POHJOLA BK'A' 
By Vappu Taipale Would Shift Focus in Mental Health Work towards Mental Health Promotion
Ignoring the prevention of mental health problems will necessitate using more drastic methods. In such a case, even a large number of psychiatrists are not sufficient. These words are uttered by Professor Vappu Taipale who will receive the Pohjola and Suomi Mutual Medical Award 2011 in recognition of her distinguished efforts and long-term contribution to the promotion of children's mental health in Finland. The Award is worth 20,000 euros and the grantee is selected by the Finnish Medical Foundation.
A report issued by WHO/Euro, Finland has the most psychiatrists and child and adolescent psychiatrists in Europe after Switzerland, states Taipale. But why is it so that they always seem to be in short supply? The point is about where their labour input is allocated. According to Taipale, Finland has gone backwards in terms of the philosophy in the 1970s healthcare policy that was built around prevention of problems. As late as the 90s when Finland was hit by the economic slump, child health clinics, schools and other educational institutes fought for the maintenance of preventive care.
Vappu Taipale (b.1940), MD and a specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry, boasts decades of expertise in the field of mental health and is a renowned expert in social welfare and health policy issues both at home and abroad, for instance in the UN and the EU. As early as 1971, she and Eero Valanne published a text book, Lastenpsykiatria (Child and Adolescent Psychiatry), which became a classic in medical studies. She has acted as a professor, minister and Director General of the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health STAKES from where she retired in 2008.
Ordinary, everyday life is decisive
In the last few years, Taipale has been active in issues related to ageing, at home and abroad. Very similar aspects of mental health hold true for both children and the elderly. An elderly person is a physical, mental and social creature and so is a child too, she points out.
She firmly believes in ordinary, everyday life, little positive things it involves and experience of ordinary things. Mental health is like a renewable natural resource. It regenerates and wears every single day. Everyday life is the number one issue in the promotion of mental health of all ages.
- We have a distorted picture of elderly people. This picture is dominated by costs, illnesses, accidents and pharmaceuticals. However, more than 80 per cent of the elderly are energetic, capable of walking on their own feet, points out Taipale.
Increasing poverty among children is worrying
Taipale wants more social justice. -During the last ten years, child poverty has increased at an alarming pace and is occasionally greater than that among the population on average. We are back to the social inequality that we had forty years ago.
She also states that parents should talk about their financial problems with their children or otherwise children only make guesses and cannot unburden their heart.
However, the majority of children survive bad conditions or otherwise the human race would already have become extinct. A child's resilience and stamina can be sustained if he has someone who cares for him and has a positive experience of coping with the challenges life throws at him. We have evidence of this among children in Serbia experiencing war. A shared story is important, or explaining what happened and why and how to survive. Then it is possible to move on.
As Chairman of the Union for Senior Services, Taipale has realised that "war also comes to our mind as elderly people". That is the story we share.
Jubilee lecture on nuclear weapons
This year is the 31st time the Pohjola and Suomi Mutual Medical Award is granted. The Award has been granted to a Finnish physician since 1981 in recognition of his outstanding international and national career. The Award is worth 20,000 euros and the grantee is selected by the Finnish Medical Foundation in cooperation with all major Finnish physicians organisation. The Award will be given to Professor Vappu Taipale by donor representatives Jouko Pölönen, President of Pohjola Insurance Ltd, and Markku Vesterinen, President and CEO of Suomi Mutual, at the Finnish Medical Convention on 11 January 2011.
At the event, Vappu Taipale will deliver a jubilee lecture entitled "What should every doctor and medical student know about nuclear weapons".
- Prevention is all that matters in this particular case too. If a nuclear weapon was launched somewhere in the world, a cloud much more devastating than the volcanic ash cloud would spread over the whole world. Medical doctors' contribution to prevent this "final epidemic" is important because people trust what we say, Taipale points out.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Vappu Taipale, tel. 040 050 3623 or vappu @vapputaipale.fi
Anne Lamminpää, Chief Physician, tel. 010 25 32418 or anne.lamminpaa @pohjola.fi
Professor Tero Kivelä, Finnish Medical Foundation, tel. 050 525 2723 or tero.kivela @helsinki.fi
Ignoring the prevention of mental health problems will necessitate using more drastic methods. In such a case, even a large number of psychiatrists are not sufficient. These words are uttered by Professor Vappu Taipale who will receive the Pohjola and Suomi Mutual Medical Award 2011 in recognition of her distinguished efforts and long-term contribution to the promotion of children's mental health in Finland. The Award is worth 20,000 euros and the grantee is selected by the Finnish Medical Foundation.
