Kela

The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) supports Finnish people in every different life situation. The most common situations are child´s birth, unemplyment, illness, start of studies or retirement. The main purpose of Kela is to secure populations subsistence, to promote health and to support individual independence. Digitalization has enabled to use more social services online. It is very easy to take care of ones personal matters through Omakela services. For example you can apply for European Health Insurance Card for free.

My own experiences with Kela’s services are related to studying and having children. While studying my first degree I have received a study grant through Kela as well as meal allowance during all of my studies. In addition, as a mother of three, I have received from Kela maternity packages, maternity allowance and parental allowance during my absence from work. Thanks to the support for home care provided by Kela, I was able to work shorter hours when the children were small, which allowed our children to stay in home care for longer. Currently, I only get child benefit from Kela. I have not yet owned a European Health Insurance Card, so in connection with my current assignment I ordered it for possible future journeys. I will receive the card in the mail in about 2 weeks.

Omakanta

The Omakanta self-help is an online service where you can view your own health information, prescriptions, records related to your own care and laboratory and X-ray examinations, and you can also find your own corona certificate. Omakanta is a service maintained by Kela.

I have used Omakanta for years to take care my own and my children’s affairs. I have found the use of the service good and smooth. Renewing recipes is easy and viewing laboratory results is effortless. The usefulness of Omakanta is increased by the fact that I can, as a guardian look at the health information of my minor children.

Keva

Keva is Finland’s largest pension provider. Keva’s second task is to reduce the risk of disability by providing employers with a wide range of work life services and support for work ability management.

On Keva’s website I can see tbat my planned retirement age as a municipal employee is 67 years and 5 months. If I would work until I was 70, my monthly pension would increase by 400 euros. It sounds wild that I would not retire until I was 70, hoping for a higher monthly income. I don’t think I would be able to work until I turn 70 in my current job in the social and health sector. This is due to the shortage of nurses, scarce resources and the workload.

Online stores

Ordering from online stores today is easy and effortless. I actually order most of my clothes from various online stores. I try to favor domestic companies, brands and online stores. Supporting small businesses is nice. From the contents of their packages, you can see that you are important to them. Packages are usually packaged in a cute and unique way, and a handwritten thank-you note is often included when ordering. Anyway, shopping with returns and exchanges is faster and easier with smaller companies compared to large ones. In my case, shopping at large foreign online stores has not always gone as planned. At best, the package I have ordered has contained wrong product, in the wrong color and in the wrong size. Returning that product has also been very laborious. After several emails and an increased level of stress, I was able to return the product. It took a total of 5 months for the online store to complete the return of the wrong product. Unreasonably long time when it came to just training leggings. It was quite a powerless feeling to deal with big company when things weren’t going smoothly.

Personally, I have always booked hotel nights directly from the hotel. So I have no personal experience with Booking.com or Trivago. As I understand it, prices have often been at the same level as when booking directly from the hotel. A friend of mine has twice lost his credit card information when booking accommodation through Booking.com, but fortunately it was a credit card and he did not suffer any financial loss from these situations.

9Solutions hero

I chose the 9Solutions Hero service, which increases the occupational safety of a home hospital nurse. 9Solutions Hero personal safety button and application is designed for the safety and alarm system of those working alone. The job description of a home hospital nurse includes working alone most of the time. Our unit provides hospital care to patients’ homes. The patient material is variable and the range is wide. In addition to certain safety routines, 9Solutions Heron personal safety buttons were introduced at the home hospital a couple of years ago. The security button works in conjunction with the mobile application. The button can provide location information via phone’s GPS signal. In the event of an emergency, the nurse will be able to alert additional assistance by pressing the safety button. The button alarm goes directly to the situation center. The situation center then calls to the nurse and the cause of the alarm is checked. If the call is not answered, the alarm with its location information are routed directly to the police.

I think the app is good, I feel it increases the feeling of security, especially during night shifts. Based on the tests, the locations have been correct and the alarms have reached the situation center. For the security button to work properly, the 9Solutions application on your phone must be turned on. The safety button does not work if the phone connected to it is not nearby for example the phone is left in a car.

Digitalization and digital gap

Well, what are the risks and challenges for those people, who do not use virtual services?

Over the last ten years, digital services have become part of people’s everyday lives. Today, almost all services are available online, even shopping for groceries. People are being encouraged to use digital services more and more. Face to face customer service is limited as online services have replaced it. In sparsely populated areas, this makes everyday life easier. No need to drive long way for shopping. Most people have probably adapted to change well.

But what if you don’t own a computer or smartphone? Not everyone has the knowledge, skills or tools to use digital services, which can put people in an unequal position. For example the negative background factors may be age, health problems, financial situation or some other reason that prevents the use of digital services. Older people use social and health services more than the rest of the population, while at the same time the services are being actively digitized with online appointments and remote access. Increased digital services, especially for the elderly, can be problematic. In the social and health care organization the digital divide must be taken into account so that no one is left without treatment due to digitalization.

Digital competence test

I scored 77% on the digital proficiency test, i.e. I am at level 6. Level 6 means advanced users who are able to complete tasks and find the most appropriate solution to most problems. They are also able to adapt solutions to others in a complex context. My top 3 areas of expertise based on the test are self-service, identity management and critical appraisal. The result of the test is not surprising, as I use digital services widely. Also, I’m very cautious what I’ll post on social media.

Self-evaluation

The assignment was interesting and comfortable to execute. The digital services mentioned in the task were already familiar to me, but now I have a more deeper and versatile understanding of the services than before the assignment. The digital proficiency test was also exciting to take, as it really showed that I am a digital person. Through the assignment, I reflect on how much time I spend on various digital services in my daily life, both at work and at home. The time spent is really many hours a day, especially on weekdays

My comments to these blogs:

Tiina Meriranta

Hi Tiina, I have the same thoughts about the digital divide as you. Indeed, the risk may be that a person who does not know or does not have access to digital services may fall out of the information society altogether. In addition, the digital divide must be taken into account in the organization of social and health services.

Kati Tynkkynen

Hi Kati, it was interesting to read about Sanoma pro application and how you use it in your own work. I personally work in the social and health sector, so my job is very different from your job. I was also inspired by your writing to start using BookBeat, as I don’t have time to read books either.

& Laura Kouvalainen

Hi Laura, Based on your description of the heart rate app sounds interesting and versatile. I think i would like to try it. I also had the same thoughts about using eBay, far too many options for me. It would take a lot of time for me to make a purchase decision.