Kirsi Sillanpää, the highly respected Director of Public Relations and Development at the trade union Tehy, is a role model and an exceptionally influential healthcare and social care professional, known for her long and impressive career in Finnish healthcare, nursing management and the development of the healthcare and social care sector. The importance of Kirsi Sillanpää's pioneering career for the Finnish social care and healthcare sector was strongly present at the Kirsi Sillanpää seminar organised by Tehy on 17 September 2025.
Sillanpää has worked as a director at Tehy, the union for the social care, healthcare and education sector, since 2012, and will retire at the end of the year, much to the great sadness of her colleagues.
In this dignified yet warm-hearted seminar, Kirsi Sillanpää's heartfelt advocacy work was applauded by numerous Finnish social care and healthcare leaders, wellbeing services county leaders, politicians and officials from various ministries, as well as many social care and healthcare professionals with whom she has worked. At Musiikkitalo, Sillanpää was remembered and thanked by, for example, the First Deputy Speaker of the Finnish Parliament Paula Risikko, Member of Parliament Krista Kiuru, Member of Parliament Sari Sarkomaa and Member of Parliament Markus Lohi, as well as the Director of the South Savo Wellbeing Services County Santeri Seppälä and the Director of the Central Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County Raija Kontio.
The highlight of the seminar was the speech by Kirsi Sillanpää herself. In her address, she spoke about how her work at Tehy has aimed to foster the sustainability of the Finnish social care and healthcare sector, ensuring equal access to healthcare services for citizens and retaining skilled healthcare staff in the sector.
As the Director of Public Relations and Development at Tehy, Sillanpää has had a long-term impact on Finnish social care and healthcare policies and has improved the working conditions and management of nursing staff not only in Finland, but also through her international key positions of trust. She has worked in, and is currently holding, positions such as the chairperson of the standing committee of EPSU, the European Federation of Public Service Unions, and vice-president of ENDA, the European Nurse Directors Association. Kirsi Sillanpää's work is particularly well known in Brussels and the EU arenas, where she meets with MEPs and international decision-makers in the care sector, bringing them messages from Tehy members.
The seminar also looked back on Sillanpää's pioneering work before she joined Tehy. She studied nursing in the 1980s, and advanced from her nurse role to a head nurse, a nursing director and then the director of Human Resources at Helsinki University Central Hospital HUCH. Even then, Sillanpää was performing visionary social advocacy work by boldly drawing public attention to issues that needed to be addressed in the social sector, such as questions of the sufficient numbers of nursing staff.
In her roles as director of nursing in several healthcare units, Sillanpää developed Finnish healthcare, its operations and emergency services on a broad and long-term basis, for example, at HUS and the then Töölö Hospital. In particular, she has promoted the skills and work of Finnish nurses and paramedics and brought the field’s international expertise to Finland. Kirsi Sillanpää has been instrumental in creating major strategies and reforms, particularly in the field of emergency services, emergency medical services and trauma care.
During her career, Sillanpää has made her mark in Töölö, for example, where she was involved in developing demanding special medical care in multidisciplinary teams, built new operating models and developed emergency services and trauma team training. She is also the author of four textbooks.
Furthermore, Kirsi Sillanpää's handprint is strongly visible in the education of the Finnish healthcare sector. She was among the initiators of nurse paramedic training in Finland and was a lecturer in the early days of paramedic training. She was also instrumental in getting a degree programme in health sciences at the University of Helsinki.
In her speech, however, Kirsi Sillanpää emphasised that she has never worked alone in her career, but rather always in collaboration with other professionals. She stressed the importance of cooperation in working life.
– Every step forward has been the result of collaboration – not achieved alone, not by one professional group. Learning never stops. New ideas and education keep us going. Seeing the people is at the heart of this work. Whether it's a patient, a colleague or a student, heartfelt encounters make the work meaningful, Sillanpää said.
She has also worked with various partners to build the future of the Finnish social care and healthcare sector. One example of this work is the Sustainable Healthcare project, to which Sillanpää brought Tehy in as a key player in the very early stages of the project.
Sillanpää said that she hoped that Finland as a nation would have the wisdom and will to look forward together and see beyond one term of government.
– We should have a shared, cross-party vision for the development of social care and healthcare, Sillanpää said.
She also stated in her speech that the healthcare sector must be ready to face different security threats. She stressed the importance of preparedness in crisis situations and shared her experiences with treating tsunami victims in 2004. She reminded the audience that healthcare is a key element in the national security of supply.
The theme of security of supply and crisis preparedness in the social care and healthcare sector was also raised by other speakers at the seminar. Kirsi Sillanpää's former colleague, Professor Eero Hirvensalo, Associate Professor of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, highlighted the importance of leadership in emergency situations and crises in his address.
The seminar also offered a number of other great speeches. Tehy President Millariikka Rytkönen gave the opening address and hosted the seminar. The presentation by Lecturer Lauri Kuosmanen dealt with the ethics of nursing. Professor, medical specialist Kristiina Patja spoke about population health and inequality development. The soulful singer Hanna Pakarinen and guitarist Ville Nurmi provided the musical entertainment.
Kirsi Sillanpää delivered a key message to the seminar's audience – social care and healthcare sector leaders and healthcare professionals – about the history of healthcare in Finland in view of the upcoming parliamentary elections in 2027. She brought up the legacy of Arvo Ylppö, who especially emphasised the importance of promoting the well-being of children, young people and families.
– As Arvo Ylppö stated, the health of children and young people is the future of the nation, and investing in children and families will bring long-term benefits.
Kirsi Sillanpää expressed the wish that Ylppö's message would also be heard today, as there would be no maternity and child health clinic operations without Ylppö’s contributions.
Kirsi Sillanpää received a standing ovation from the audience for her speech.
Kirsi Sillanpää, Tehy's long-time Director of Public Relations and Development, will retire at the end of 2025. A farewell seminar was held in her honour on Wednesday, 17 September 2025, at Musiikkitalo, bringing together around 170 leaders and experts of the social care and healthcare sector.
Text: Jessikka Aro, Jaana Reijonaho