Seven Families: Encouragement, prevention and hope

The charity-led project aims to raise public awareness of the financial impact of long term illness or disability by providing financial and emotional support to the breadwinners of seven families who are currently unable to work through ill health or accident.

The campaign is funded by a number of companies and we are proud to support it because it is helping real people to improve their lives, which is a message that underpins everything we do at Vitality.

The families are based in different parts of the country, come from various backgrounds and are experiencing the impacts of a range of different illnesses and injuries. Their progress is being monitored each month via a range of short videos on the campaign’s Facebook page with the hope that some or all of the families will improve their quality of life and eventually be able to return to work.

The campaign aims to demonstrate that with the right support people can get back to work. That there is hope, even after a serious illness – and that is very positive message for all of us.

No matter what challenges and struggles we may face we all need something to aim for. When it comes to improving our health, most of us need a little encouragement too. Keeping ourselves fit and healthy can bring financial rewards – but the real benefits aren’t always the ones we’re most likely to think of.

The fifth family is Graeme Snell, who had a double stroke last year. Graeme is adamant that his health and fitness before the stroke was essential in aiding his recovery afterwards with medical staff describing him as a ‘walking miracle’ as he began making his recovery. Speaking last month Graeme said: “There is no doubt that my level of fitness helped the recovery, and I dread to think what condition I might be now in if I didn’t keep fit then.”

At Vitality we don’t only protect our members when things go wrong, Vitality helps them lead a healthier life. We give them advice about keeping well and offer discounts and rewards as encouragement. They could get money off their premiums for being healthy and even earn rewards and cashback too. And because our members can make the most of Vitality from day one, they always get something back from their cover – even if they never make a claim. We believe this is fundamental to driving further awareness and engagement in protection.

We can’t prevent the unknown but we can take steps to limit the impact health conditions may have on our lives. Any of us could end up in an accident with injuries that mean we are unable to work. And without a financial safety net to help out, making it through those first few months of recovery can be precarious.

The overall message of the campaign sits well with the concept that income protection insurance can make a massive difference to people’s lives. Just ask Britain’s long-term sick, more than 2m of which are struggling to get by on basic benefits.

Together we can help turn the initiative into something profound, that could make a real difference to people’s lives.

Justin Taurog is managing director at Vitality Life