Social and healthcare services in the Baltic Sea region and also elsewhere in Europe are subject to a radical structural and functional change. Thus services that activate and involve the citizens should be offered. These services should be based on the idea that people take care of their health and well-being independently.

VIRTU – Virtual Elderly Care Services on Baltic Islands is a project that was carried out in Finland, Åland and Estonia in 2010–2013. The aim of the project was to develop a service model to help elderly people living in the archipelago. This was done by utilising welfare technology to support their social interaction and ability to live at home, improve their quality of life and increase their feeling of security. The user-friendly touch-screen computers enabled the elderly participants to stay in touch with other users of the service and the care staff, even outside the scheduled broadcasts.

This publication examines the learning processes and practical experiences connected with the implementation of interactive distance services. The collection of articles has been divided into four parts in accordance with the project’s objectives. The articles are written in English, but summaries in Finnish, Swedish and Estonian are provided at the end of the publication. A collection of electronic articles in national languages is available on the project website www.virtuproject.fi.