A report issued by WHO/Euro, Finland has the most psychiatrists and child and adolescent psychiatrists in Europe after Switzerland, states Taipale. But why is it so that they always seem to be in short supply? The point is about where their labour input is allocated. According to Taipale, Finland has gone backwards in terms of the philosophy in the 1970s healthcare policy that was built around prevention of problems. As late as the 90s when Finland was hit by the economic slump, child health clinics, schools and other educational institutes fought for the maintenance of preventive care.
Vappu Taipale (b.1940), MD and a specialist in child and adolescent psychiatry, boasts decades of expertise in the field of mental health and is a renowned expert in social welfare and health policy issues both at home and abroad, for instance in the UN and the EU. As early as 1971, she and Eero Valanne published a text book, Lastenpsykiatria (Child and Adolescent Psychiatry), which became a classic in medical studies. She has acted as a professor, minister and Director General of the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health STAKES from where she retired in 2008.
Ordinary, everyday life is decisive
In the last few years, Taipale has been active in issues related to ageing, at home and abroad. Very similar aspects of mental health hold true for both children and the elderly. An elderly person is a physical, mental and social creature and so is a child too, she points out.
She firmly believes in ordinary, everyday life, little positive things it involves and experience of ordinary things. Mental health is like a renewable natural resource. It regenerates and wears every single day. Everyday life is the number one issue in the promotion of mental health of all ages.
- We have a distorted picture of elderly people. This picture is dominated by costs, illnesses, accidents and pharmaceuticals. However, more than 80 per cent of the elderly are energetic, capable of walking on their own feet, points out Taipale.
Increasing poverty among children is worrying
Taipale wants more social justice. -During the last ten years, child poverty has increased at an alarming pace and is occasionally greater than that among the population on average. We are back to the social inequality that we had forty years ago.
She also states that parents should talk about their financial problems with their children or otherwise children only make guesses and cannot unburden their heart.
However, the majority of children survive bad conditions or otherwise the human race would already have become extinct. A child's resilience and stamina can be sustained if he has someone who cares for him and has a positive experience of coping with the challenges life throws at him. We have evidence of this among children in Serbia experiencing war. A shared story is important, or explaining what happened and why and how to survive. Then it is possible to move on.
As Chairman of the Union for Senior Services, Taipale has realised that "war also comes to our mind as elderly people". That is the story we share.
Jubilee lecture on nuclear weapons
This year is the 31st time the Pohjola and Suomi Mutual Medical Award is granted. The Award has been granted to a Finnish physician since 1981 in recognition of his outstanding international and national career. The Award is worth 20,000 euros and the grantee is selected by the Finnish Medical Foundation in cooperation with all major Finnish physicians organisation. The Award will be given to Professor Vappu Taipale by donor representatives Jouko Pölönen, President of Pohjola Insurance Ltd, and Markku Vesterinen, President and CEO of Suomi Mutual, at the Finnish Medical Convention on 11 January 2011.
At the event, Vappu Taipale will deliver a jubilee lecture entitled "What should every doctor and medical student know about nuclear weapons".
- Prevention is all that matters in this particular case too. If a nuclear weapon was launched somewhere in the world, a cloud much more devastating than the volcanic ash cloud would spread over the whole world. Medical doctors' contribution to prevent this "final epidemic" is important because people trust what we say, Taipale points out.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Vappu Taipale, tel. 040 050 3623 or vappu @vapputaipale.fi
Anne Lamminpää, Chief Physician, tel. 010 25 32418 or anne.lamminpaa @pohjola.fi
Professor Tero Kivelä, Finnish Medical Foundation, tel. 050 525 2723 or tero.kivela @helsinki.fi
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Source: Pohjola Pankki Oyj via Thomson Reuters ONE
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