Report from Finland

The report of the Finnish SLE Group for the annual meeting of ELEF in Pisa, Italy, during

11th -15th September, 1996.

In the past year the Finnish SLE Group has focused on the strengthening and support of the local group activities. Two new local groups have been founded in the western Finland and there has been an increase in the number of contact people all over Finland.

The spring meeting was held in Oulu in the North of Finland over a weekend, which concentrated on the development of local group activity. Several Specialists and Rheumatologists gave speeches at this meeting and representatives of local groups shared their experiences of the local and regional patient society activities.

People who have Sjogren's syndrome have their own society now. It was founded during the spring under the umbrella organisation of The Finnish Arthritis Association. They have members all around the country and they publish their own newsletter. Despite the restrictive name, SLE Group has always welcomed all members who have any of the rare types of connective tissue disorder and it continues to do so in the future.

Fundraising

We have started our own fundraising campaign on a small scale this spring. This involves producing and selling of butterfly pins to support our activity and to inform the public of SLE. The local groups get part of the sales profits for their own activities.

The second edition of an SLE booklet published in 1988 came out in early spring. It is written by a famous Finnish SLE researcher Yrjö Konttinen. The booklet has been written to give basic information about SLE to the patients, their families and the hospital personnel.

The Finnish Arthritis Association had a national conference this summer and thus has now a new executive committee and a chairman. By the end of September, the SLE Group will find out about the reactions of the new executive committee towards our future activities, but as far as we know, great changes are not to be expected. Our most important plan for the near future is to begin our preparation for the 9th Annual Convention of ELEF held in Helsinki during

12th-14th September 1997. We will inform you of this meeting in good time. I will use this opportunity to welcome you all warmly to Helsinki, Finland, next year!

Jaana Manninen