How did Bets Gericke get started on Personal Health Pathways?

Bets Gericke is 80 and a member of Discovery Health Medical Scheme. In 2025, her daughter, Aminda Bronkhorst, encouraged her to download the Discovery Health app and activate her Personal Health Pathway, with one goal: to help her mom stay independent and healthy for as long as possible.

"Mom's always been strong and well overall, but she's never really followed a consistent exercise routine or proactively gone for health checks," Aminda explains. "I wanted to change that, and knew from my own experience of the platform that Personal Health Pathways could completely shift things for us and really drive my mom to the right healthy habits for her unique health needs."

What was Bets's first next best action in Personal Health Pathways?

It was in April 2025 that Aminda introduced her mom to Personal Health Pathways. Using the Discovery Health app, they activated Bets's pathway, and she could see her personalised set of next best actions.

"The first recommendation was to have a hearing test," Aminda says. "She booked the appointment herself, doing so easily on the app."

More importantly, Bets completed her first action, closed her first health ring, and discovered she had earned funds into her Personal Health Fund.

What was the result of Bets' hearing test?

"We were really concerned about Mom's hearing, and after her hearing test in 2025 we found out that it was just wax, which gave us huge peace of mind," says Aminda.

"After a second hearing test in 2026, Mom was prescribed a hearing aid. Now that she has the hearing aid, she can participate in conversations, and it has improved her overall quality of life."

What did earning her first R500 into her Personal Health Fund mean to Bets?

"I love that, over and above the Discovery Miles I earned - because I have a Discovery Bank account too - I got R500 into my Personal Health Fund for closing my health ring. I can use this money for medical expenses. That's really fantastic. From that moment, I was hooked."

Aminda adds, "Mom started checking the app daily. It was the combination of small wins, rewards and a sense of progress that made it exciting for her, and she loved seeing the personalised recommendations that the app provided around her health or weekly exercise goals."

How did Bets tackle her weekly exercise goal?

When Bets saw that her weekly exercise goal on Personal Health Pathways was to reach 2,500 steps, she asked how she could track her steps.

"So, my sister Eralda - who lives in the UK - and I, got mom a Garmin watch as a pre-birthday gift before her 79th birthday in June 2025, and gave it to her on Mother's Day," Aminda says. "We linked it to the Discovery Health app and also signed her up for Vitality so that she could earn both Personal Health Pathways and Vitality rewards, as Vitality members earn both."

Bets hit her 2,500-step goal on the first day of using her new watch.

How does Bets use her rewards?

"In June 2026, my sister and I took Mom to Lake Garda in Italy for her 80th birthday," says Aminda.

"Mom used the Discovery Miles she'd earned from achieving all her exercise goals to pay for part of her flight tickets. She was thrilled that she could use these rewards towards fulfilling her lifelong dream of visiting Italy."

"When we got back from Italy, Mom had picked up the flu and was quite sick. The plan that Mom is on doesn't have a Medical Savings Account, so the funds she had earned into her Personal Health Fund covered her doctor's appointment and medicines, which meant that she didn't have to pay for anything out of pocket. She was so happy."

What difference has Personal Health Pathways made to Bets's daily life?

Bets lives independently, drives (but not at night), and leads a healthy lifestyle. She takes no chronic medicine and has no major health risk factors.

Aminda and her family made sure her mom had all the tools to succeed: daily-use apps on her phone's primary screen, facial recognition for easy login, and plenty of positive encouragement.

"The exercise means I'm sleeping better, I have more appetite, and I feel more energised," Bets says. "And I love seeing my new weekly exercise goals on the Personal Health Pathways section of my Discovery Health app each Saturday when my exercise goal resets."

"She's a quick learner and uses WhatsApp and online banking with ease," Aminda says. "But it's Personal Health Pathways that's given her a renewed sense of self-worth."

Bets adds, "I want to inspire others in their 70s and 80s. It's easier than you think to use the apps and digital health platforms, and feel in control of your health."

What is Personal Health Pathways? What is the Personal Health Fund?

Personal Health Pathways is a free tool available to adult DHMS members via the Discovery Health app. It provides personalised, real-time health recommendations based on each member's unique profile. As a member's health journey evolves, so does their pathway, continuously updating based on their specific health status, risk profile and engagement patterns and dynamically adjusting as new health data become available.

Personal Health Pathways combines artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and behavioural science. The platform uses more than 50 million life-years of health claims and clinical data, along with nearly 30 million life-years of exercise and lifestyle data gathered through Vitality in South Africa, to recommend actions that have the greatest potential to improve health outcomes.

Each member's Personal Health Pathways cycle provides up to two clinical actions (which must be completed by a set date, and can be deferred to a later deadline) and one weekly exercise goal (which, for Vitality members, is the same as their weekly Vitality Active Rewards Goal). Members can also choose to take on challenges. Challenges are exciting, goal-driven health journeys (from Better Health Challenges to Move More and Sleep Well challenges which run over a few weeks), each made up of simple, actionable steps, designed to help you build healthy habits and achieve meaningful results.

Members who complete their health actions and achieve their weekly exercise goals earn rewards (through Discovery Health) for engaging, including shopping vouchers, Discovery Miles and instant rewards. Those Scheme members who are also Vitality members earn personalised rewards through Personal Health Pathways in addition to their Vitality rewards.

Members also earn up to R500 into their Personal Health Fund (through Discovery Health Medical Scheme) for each completed action. The funds accumulated in the Personal Health Fund can be used for day-to-day medical expenses, including GP and specialist consultations, medicine, radiology and pathology. In 2026, you can earn up to R12,000 per policy in the Personal Health Fund, depending on your chosen plan. You can also earn up to R500 for each recommended Personal Health Pathway action you complete, up to a maximum of R3,000 per adult and R1,500 per child.