Report for 2015

Thanks for the support to the Children’s Hospital in 2015! On behalf of little patients, their parents and hospital staff, we would like to sincerely thank for all your donations to the Children’s Hospital! We managed to do a lot in 2015 thanks to the support of every contributor.

Support to the patients of the Children’s Hospital:

• We met Dāvis from the United States where, thanks to the donations, his life was saved and it was possible to considerably improve his health condition, allowing the boy to return in his daily routine after his long-term stay in hospital;
• Successful closing of the charity campaign for creating the savings for emergency situations, including the one for provision of emergency medical assistance outside Latvia, whereby EUR  113 639 were raised in donations;
• Former patients of the Children’s Hospital participated in the International Children’s Winner Games in Moscow, which is a unique sports competition for children who have challenged an oncological disease;
• Support to the visit of the Professor David Andersson from the Evelina London Children’s Hospital to perform complicated cardiac surgeries on 3 little patients, in cooperation with their Latvian colleagues. Financial support to cover travel and accommodation costs of the Professor;
• Support to the visit of a paediatric surgeon, Professor Risto Rintala from Helsinki to perform two complicated surgeries on 9-month old and 15-year old girls in cooperation with Latvian colleagues. The royalties, travel and accommodation costs were covered by the Children’s Hospital Foundation;
• Hosting of two excellent paediatric surgeons — urologists from the USA, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre Urology Department, who assisted in recovering of our patients and shared their experience with our doctors;
• Launching of the charity campaign Angels above Latvia, provision of support to at least 79 children in 2016;
• Publishing of an activities book Get Well with Pleasure for the little patients. This year, the book is especially colourful — activities were created by a number of well-known people to make the time which the little patients have to spend at the hospital more joyful and interesting;
• Financial support to the provision of medical assistance outside Latvia to more than 35 patients of the Children’s Hospital. The costs of the child’s medical treatment abroad include the patient’s, the accompanying person’s and attending doctor’s transport and accommodation costs, travel costs to post-surgery follow-up (one a year after a transplantation), patients costs for analyses, as well as drugs to the patients;
• Support to the little patients from 40 families to get home wherever in Latvia, altogether 340 trips. Doctors were closely monitoring the child’s health condition and tried to find a possibility for the child to go home as often as possible. Your support allows the little patients in such a difficult moment of their lives, to be in the environment and with people who are supporting them emotionally, meaning to be at home, when it is possible between the stages of therapy;
• Further implementation of the Foundation’s project We go home within which in 2015, 9 patients of different ages were brought home, averagely 1 trip per month, 8 times to various locations in Latvia;
• Publishing of the book I was born preterm that is the first and now the only book made in Latvia, where tips and explanations are collected for parents about the care of prematurely born children in order to reduce the level of fair due to a lack of knowledge and to overcome such special and hard times. Moreover, the book helps the parents follow the health condition of their children outside the hospital. The book is free of charge and it can be downloaded on the website www.augosai.lv.

Support to the environmental improvement of the Children’s Hospital:

• Launching the reconstruction of the new premises of the Haemato Oncology Department of the Children’s Hospital, which is planned to finalise and open in the first half of 2016;
• Equipment of a special training kitchen for patients with diabetes and adiposity in order to facilitate children healthy eating habits and to prevent serious health problems in the future;
• Provision of a warm-tray food delivery for children who have a bed regime;
• Provision of TV sets in the wards of the Oncology Department;
• Provision of umbrellas in order to ensure the transportation of patients within the hospital to the Departments which are located outside;
• Provision of thermoses for parents in the Departments in order to ensure the supply of hot water in the epidemiological regime;
• Provision of chairs for children parents to rest in the Emergency Medical Assistance and Observation Department and Department of New-born Children, especially for mothers who are breastfeeding;
• Opening of a new playroom at existent premises of the Oncology Department. As new premises are still under construction, it is important already now to create a pleasant and comfortable environment for children;
• Launching an important and new project at the library of the Children’s Hospital for visually impaired patients. Within the framework of the project, a convenient and safe place, specially adapted for such children, is being arranged; development of typhlo-pedagogy program, training of librarians and volunteers in its implementation; procurement of special material, and commencement of implementation of the developed program;
• Provision of different kind of furniture, equipment, for example, couches, changing tables, microwave ovens for patients to heat the food;
• For the first year, organising of a garden party on the occasion of the International Day for Protection of Children, for the little patients, their parents and the hospital staff to create a festival together with the Latvian chefs and to demonstrate an example that healthy food can be very delicious and easy to cook;
• Organising of a meeting with magicians that was unforgettable for little patients from the Neurology, Neurosurgery and Haemato Oncology Departments — with real magic, Goofy, balloons and delicious muffins, and other celebrations that make the life of children more pleasant and happy;
• Provision of opportunity to the paediatric surgeon Juris Šveklis to show the children his mini ambulance cars collection, and they are exhibited at the Children’s Hospital SD;
• The General School Youth Song and Dance Festival concert was held, featuring more than 100 young dancers and signers, who, together with Ance Krauze, Renārs Kaupers, Kārlis Lācis and the Festival Chief Conductor Romāns Vanags, performed the brightest songs and dances from the Festival repertoire for the little patients;
• Launching the charity campaign aimed at raising funds for the reconstruction and arrangement of the Children’s Hospital recreation room at the Torņakalns site, which is planned to be finalised by the first half of this year;
• Visit of Raimonds Bergmanis, Minister of Defence, who had an interesting and useful talk with children and together with his colleague demonstrated our military equipment;
• At the Sunny Days library, small and big patients had a chance to be the first ones to watch a musical performance Sun in the Hospital. Recovering. 10 episodes, made based on the poetry collection of Rainis, written when having treatment at the Children’s Hospital;
• Provision of uniform shirts for employees who work in the Customer Service Department in order to improve the staff recognition and thus to increase the safety of the patients.

