Finnhems

The story of FinnHEMS begins with Mediheli, which was founded with donated funds, and has evolved into today’s nationwide, state-owned medical helicopter service. The support association for the Finnish helicopter emergency medical services pioneer Medi-Heli, Lääkärihelikopterin tuki ry, is established with donation funds. Medical helicopter operations begin in Finland, and the service expands to six locations through regional support associations. The costs of the flight operations are covered by grants from Finland’s Slot Machine Association (RAY) and fundraising from citizens and businesses. RAY grants become conditional in 2006, and the regional hospital districts take responsibility for the operations. A partnership model is agreed upon with them. FinnHEMS takes responsibility for Finland’s helicopter emergency medical services, which include the supervision and management of flight operations, bases, ICT services, and administration. The actual emergency medical services are provided by wellbeing services counties and the HUS Group. A working group appointed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health gathers information to support decisions regarding the location of two new bases and to establish guidelines for the provision of helicopter emergency medical services. The Sipilä government’s Ministerial Committee on Economic Policy decides that FinnHEMS should manage its own flight operations in the future and acquire its own helicopters and flight crews. The transition from outsourced services to independently managed flight operations takes place gradually from 2020 to 2022. FinnHEMS becomes a state-owned company entrusted with a special assignment, and the transition to independently managed flight operations begins to take shape. FinnHEMS acquires Oy Skärgårdshavets Helikoptertjänst AB as its subsidiary, which operates three southern bases in Vantaa, Turku, and Tampere. FinnHEMS takes over the flight operations of three northern bases, namely Kuopio, Oulu, and Rovaniemi, and with that, the nationwide medical helicopter services are transferred to FinnHEMS. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health establishes a national strategic working group for the helicopter emergency medical services, with the aim of creating a proposal for the development of the services for the next 15–20 years.