You don’t need to face challenges on your own – help is available
The goal of OLKA activities is to
- offer patients and their near ones unhurried encounters and support in coming to terms with their disease
- give volunteers the chance to help others, make new friends, and improve their well-being through volunteering
- provide information to the hospital staff
- make it possible for organizations to operate in a hospital close to the patients
For Patients and Near Ones
OLKA offers patients and their near ones information about the support provided by non-profit organizations and hospital units, peer support and other support provided by volunteers.
For Volunteers
By bringing joy and hope to others, volunteers get to experience a sense of accomplishment themselves. Volunteers can provide peer support, offer a listening ear, play with children, or help people find where they need to be in the hospital’s lobby areas.
OLKA offers the volunteers training, support and recreation opportunities, as well as a network of OLKA volunteers where you can find new friends.
For Hospital Staff
OLKA provides a safe cooperation platform for organizing volunteer activities on the wards. OLKA’s trained volunteers can visit the patient or their near ones in the hospital. A volunteer can provide peer support, be someone the patient and their loved ones can talk to, or help keep children entertained. Volunteers are also available as lobby assistants in the hospital’s lobby areas where they help people find where they need to be.
OLKA provides information on non-profit organizations and the support they provide. An OLKA employee can always be invited to the ward to talk more about what OLKA does and how cooperation with OLKA works. OLKA is part of the hospital’s activities.
Hospital units can talk about their activities and increase the visibility of their campaign at OLKA service desks.
For Non-profit Organizations
OLKA gives non-profit organizations the opportunity to provide support to hospital patients in three ways
- Non-profit organizations are welcome to share information about their activities and provide peer support at OLKA service desks. To book a theme day, contact an OLKA representative of a participating hospital (available only in Finnish). Units may also distribute leaflets through OLKA service desks.
- Peer supporters of organizations can engage in activities in participating hospitals by organizing theme days at the OLKA service desks and by volunteering through OLKA. Read more about volunteering with OLKA (available only in Finnish).
- Organizations can submit their contact details to the Etsi vertaistukea (Peer Support Finder, available only in Finnish) search engine maintained by Vertaistalo. Coordinated by OLKA, the nationwide vertaistalo.fi portal (Support Hub) provides reliable information about peer support and non-profit organizations that provide peer support.
