What Happens during a Health Guidance Session?

Health Guidance for Immigrants

HEED Finland offers free-of-charge health guidance for all immigrants. One appointment is for approximately 45 minutes. During the appointment we can take different measurements, and discuss health concerns or problems, as well as how to overcome them in your daily life. The guidance is culturally sensitive, meaning that we don’t just look at your health data, but take into account your background and culture.

You can book an appointment here, or by being in touch.

Booking

The guidance appointment can be booked from the website or you can call us to book an appointment. You can choose to come to our office, or the discussion can be held online through GoogleMeet. The online booking form has questions on where you want to meet, and what you want to discuss, so that you can let us know in advance. Using the online booking form you can book an appointment up to around six weeks in advance.

If you call us for the booking, we can send you a text to confirm the time and place. If you use the online booking system, you will receive an email after booking. The email has a GoogleMeet link that you can click on to join the meeting on the day and at the time of the booking. If you book online, you’ll receive a reminder a week before and the day before your appointment.

If you need to cancel or reschedule the appointment, please always call or message us.

Arrival

If you choose to have the appointment at our office, remember to leave enough time to find your way to the office! We are at Itis, on the fourth floor of the E office building. From the main corridor, you turn into the corridor between Finnkino and Volt. Lifts are located behind Finnkino or next to Gigantti. Take the lift to the fourth floor, and turn left. Wait at the door, use the door phone, or give us a ring and we’ll come and let you in. You can come just at the time of your appointment, or a bit early if you prefer. We have chairs in the lobby for waiting.

Appointment

All our appointments are with Emma Tamankag, a nurse and senior nurse lecturer. She has close to 20 years of nursing experience.

The room we use for the appointments has the medical equipment, tables and chairs. Please sit down and make yourself comfortable! For online meetings, make sure you are in a space where you can talk about private health matters comfortably.

The main languages used during the session are English and Finnish. If you don’t speak these languages at all, you can have a trusted friend or relative with you to act as an interpreter. We also can use Google Translate or similar tools.

If you have mentioned a topic during the phone call or in the booking form, we can ask you questions about that, or you can tell us yourself what you want to talk about. If you are at our office, we can start by taking measurements, but if we meet online, we can go straight into what you want to talk to us about. We might ask you background questions, and if you are not sure how they are related to your health, please ask and we’ll explain.

During the appointment we want to work with you to think about all the little things in your daily life that affect your health. Food, family, community, culture all shape us, and when we think of healthy habits, we want to think about them in your life.

Measurements

If you come to our office we can take different measurements to better understand what it is that you might need at this moment. After a discussion with our nurse, you can choose to have all measurements taken, or only the ones relevant to you.

For blood pressure, it is important that you feel calm and relaxed, so we’ll take the measurement a few moments after you’ve settled in.

For haemoglobin, blood sugar and total cholesterol measurements we need to prick your finger for some blood, which can be used for all tests. If you want an accurate result for the blood sugar and total cholesterol tests, please don’t eat for 10-14 hours before you come. Book an early morning appointment, and have breakfast afterwards. We offer light, healthy snacks, so you don’t need to go hungry during the appointment.

For the body composition test, you will need to stand barefoot on our professional TANITA body composition machine, so please remember to dress so that you can remove your socks or other items of clothing. As with all the equipment, the TANITA is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected in-between appointments.

After the Appointment

Another in-person session is recommended after six months for a second round of measurements and to compare the results. The measurement results obtained are intended not as diagnoses but rather to prompt participants to seek additional testing and support from their healthcare provider. Additionally, individuals attending guidance sessions may be directed to other professionals for matters beyond the expertise of the health counselor.