The COVID-19 Moment: Be Healthy, Be Active, Invest in Your Whole Health and Wellbeing

In this trying time, during the COVID-19 moment, it is most important to wish you peace, good health and a life lived fully in perseverance and hope, not fear. Fear is unhealthy. Hope is healthy and empowers positive actions – be healthy and actively invest in your improved health and wellbeing.

It is YOU, inclusive of your social distancing and the exercise of healthy behaviors focused on your whole health (i.e., the spirit, mind and body) in perseverance; that is the answer to winning this war. It will be won on the ground, engaging every citizen and co-worker. It will end with a burst of innovation, entrepreneurial and economic opportunity. In the current context and time, it will have near-immediate, lasting and positive effects on human behavior. It will yield an increased respect for the importance of individual health and wellbeing, the dignity of every person, and the realization of the importance of increased investment in the improvement of health and health care of the individual – all powerfully driven by the larger social fabric and economy of the Health Age.

Health is a requirement of any sustainable human community. The healthier the individual and the community at large, the more productive and prosperous the individual and community becomes. This is true for every employer as a community of employees. Moving beyond the care of illness to the proactive care and management of health and wellbeing is a central, cultural-defining requirement of the successful business in the Health Age. Today, employees can move anywhere. They will move and work for companies that first and foremost actively invest in their improved health and wellbeing. Those companies that understand the requirements of whole health and wellbeing in a fully integrated, end-to-end management approach, focused on results, are positioned to be highly sustainable cultures of success and wellbeing. In doing so, they will reduce health care expenditures and increase productivity and employee retention, yielding increased financial performance and valuation. COVID-19 magnifies this reality for every employer. The result of this reality is that we can expect an increasing sophistication and focus on employee health state and health management as critical criteria in business valuation. This reality will redefine the market. The employers that successfully build sustainable cultures of employee health and wellbeing will set themselves apart from the others. Those that do so will have highly productive companies that possess strong cultures of success. COVID-19 has made these opportunities and requirements real for the American people, for every one of us. This clarity in the market presents real and significant opportunities for us all to be healthier, and to invest in our future health together.

Always remember: your health is your most valuable asset. ® It was before COVID-19, it is now and will continue to be after this pandemic is over. Your health goes with you everywhere, all the time. Only you can exercise, diet and actively maintain a healthy lifestyle for you. This comprehension is powerful. Your health is your greatest defense and the source of your wellbeing. Your whole health is required for you to fully enjoy life and the fruits of your labor, to care for others, and yes, to fight through life’s inevitable challenges, like COVID-19. Your good health is the source of your labor, your work. And your work is critical to your good health – meaning work is healthy, so it is important to keep working. It is a requirement of your wellbeing. Without work, you become less healthy.

All of us want to return to work as soon as possible. The “return-to-work” discussion is centered on the importance of a healthy, fully functioning economy for the financial wellbeing of all Americans. It’s very important for the policy community to understand that we are all healthier when we are working. The truth is, the sooner we all get back to work, the sooner we will all be healthier and able to fully utilize our health as a weapon against the virus. With all this said, we implore you to listen and act on the instructions of the government and our community health experts to do all that we can to slow this virus down, so that we can return to work. When we do return to work, we will return to many changes in the workplace that will be focused on keeping us all healthier and more productive in the future. Like all changes, these changes will be challenging and yet they will result in new opportunities – opportunities for you to actively invest in your health and wellbeing.

As we began, we end with this: we wish you hope, good health and wellbeing. Your health is your most valuable asset. ® Invest in it through healthy relationships, your direct engagement in healthy behaviors, and your individual health and health care responsibility. If your company provides a robust, fully integrated, health and wellness program that truly invests in your whole health and wellbeing, like Asset Health, you’re flourishing. Take time to thank your leadership team. Stay healthy and stay hopeful, always. It’s good for your whole health.