The Young Hearts Conference 2008 – Finland – 13.7.08 to 19.7.08

Written by:  Graham Ellis

The story of the 2008 Young Hearts Conference begins for me in March when I found out I was fortunate enough to have been chosen to represent GUCH for the first time in Tampere, Finland. The hard work of organising and planning for the conference for the Finns, of course, began in earnest after the Norway conference two years ago.
Along with myself, GUCH was represented in Finland by Shelagh, Charlie and Emily. Paul, due to his involvement on the board of the ECHG (European Congenital Hearts Groups), the umbrella committee aiming to further communication and co-operation between the various European congenital heart patient organisations, had gone out the day before.
 
I arrived in Finland with all the excitement and anticipation one would expect a person to have who was travelling to a new country and getting involved with something that was both new and felt like a very positive and worthwhile thing to be getting involved with. The Finns met us with a very warm welcome and although we arrived very late on the Sunday after a day of arrivals, we were greeted with smiles that would be there all week until we departed amongst a sea of hugs and a wave of emotions. The whole conference was also very well organised and every lecture and activity arranged went very smoothly, really helping to make it a great week. In fact I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the Finns once again for all their efforts and warmth – it really was appreciated.