Two weaknesses in our society

I have learned throughout the course that homelessness really is a problem in Finland. Dr. Arja Kosi mentined that 3500 people are in the category «homeless people», just in Helsinki. Even though things are, in the words of one of the workers in a housing unit, «getting worse», things are being done to make homeless people eventually get a place of their own. Dr. Koski said something i really liked, and that was that we need to rethink our thoughts of that you have to earn a place to live. It should be a human right to have a home.

Things to help the homeless are being done by both the municipal and voluntaries. Head of communication for The center for paperless immigrants said that paperless immigrants, specially roma people and people from Bulgaria, do have some rights to access the Finnish healthcare, but not enought. The paperless immigrants have rights to «acute healthcare», but problems appear when the immigrants come to health care centers and get rejected because their condition is not acute. The health workers that are turning them away most likely know that the condition needs treatment, and will in time become acute, but the law is the law so they’re sending them away. 

These two points made an impact on me and shows two weaknesses in our society. We need to continue work, both preventive and treatment to minimize the number of homeless people. And we need to make proper healtcare for everyone a normality worldwide.

Who am I? 

 

My name is Henrik and I’m an 23 years old nursing student from Oslo. I currently work in an psychiatric ward in Oslo, as part of my nursingpraction. I signed up for the course hoping it would bring me new expericenses around the theme mental health, which i’m really interested in.