Tomas MörtsellMayor

Municipality of Storuman

This is Swedish Lapland

Tourism

Mining business

Windpower and hydropower industry,as well as Forest industry

Reindeer husbandry

Research and Development in Storuman

Research and innovation areas

• Test area for innovative ways to work with primary care

• Distance bridging technology• Exploration into the health for our Indigenous

People• Education, provision of courses to be qualified in

providing medical care in the rural areas. GP´s and nurses

• Resarch programme in cooperation with universities in high school/upper secondary school

Community hospitals in Southern Lapland

• Are located in communities with between 2000-7500 inhabitants. Primary care units led by GP´s

• There are 7 in Västerbotten county, all in southern Lapland where it is 90-230 km to the nearest hospital.

• Equipped with X-ray, emergency/accident and minor surgery facilities, telemedicine and ambulance service.

• Consists of wards with 2-6 (8) beds for acute patients and offers a 24 hour service with nurses and general practitioners on call.

• Offers rehabilitation and palliative care.• Often in cooperation with nursery homes.

Ongoing ”top projects”

• Emergency medicine in extremely remote areas• Access to doctors at a distance• Remote controlled cardiac ultrasound• Virtual health room• Test bed Nordic Health

R & D in other projects

• Test center for new airport and aeroplane technics in cold climate (SAAB)

• New ways of cooperation between communities and universities

• Test area for the windpower industry

Success factors for rural medicine in Sweden so far….

• Showing that the rural parts of Sweden, could be an area for testing and developing different systems of care, especially for the ageing population.

• Showing that rural medicine is of interest around the world, and that we can participate in international networking and research.

• Giving, prospective rural doctors, extra and better suited education, to meet the needs in the rural communities, and along with that, better salary and status.

Things we are working for….

• The northern counties in Sweden need to cooperate to make a strategical effort of supporting research in the most northern (rural) part of Sweden.

• Develop adjusted education in rural medicine for nurses.

• Cooperate more with other countries with similar rural challenges.

Future challenges for Västerbotten

• 30 % of the total number of all employees in the county of Västerbotten will retire within the next ten years.

• All the municipalities in the western part of the county are facing the same challenge with high numbers of retirements, both for medical staff but also teachers and administrative officials.

• The challenge of recruiting highly skilled professionals. How to educate and train rural doctors and nurses to fit the complex needs?

We might have the solution…

• Prospect for a new organisation, with the purpose to provide public and private organisations/companies with requested competence

• The idea is to provide active support for municipalities and the county of Västerbotten to recruit and retain highly educated staff.

• In the long term, it may also provide active support for the recruitment of staff to private companies in Västerbotten

• Storuman, Vilhelmina municipalities and the county of Västerbotten takes the initiative

New challenges needsNew solutions

• Place branding to strengthen regional attraction

• Cooperation between private and public organisations is a key to success

• Webtool for recruiting

Together we build the future!