# Center for preparedness in healthcare and social welfare in Southern Finland Center for preparedness in healthcare and social welfare in Southern Finland is the preparedness center for healthcare and social welfare for the Southern Finland collaborative area. The Act on Organizing Healthcare and Social Welfare Services specifies the duties and responsibilities of the Preparedness Center. It is the duty of the Preparedness Center to compile and analyze data on actual and threatened disruptions to healthcare and social welfare and to form situational awareness of preparedness in healthcare and social welfare and share it with various authorities. ## Duties of the Preparedness Center ### Steering of preparedness planning in the collaborative area --- It is the duty of the preparedness center for healthcare and social welfare in Southern Finland to lead preparedness planning in the Southern Finland collaborative area. The Preparedness Center monitors progress of preparedness planning, steers coordination and organizes various events to support planning. ### Planning, support and coordination for preparedness exercises --- A significant number of various preparedness exercises are held every year in Southern Finland, with hundreds of healthcare and social welfare professionals participating. The Preparedness Center monitors the exercises and compiles the development needs identified. ### Support for creating and sharing situational awareness --- All preparedness centers in Finland compile, form and share national situational awareness in healthcare and social welfare, following consistent shared principles. In Southern Finland, we make use of several situational awareness systems in order to maintain situational awareness both locally and across all of the Southern Finland collaborative area. The HUS Situation Center, forming part of the Preparedness Center, monitors the current state of healthcare and social welfare on a 24/7 basis. The national situational awareness in healthcare and social welfare is formed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health with the preparedness centers. ## Publications (in Finnish) [ Sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon laitoskiinteistöjen kriisinkestävyys(pdf 741 KB)  (opens in new window, links to another website) ](https://www.hus.fi/sites/default/files/2024-09/hus_sosiaalijaterveydenhuollon_laitoskiinteistojen_kriisinkestavyys_0.pdf) [ Tartuntatautien automaattinen valvonta(pdf 232.14 KB)  (opens in new window, links to another website) ](https://www.hus.fi/sites/default/files/2026-05/tartuntatautien-automaattinen-valvonta.pdf) ## Contact information ### Visiting address Service Center Stenbäckinkatu 9 Helsinki ### Postal address P.O. Box 100 00029 HUS ### Email [ Email, Email: @email ](#) ## Specialists ### [ Toni Lahti ](/en/person/toni-lahti) Director of Security and Preparedness ### [ Kimmo Parhiala ](/en/person/kimmo-parhiala) Planning Manager Management of medical care and service production ### [ Marco Ehrstén ](/en/person/marco-ehrsten) Emergency Operations Center Manager Updated: 26.08.2026 Print this page