Keeping the Family Team Spirit Alive in the New Normal

One silver lining of the pandemic is the new found closeness of many families who now enjoy a lot of time being together. The team spirit is strong during the lockdown as the crisis saw family members looking after one another’s safety and spending more time under one roof. As the country adapts to the new normal, AXA Philippines, the official insurance partner of the NBA in the Philippines, shares a game plan to maintain the closeness of your family—your no. 1 team—with or without a lockdown situation.

Schedule meals together at least once a week. Dining together allows the family to share their stories, thoughts, and even problems, with each other. Now that the lockdown has been eased and some are back to work at the office, continue to find time to bond and schedule meals as a family at least once or twice a week. Regularly eating meals together fosters a closer, more positive dynamic at home.

Protect each other through life’s ups and downs. Protecting one another is one of the greatest acts of love you can show your family. Helping them become financially secure is also one of the best ways to protect them. A good way to start is to have an insurance-investment plan that helps your family to continue living well in case of an untimely event. AXA Philippines’ Asset Master is a good example of an insurance product that allows you to diversify your investment, plan your estate, and protect your business.

Practice healthy habits together. Following a healthier lifestyle is easier and more fun when done with the company of people. As a bonding activity, schedule at least 30 to 60 minutes of workout sessions at least once a week with your family. Try running or playing sports together and then continue your health and wellness session by preparing nutritious meals together.

Be ‘together/apart’ with family living elsewhere. It’s unfortunate that we cannot visit our relatives’ homes as freely as we used to, but we still can bond with them just the same. Continue to spend fun times together by allotting your weekends for game or face-time night. Board game classics such as Scrabble, Twister, and chess are among several activities that have online counterparts that you can play with other people remotely.

Through life’s ups and downs, family will always remain constant, the team you can always count on. Protect and treasure each other by following these tips suggested by AXA. To know more about Asset Master, talk to a financial advisor or visit www.axa.com.ph.

AXA empowers people to live better lives by encouraging them to have a game plan, whether it’s in sports or in the hard court that is life.

Maxicare Gives Free COVID-19 Testing for Thousands of Members

To provide continuity of care and to ensure their members’ safety and well-being, Maxicare successfully recently hosted a 4-day free SARS COV2 Antibody Testing activities for 4,061 Maxicare members.
With a simple and convenient process, members simply had to register and fill out a risk assessment form online. This was a quick and easy screening process that determined their risk category. Instructions were then given based on their respective categories.

The initiative was met with much appreciation and gratitude from members and their families, both during the event and after. “Maxicare was very efficient. You will get a 1-hour window to show up and take the test in a large, events-purposed building in Bridgetowne, Quezon City. There were testing stations with proper queuing, social-distancing etc. The whole process took only about 30 mins,” Attorney Butch Dado narrated of his experience.

Benjunar Barcoma, a sales engineer from Rohde & Shwarz (Philippines) Inc., was grateful for the peace of mind it afforded him. Another member, Dr. Kenneth Y. Hartigan-Go, an Associate Professor and Head of the Stephen Zuellig School of Development Management at the Asian Institute of Management, commended Maxicare’s integration of science and heart in this time of uncertainty. “It was a well-organized COVID-19 testing one Sunday morning, offering myself peace of mind.”

Aside from the free tests, Maxicare continues to cover members infected with COVID-19. A total of 631 cases were confirmed, and 592 already recovered as of July 11, 2020. Amidst the lockdown, Maxicare clinics remained open, while strictly adhering to appropriate health protocols. Maxicare members who are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and other health concerns are encouraged to call in through the 24/7 TeleConsult service to verify with licensed physicians whether or not they need to head to the hospital to avoid unnecessary exposure.

During these uncertain times, a sense of shared responsibility has seen the country coming together, while staying apart. The free test is “consistent with Maxicare’s mission of helping people achieve peace of mind through quality healthcare so they may live their best lives,” added Christian Argos, Maxicare President & CEO.

OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF TRADE SECRETARY RAMON LOPEZ ON THE PRONOUNCEMENT OF PRESIDENT DUTERTE TO TEMPORARILY RETURN TO MECQ

In the difficulty of balancing health and the economy, the latest pronouncement of President Rodrigo Duterte is a temporary step back to heed the call of medical practitioners. As mentioned the other day, we are finding ways to address their concerns. We believe in the wisdom of our President to temporarily institute stricter measures under the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) to prevent the growing number of cases, especially in the last five days. In his address, the President also outlined other measures, such as hiring more healthcare workers and providing hazard allowance and insurance, to support the needs of our valued health workers.

Under the MECQ, there are still a number of business sectors allowed although most at limited scale, while some of the recently allowed sectors under GCQ such as dine-in restaurants, barbershops, salons, and the recent additions such as gyms, review and testing centers, other personal grooming shops, internet cafes, shall not be allowed temporarily in the next 15 days.

We hope that this break will allow these businesses to sufficiently prepare for better processes and facilities for compliance to the health standards when they soon reopen.

We wish that this move back to MECQ will break the increasing trend of positive COVID cases and will eventually allow us to bring back the much needed livelihood and jobs to many of our countrymen.