HELSINKI – At Kustaankartano Senior Centre, the biggest and oldest eldercare centre within the Finnish capital, a decommissioned tram takes centre stage within the courtyard. Residents who’re grappling with reasonable to extreme dementia have been taken on “rides” to wherever they need.
On June 12, when the centre held a celebration to mark its seventieth anniversary, there was even a “tram conductor” to make contact with the passengers and difficulty them specifically printed tram tickets, identical to within the good previous days.
Greater than 300 long-term residents stay on the centre, which is for pensioners and unemployed individuals. Many are aged 85 and above, and virtually all have dementia, stated the centre’s supervisor, Ms Sanna Numminen. They’re there as a result of they will now not take care of themselves at residence.
The centre is in a quiet, park-like setting that belies its different position as a check mattress for brand spanking new digital merchandise and tech options. These embody sensible flooring within the residents’ rooms that may detect falls and using Philips sensible lighting that begins to dim within the night to assist the residents sleep higher.
It isn’t shocking, as Helsinki is an innovation hub for well being know-how or well being tech, which it’s harnessing to allow a lot of its aged inhabitants to stay longer at residence. Finland has constructed a robust public-private ecosystem that connects researchers, clinicians, entrepreneurs and corporates, benefiting not solely its personal folks but in addition these elsewhere. Finnish well being tech firms function globally, and so they export most of their merchandise.
In June, its Ministry for Overseas Affairs, in addition to authorities entities Well being Capital Helsinki, Helsinki Companions, and Enterprise Finland invited a bunch of reporters to Helsinki to see what it has to supply to worldwide analysis organisations and corporations.
Like Singapore, Finland has a small (5.5 million versus Singapore’s 5.64 million) and quickly ageing inhabitants. Each are learning using robotics and synthetic intelligence (AI) to unravel the healthcare challenges forward.
In 2017, Finland initiated one of many world’s first nationwide AI methods and motion plans to spice up AI utility. In 2022, it was ranked No. 1 on the Digital Economic system and Society Index, which the European Fee makes use of to trace the digital progress of its member states, Dr Paivi Sillanaukee, the Particular Envoy for Well being and Properly-being at Finland’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Well being, informed reporters on the press journey.
Digitalisation permits extra care at residence, thus serving to to protect well being, she stated.
As an illustration, Finland has had e-prescriptions or prescriptions in digital format for practically a decade now, and sufferers can go to any pharmacy to gather their medicines, she stated. Other than the prescriptions, residents can view their well being information on the nation’s Kanta providers, Dr Sillanaukee stated.
The well being information will also be used for numerous functions like analysis, which was sanctioned by an Act Finland handed on the secondary use of well being and social information. To assist analysis that utilises human blood and tissue samples, Finland additionally has biobank laws since 2012, she stated.