Giving international students a helping hand during the COVID-19 pandemic

Imagine you’re one of thousands of international students who arrived in Australia this year for their tertiary study. Not only have you moved to a new country and had to settle into a new way of life, but you’ve got the added challenge of the coronavirus pandemic.

While it’s affected us all in different ways, Medibank’s focus has been on providing a range of support services to help all our customers through this unprecedented time.

As a member of our overseas health cover team, we have worked with universities across Australia to quickly understand the unique challenges that international students face, which they tell us is their health and financial security. That’s why we ensure our students have access to GPs and a 24/7 Student Line which provides access to nurses and mental health support.

What’s been most rewarding is attending online video sessions which creates a sense of connectedness for these students in an environment where we are being asked to socially distance. I was able to talk to students about our Live Better at Home program, which provides free workout videos to help us all stay fit and healthy at home.

It’s also important that students have the skills and knowledge to prepare and eat healthy meals and snacks. As a result, we worked with a university to ensure our most vulnerable students were able to purchase the groceries they needed through e-vouchers. Through that, they also received healthy eating tips and nutritional advice.

Our work is not done yet, we will continue to talk to our customers to understand how we can continue to support them. We are all in this together and we want them to know that we’re here for them while they are living in Australia.