Vero’s partnership with Lifeline Connect 

As the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle and the magnitude of the event’s social, psychological and financial cost continues to emerge, our Vero team is reaching out to customers in need of extra care to offer them a referral to our community partner, Lifeline Connect.

This is a specialist service that’s part Lifeline Aotearoa, offering additional connections to government and charitable support services, including access to emergency hardship assistance and follow up wellbeing check-ins.

Seeing through concealed vulnerability  

While it’s no surprise that communities will be feeling vulnerable right now, too often this vulnerability is concealed; and people will push through, unaware of the support that may be available to them.

At times like these, insurers can often be close to what is happening in a customer’s life and can be influential in difficult conversations about a person’s wellbeing and ability to cope.

Even when a customer may not expressly say they need additional support, it’s our responsibility as an insurer to listen to what is not being voiced and to identify where we need to wrap additional support around a customer.

Impacts of January floods and Cyclone Gabrielle

Identifying, and offering referrals to Lifeline Connect is a key part of our response to the recent weather events.

We’ve identified close to 200 customers in significant need of additional care and support due to the recent weather, and this number is expected to increase. As an example, we’ve reached out to elderly people who say they are fine but are trying to soldier on as well as customers who are recovering from recent surgery.

The vulnerability that we’re identifying through conversations with our customers may be the tip of the iceberg in terms of the need that is out there, and I’d encourage customers that need extra support to be open about the support they need and to take the assistance that is available.

Specialist training in action

Vero’s customer teams are trained to recognise vulnerability when assisting customers, and are confident and able to respond with empathy and care. When a customer is identified as being in a vulnerable state, our customer support staff will explain the benefits of accepting Lifeline Connect support.

The team’s ability to make these Lifeline Connect referral is also very empowering, as it allows them to take a more proactive role in providing additional support to those customers that are in a vulnerable state.

Are you experiencing vulnerability?

If you’re a Suncorp New Zealand customer experiencing vulnerability, please let us know and we will do our best to support you. Call us on 0800 800 134