Wednesday, October 24

Update: Finnish Social Welfare in Action

My original post covered a drunk man passed out right in the center of the Finnish City of Tampere. Well Helsinki is no stranger to this sort of intoxication, as is confirmed by the following story in the Helsingin Sanomat:

According to the emergency response centre (ERC) of Helsinki, the number of drunken individuals lying on the streets and lawns of the Finnish capital has reached excessively high levels.

In August alone, the ERC of Helsinki received an average of 80 calls a day, notifying the authorities of drunks having passed out in the open air. This is roughly equal to 2,300 emergency calls per month. - Helsingin Sanomat

Whenever I ran across a person who was passed out I would call 112 which is Finland's 911 emergency phone number. I would also try to wake the person up, especially if they were lying in the gutter or some other place where a car might accidentally hit them. I also stuck around until the police did show up, which thankfully was never long. (Unfortunately, this happened way too often!)

Helsinki’s emergency response centre receives 1,400 calls a day on average; 80 are for sleeping drunks - Helsingin Sanomat

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