Tervola hospital ward closes permanently

The last patient at Tervola’s inpatient ward, Raija Kolmonen, was discharged on Friday, marking the facility’s permanent closure at the end of July as part of broader cuts by the Lapland Wellbeing Services County (Lapha).

Kolmonen, who has dementia, left the ward accompanied by her daughter Anu Kolmonen and nurses, with church bells ringing in the background. She condemned the decision to close the ward, calling it “a lousy move” that disrupted long-functioning local care.

“I’ve got tears in my eyes. This Lapha business—it was a lousy move when it came. Everything went to hell. We managed just fine without it before,” Kolmonen said.

Her daughter, writer Anu Kolmonen, took her mother home to her birthplace after failing to secure a place in a care home. “I’ve applied for a care home spot for my mother, but the waiting lists are long and the criteria are inhuman. We have to try to keep her on her feet and alive at home,” she said.

Lapha’s medical director Jyri J. Taskila stated that all discharged patients have been placed in appropriate follow-up care, with most returning home. Some elderly patients awaiting intensive service housing have been accommodated, though numbers in Tervola have been low, ranging from zero to four per month.

Lapland once had 20 inpatient wards, nearly one per municipality. Half have already closed or are set to close by the end of 2028, leaving ten. Each closed ward is to be replaced by a local “home hospital” offering acute care via doctor’s referral, either at the patient’s home or in a designated facility. Tervola’s home hospital is set to open in September.

Taskila acknowledged that some patients have had to be transferred farther from their home municipalities due to capacity constraints, particularly in the Rovaniemi region.