 The Finnish MS SocietyThe Finnish MS Society looks after the interests of people with MS or progressive diseases of the spinal cord and cerebellum. It constantly monitors events in the Finnish social welfare and health sectors and works for better social justice and equality for its members. RehabilitationOne of the main objectives of the MS Society is to maintain the functional capacity of persons with MS. The Masku Neurological Rehabilitation Center near the city of Turku offers persons with MS and their families a variety of rehabilitation and adaptation training facilities. The Outpatient Rehabilitation Unit arranges courses disseminating primary information throughout Finland. The Outpatient Rehabilitation Unit is experimenting with new open type of group rehabilitation models in cooperation with regional authorities of the social welfare and health sectors. ServicesIn the Service Houses located in Helsinki, Lappeenranta and Seinäjoki people can learn to live on their own and obtain accommodation services. The MS Society has developed flexible employment methods which make the employment of disabled persons easier. The Society also publishes various brochures and handbooks with information on disease and advice on how to overcome a handicap. Some of them are published in English. ResearchThe MS Society has established the MS Foundation that encourages research in medical and nursing sciences of Multiple Sclerosis and rare neurological diseases in Finland. OrganisationThe Finnish MS Society has a staff of circa 240 professionals. The Society has today 24 local chapters and approximately 90 clubs. The chapters have in all more than 10 000 members; about half of them are persons with MS or a rare neurological disease, and the rest are family members, professional helpers, companies and others willing to help. MS chapters have voluntary support persons. Specific networks are maintained through which people can contact others with the same disease. MS or multiple sclerosisMS is a disease of the central nervous system causing progressive symptoms. Its cause is still unknown. The disease breaks out at the age of 20-40 years. MS may progress rapidly and cause difficulty of movements, but the disease can be almost symptom-free in many sufferers. The most common symptoms are an abnormally rapid loss of strength, muscle stiffness, balance difficulties, visual disturbances and urine incontinence. There are about 6500 persons with MS in Finland. The "darkest" MS-areas are in South-Western and Western parts of Finland. Diseases of the spinal cord and cerebellumThe rare progressive diseases affecting the spinal cord and cerebellum include ataxias, syringomelia, progressive spastic parapareses and polyradiculites. They cause variable difficulties of movement, tactile and vision disturbances, speech and swallowing difficulties. The causes of these diseases are still unknown , but some of them are hereditary, and the underlying genetic error has been identified in some of them. In Finland there are about 1 500 persons suffering from rare diseases of the spinal cord and cerebellum. Contact information
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