Help with shopping and cleaning: how support services make everyday life easier
You can receive support services for living at home even if you are not a home care client. The services provide help with everyday tasks when you are still able to manage relatively independently at home.
Lempi Rautanen, 78, lives alone in Nummela and manages largely independently at home. She prepares her own meals and does her own laundry. Since the beginning of 2026, however, support services for living at home provided by the wellbeing services county have made her everyday life easier. Rautanen receives an accompaniment service and a cleaning service.
“Every Tuesday, the same familiar worker comes to help me with both cleaning and running errands. Everything works well and is flexible. If necessary, we can change the time of the visit with a quick phone call, for example,” Rautanen says.
"They have turned out to be really helpful"
An hour and a half is allocated for assistance with errands and two hours for cleaning. The assistance with errands includes visits to the local grocery shop and, for example, the pharmacy. As Rautanen has impaired vision, the worker acts as her “eyes” on shopping trips. They can also go clothes shopping together.
The familiar worker knows how to clean Rautanen’s home just the way she likes it, so there is no need for her to give any instructions. Rautanen does not feel that she needs any other support services at present. She can still manage many everyday tasks herself, and her children and grandchildren, who live nearby, help her when necessary.
“I leave all the cleaning to the worker, but otherwise I want to do everything I can myself.”
Rautanen is pleased with the support services she receives, although she was initially somewhat unsure whether she needed them.
“At first, I thought I might not need them. But they have turned out to be really helpful.”
Support is available even if you are not a home care client
You can receive support services for living at home from the Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County even if you are not a home care client. The services are intended specifically for people who can still manage relatively independently at home but need help with certain everyday tasks.
Support services include a meal service, a laundry service, a cleaning service and an accompaniment service, as well as a service that supports social interaction. A safety assistance service is also available.
“The safety assistance service is generally the first support service that an older person comes to need. It is also by far the most widely used support service, with just under 3,000 clients,” says Satu Kiuru, Service Line Director for Support for Living at Home at the Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County.
How to apply for support services
- Contact Senior Info. Senior Info will arrange an assessment of your service needs. Support services are granted based on the assessment.
- Various support services are available. You may be granted a meal service, a laundry service, a cleaning service, an accompaniment service, a safety assistance service or a service that supports social interaction.
- You do not need to be a home care client. You can receive support services while you are still managing relatively independently at home.
- The services are subject to a fee. A separate client fee has been set for each support service. For more information, visit Client fees for social welfare and health care services.
This article was published in the latest Elinvoimaa ikääntyneille supplement. Read more about older people's wellbeing, everyday life and available services.
Read the Elinvoimaa ikääntyneille supplement here (in Finnish)(external link)