Pukkila - paradise for senior citizens thanks to Nokia legacy

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By Hanna Miettinen
     
      The cold autumn sun shines its rays behind the field to the car part of the Sale supermarket. The wheel on the rolator squeaks on the asphalt. The door of the store opens, as people who are in no particular hurry walk in and out. The location is Pukkila – Finland’s El Dorado of the elderly.
     
In the 1960s Pukkila got a legendary bequest from Onni Nurmi, a Finn who had made his fortune in the United States. It included a bundle of Nokia shares, which later sharply rose in value. The foundation that administers the portfolio now holds a total of about 800,000 shares of Nokia stock. Under the terms of the will left by Nurmi, the income that they generate is to be used for recreation of the elderly of this municipality of fewer than 2,000 inhabitants.
      The bountiful dividends have allowed the local authority to arrange for free taxi rides for all Pukkila residents over the age of 65, as well as free physical therapy, the cleaning of television sets to prevent fires, and all manner of other important services that can be seen to promote the well-being of the local elderly, according to the terms of Nurmi’s will.
      Each February the senior citizens of Pukkila gather at the village school to celebrate Onni’s day with a concert.
     
Tuula Järvinen, the only taxi driver in the municipality, drives to the Sale car park. Her customer is a grey-haired lady who first has to do some business at the bank, and after that in the grocery store.
      Järvinen is in no hurry. In the autumn sun she leans against the edge of the taxi and waits for her customer. Järvinen knows her passenger very well, as she knows all senior citizens in the community.
      The taxi rides paid for by the money from the Nurmi foundation are the driver’s main source of income.
     
Raili Mäkelä, 71 years old, puts her grocery bag into the basket of her bicycle. She is in good shape, and prefers to cycle, even though she would be entitled to a free taxi ride.
      She was working at the municipal home for the elderly when the Nurmi legacy was still a recent event in the area.
      "We got plenty of nice things from it", Mäkelä remembers.
      "The home bought televisions, VCRs, and many things like that, which we would not have been able to afford otherwise."
      Now Mäkelä herself has reached the age that entitles her to the benefits of the Nurmi legacy.
      She has visited a physical therapist, and has taken exercise classes.
      "They are certainly good services", she says.
      The local residents see the Nurmi legacy as their common property, and at times there is intense debate on how to use it.
      In 2000 it took a court decision to determine that it was acceptable to sell shares contained in the legacy.
     
Mäkelä says that things have calmed down somewhat in recent times, although the choice of performers at the Onni Day concert has not always been to everyone’s liking.
      In the near future Onninkartano (“Onni’s mansion”), a modern service centre for Pukkila’s senior citizens is to be set up in the centre of the small village, in the field next to the Sale supermarket. It will contain apartments for independent living, as well as hospital rooms and wards for dementia patients.
      The project is a gigantic one for a community the size of Pukkila. The projected budget is EUR 4.2 million.
      Municipal mayor Juha Myyryläinen is pleased that the money is finally being used for something permanent.
      A number of retail businesses are also planned in the area.
      Myyryläinen knows that the services enjoyed by the elderly in Pukkila are exceptionally good by Finnish standards. Onninkartano is to serve as an example to others.
      There had been fears in Pukkila that there would be a rush of pensioners moving into the village to take advantage of Onni Nurmi’s money, but no such rush has been seen.
      "The age structure of the community is healthy", Myyryläinen notes.
     
Helsingin Sanomat First published in print 21.10.2004  

More on this subject:
 Pukkila: basic facts

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Pukkila (pop. 1,800) hits the mother-lode

HANNA MIETTINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
hanna.miettinen@hs.fi