Report for 2020

In 2020 the Children's Hospital Foundation had attracted 1 634 878 EUR in donations, gifts, and project funding, which allowed to complete many projects important for children's health and well-being, and also helped to improve health and quality of life for more than 900 children!

Improvements of Children's Hospital infrastructure and equipment

• A new Children's Hospital kitchen was completed along with a development of new catering concept, which involves partners that deliver fresh and healthy food to hospital patients on a daily basis; 
• Furnished sports education room and playrooms;
• Provided chairs for parents in the intensive care observation unit;
• Creation of the Little Doctors' school or the Game therapy room that will help the young patients to reduce fear of the upcoming medical procedures through game therapy;
• During COVID-19 pandemic several important measures were implemented, and various important items were delivered to reduce the risks for patients with reduced immunity, for example, intensive care unit and oncology department patients;
• Purchase of additional oxygen machines, single-use robes, various protective masks, fonendoscopes, IT equipment for remote consultations, web-camera sets, warm meals to Children's Hospital employees, food for patients. Option to use mobile communication services free of charge, coverage of transportation services and other important things, which reduced the chances to come into contact with the virus for high-risk hospital employees and patients.

Children's Hospital Foundation continued to support the medical personnel of the Children's Hospital by financing education and providing support stipend to resident employees with an aim to attract the best experts to Children's Hospital to provide state-financed medical services.

We continued to provide support to adolescents with various mental health issues and their parents in the Resource Centre for children and adolescents, created by the Foundation in cooperation with the Ministry of Welfare and Ministry of Health, as well as with the support of donators. In 2020 we provided help to more than 650 adolescents! 

We also continued to operate the Parent's house of the Children's Hospital Foundation and provided support to the parents of the patients. 440 parents, children and other family members spent a night in the house and received support in 2020. 

Last year was the 13th year that the Children's Hospital Foundation organized the charity campaign Angels above Latvia which helped more than 400 children to undergo treatment in Children's Hospital.

In 2020 Children's Hospital Foundation carried out two additional charity campaigns:

• Campaign “I pledge” to collect donations for children with the autistic spectrum disorder was organized in cooperation with Latvian Television and European Development and Reconstruction Bank's Community initiative. This campaign provided help to children;
• Campaign “Goodwill kilometres” was organized to collect funds for children with movement disabilities in cooperation with Rimi Riga Marathon and Latvian Television. 
• These campaigns allowed the Children's Hospital Foundation to help more than 40 children.
• In addition, the Children's Hospital Foundation continued several ongoing initiatives:
• Publishing of second edition of the Children's intensive therapy guide, and book “Get well happily” that is given to every patient of the hospital;
• Provided tablets, headphones, video game consoles for the needs of the haemato-oncology department patients;
• Organized various seasonal events and prepared gifts for the patients during the whole year.

Started a new and very valuable initiative in cooperation with the Latvian Children's Oncology Fund – providing monthly financial support to families of oncology department patients.

In addition, the donation from the Latvian Children's Oncology Fund and its manager John Martin Tully in 2020 allowed the Children's Hospital Foundation to start a new project for support of oncology patients: "Standard procedure development for molecular description of malignant tumours in children” to provide access to the latest diagnostic methods in tumour gene sequencing.

Social support for families of severely ill children

Due to the complicated and long-lasting treatment of children with oncologic diseases, as well as the emotional and physical burden of the treatment process on the patients and their families, Children's Hospital Foundation, with support from Ministry of Welfare and Central Finance and Contracts Agency, started a new project – Holistic and multi-disciplinary support to children with functional disabilities and their family members. In the year 2020 within this programme, we provided support by various experts to 21 family and organized several activities for improvement of psycho-emotional and physical health to allow inpatients to better endure the treatment process. Parents' House, which was founded by and is operated by the Children's Hospital Foundation, and still continues its basic function and serves as point of support for parents of the patients, also participates in the project.