Newsletter Article

Report from Kirsi Pylvänäinen, CAPP2 Recruiter in Jyväskylä, Finland

One of our patients told me to contact her brother who was willing to take a part in the CAPP2 study. Great, a new patient in this study - I thought. Until I decided to find out, where this man was living. Oh my goodness, he is living in Lapland in the middle of nowhere! The distance from Jyväskylä to Enontekio is not less than 900 kilometres north, so it would take about 13 hours to drive there by car. Lappish people would say:

"Its not that far away"!!

My trip to Lapland went well. The patient was more than happy to join the CAPP2 Study. He had a Lapp hut in his farmyard and also many reindeers. I had a great time with is lovely family. Enontekio is a very small village and it seemed that evryone is related somehow.

On my trip I saw plenty of untouched nature. The temperature was around -20c and there was snow everywhere. I saw the sun for 3 hours (from 10.30 to 13.30) only, otherwise it was dark. I sometimes saw the Northern Lights. I did not see any wolves although they were around, I did see lots of reindeer walking slowly along the roads! Sometimes I had to stop my car and wait for the herd to cross. There were as many as 50 reindeer crossing and they were in no hurry at all!

Kirsi Pylvanainen, 24 November 2003.

 

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