Laura’s story: getting through lockdown with the Health Hub

Life certainly threw Laura a curveball when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. She had always kept busy with her job in Operations Support at CommBank’s Axle building, as well as caring for her mum, and watching her daughter’s dancing classes. Then, the world as she knew it was put on pause. Like many others, Laura found herself with more free time on her hands than she had ever had before…  

“The Health Hub virtual sessions have literally saved my life during this pandemic,” said Laura. Her favourites from the exercise menu are the strength-based Pilates fusion and F-ab Friday. But she likes all of them and will give anything a try. She also enjoys the daily meditations.

“It’s so wonderful that they’re free and available in my home.”

At work, the message to employees is, ‘Put yourself first, family second, and work third.’ So, Laura feels supported in making time to improve her health and wellbeing daily.

Aside from keeping her busy and active, there’s a bigger reason why exercise is so crucial in Laura’s life. Starting at CommBank 20 years ago, Laura has worked at many different locations and across several roles during her time. Eventually, she landed at the Parramatta office, which also had a Health Hub. A workmate had been seeing a dietitian from the Hub with great results, which inspired Laura to go and see what the Health Hubs were all about. Laura took part in the Hub’s skin checks program and noticed that the Hub’s were also promoting bone density testing. This resonated with Laura, as her mother had been diagnosed with osteoporosis and she knew there was a hereditary risk factor.

“I thought, maybe I should do it, but then I thought ‘surely, I’m too young’”, said Laura.

She did decide to book in for the testing when the mobile bone density scanning machine was due to be in the office. A scan of Laura’s radius bone indicated that she had reduced bone density and may indeed have osteoporosis. As portable scanning machines only test one bone site, the Health Hub team recommended that Laura visit her doctor for further investigation.

“I saw a doctor and was diagnosed with advanced osteoporosis. As I had no symptoms, I never would have known until I broke or fractured something,” said Laura. Unfortunately, this is often the way that many people discover they have osteoporosis. Laura’s own mum was one of them – only finding out after breaking her wrist from a relatively minor fall.

Laura immediately started medication to help treat her condition, as well as an exercise and nutrition program. Load-bearing exercises are often prescribed for osteoporosis, as they help to strengthen our bones. This is why the Health Hub virtual sessions are so important to Laura today, as it means she can do strengthening exercises in her own home.

Through her CBHS Hospital cover, Laura also enrolled – at no cost – in the 24-week ‘Digital Wellness: Total Wellbeing Lifestyle Plan’ to help manage her osteoporosis. Through the program, she gets 15 one-to-one Total Wellbeing Health Coaching sessions with an accredited practicing dietitian, to help achieve her health and nutrition goals.

She’s finding the program so much better than weight management programs she has done in the past, as she’s learning how much of each food group she needs to include in her daily intake.

“Other programs tend to give you an overall calorie or points goal for the day, which means you may be eating the wrong mix of foods for your nutritional needs.”

“The food in the Total Wellbeing Lifestyle Plan is really nice to eat, which is important because I love food. It’s also easy to track everything on my phone.”

Laura is thrilled to be able to take part in the program through her CBHS Hospital cover, and her Extras have come in handy over the years too.

“Every time I go to my optometrist, they tell me CBHS is the best cover. Two different ones have told me that, and a dentist too!”

All information contained in this article is intended for general information purposes only. The information provided should not be relied upon as medical advice and does not supersede or replace a consultation with a suitably qualified healthcare professional.