers value-added services to help you take care of your family:

• Register for the baby programme to receive newsletters, milestone charts and reminders to vaccinate your little one.
• Planning on extending your family? Expectant mothers can join HealthPrint’s maternity programme and get special offers and discounts from our wellness partners.
• View and update your family’s personal health history and share your health profile with your GP, specialists and other healthcare specialists.

To read more about HealthPrint, click here.

Joining a medical aid

Before signing up for a medical aid plan, it is important to determine your family’s current and future healthcare needs while taking your budget into account. An independent medical aid adviser can recommend the most appropriate medical aid plans for your family’s specific needs.

Click here to speak to one of our accredited medical aid advisers.