I am Eva-Maria Asukas. I’m a 34-year-old nurse and physiotherapist. I work for the City of Helsinki and my workplace is the substitute staff of Aurora Hospital. In other words, I work in mood disorder, psychosis, and substance abuse wards. Prior to this, I worked at the Finnish Student Health Service and the Malmi Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic. As a physiotherapist, I have gained the most experience in geriatric physiotherapy.
I have spent my childhood growing up in Lieto in a working-class family. I have learned to appreciate work and family through my parents. In Lieto, I have also been close to nature. As I child, I played in the fields and forests, and I climbed trees. Nature has remained very important to me, and I appreciate nature and its significance.
My values include equality, justice, goodness, and respect for nature. My personality traits include defending the weaker both in my personal life and in politics.
I became interested in influencing while I was on the board of the local epilepsy association in Turku. I considered supporting those with epilepsy to be very important, and I still do. At that time, I also had my mind set on defending the functioning of specialised healthcare in Finland, and to familiarise myself with it better, I started my studies to become a nurse. While studying to become a nurse, I wanted to defend the work of nurses and joined Tehy’s activities. While working on Tehy’s activities, I started to list the things I want to defend: the work of nurses, specialised healthcare, mental health, patient associations, and services for the elderly. From here, I came to the conclusion to enter politics, which had been in the back of my mind for a long time.
After moving to Helsinki, I joined the management board of Oulunkylä’s Social Democrats and, from there, ran in the 2021 municipal elections on the SDP list. I gained a trust position in the municipal elections on the board of the Helsinki University Hospital Area, from which I gained a lot of information about specialised healthcare in Uusimaa. I decided to run for the parliamentary elections because the issues I want to defend are related to the upcoming social and healthcare services reform. In the parliamentary elections, I got a good result: 1,596 votes. I decided to continue in politics and now I am a candidate in the 2025 municipal elections in Helsinki.
I am in politics because I want to be involved in creating opportunities for a good life. I want to bring out flaws and the voices of those whose voices do not carry far enough.