Support to the development of medical treatment services and the quality improvement:

• Digitalisation of biologic therapy patients register — Rheumatologist patients register established;
• Provision of new incubator covers for the Prematurely Born Children Department;
• Provision of a new incubator for the Prematurely Born Children Intensive Therapy Department;
• Provision of assistance in the improvement of sand therapy room by supplying a complete collection of toys for the therapy;
• Raising of funds for the improvement of rehabilitation environment for the purchase of necessary exercise machines and devices in the Children’s Hospital, that will facilitate the recovery process and be available for children this year;
• Launching the charity campaign aimed at developing the prematurely born children care program The Safe Cape. The purpose of the program is to improve the health of these children in the long term and promote their successful integration into society, including lowering the rates of developing a disability among the prematurely born patients. Mrs. Iveta Vējone, the First Lady of Latvia, became the patroness of the program;
• Provision of specific equipment enabling to increase the quality of services provided for patients with different profiles: gas analyser, vein compression device, intubation endoscopes and other essential equipment for treatment efficiency;
• Provision of functional beds for patients, that allow children feeling better, especially at the treatment periods when they have to stay in bed and any movement is hard to make;
• Provision of important devices for patients with burns, that facilitate the treatment and can ensure a better transplantation of the skin.

Support to the development of the Children Hospital’s staff:

• Thanks to the target donations for the staff education, support to the professional development of doctors, nurses, as well as Hospital staff by covering the participation, travel and accommodation costs when attending international congresses, conferences, educational publications and trainings, and also the royalties for foreign specialists in experience sharing programs, as well as by procuring and subscribing to educational publications;
• Thanks to the financing granted by the Riga Council, the implementation of the project Get involved, help and change yourself! II, the aim of which is to train the current volunteers from the Parents’ house in specific work at the Children’s Hospital Departments;
• Support to the Baltic Haematology Congress where our specialists had an opportunity to improve their knowledge and gain experience for better provision of help to little patients;
• Support to the Rehabilitation Congress for enabling specialists to improve their knowledge for the purpose to create and offer better care to patients;
• Support to the four-day conference The latest challenges in the advanced neonatology organised by Neonatal Clinic, within the framework of which the lectures were given by neonatal experts from the US Iowa University Children’s Hospital. In the conference, not only the specialists from the Children’s Hospital, but also their colleagues from all over Latvia gained the knowledge and experience in preterm born children care;
• Implementation of the project Recover with a Smile, the aim of which is to provide knowledge and support to the Children’s Hospital’s medical staff supporters — educators, psychologists, social workers, so that they could assist children and their parents more effectively and efficiently;
• Implementation of the project Children-friendly Society co-financed by the EEA financial instrument, which included the development of a social service model about the services provided by the Parents’ House, and preparation of brochures about the Parents' House and the loss of a child. As part of the project, seminars were organised for the care staff and the volunteers from the Parents’ House, expanding their knowledge about communication and interpersonal skills, as well as about the role of mother's milk in the development of a premature born baby, and the participants were made familiar with ‘practising mindfulness’. To reduce the burnout syndrome, 12 Balint group sessions were held for the CCUN patient support staff;

Other activities:

• Launching the Linstow charity wall, where every shop visitor could donate to the Children’s Hospital and to little patients to regain their health;
• Celebration of the 5th anniversary of the Parents’ House that has provided accommodation and support to more than 1000 little patients’ parents from all over Latvia, whose children were undergoing treatment at the Hospital;
• Basketball game to help the patients from the Children’s Hospital, who needed the rehabilitation. Wonderful, talented, athletic, responsive, attractive people were competing on a basketball court for a good purpose;
• Freedom charity run organised by the international charity organisation Lions Clubs International (LCI), for the purpose to support the Oncology Department.

Most sincere thanks to all donors and absolutely everybody who organised activities on their own with the goal to support the Children's Hospital and its patients – they were schoolchildren, parents of the former patients, peers and colleagues from work – your care and help is very important for us, and we appreciate it from all our hearts!