"The same chatbot seamlessly operates across various health and social service pages, eliminating the need for clients to navigate to specific pages for specific inquiries. A lot of attention is paid to user-friendliness and continuous development," explains Janne Kantsila, Chief Specialist.
Hester is your go-to resource for inquiries about the city's health and social services. Whether you need self-care instructions, guidance for various life situations, or advice, Hester is at your service. During opening hours, you can even access a chat with a health and social services specialist if needed.
Handling thousands of inquiries each month, Hester has proven invaluable for appointment bookings, retrieving contact information, as well as borrowing and returning assistive devices. Economic support and benefits are also popular topics.
"We encourage our clients to approach Hester with an open mind. If the chatbot doesn't understand your question, try reformulating it and give it another go. As Hester receives more usage, it will continually improve," advises Project Manager Maria Kristensen.
"We value feedback from chatbot users as it helps us enhance Hester's performance. To provide feedback, simply click on the pencil icon within Hester's interface, and we appreciate any insights you can provide," adds Project Manager Marjukka Pihlajamäki.
It's important to note that the chatbot's responses are crafted by health and social services professionals who have dedicated their expertise to ensure accurate information is provided.
"Our team of specialists has diligently contributed to formulating the chatbot's responses. We are consistently adding new answers to keep the information up to date," says Project Manager Maria Kristensen.
Currently, Hester primarily serves clients in Finnish, with plans to expand its language capabilities to include Swedish and English within the current year.
Alternatively, you can use electronic health and social services through Omaolo(Link leads to external service) or Maisa(Link leads to external service).