21:00 | Opening speech by Executive Director of Moller Auto Group in the Baltics Izīda Gerkena
21:05 | Event host Kristine Garklava introducing the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra and the evening's program before the start of the live concert
21:15 | Live concert and broadcasting starts
Musicians
In this evening well acclaimed artists are performing:
- Latvian National symphonic orchestra - founded in 1926, performed world-wide, a six-time winner of the Grand Music Award, Latvia’s highest honour in classical music.
- Latvian Radio Big Band - founded in 1966, professional jazz big band twice nominated for the Grand Music Award.
- Daumants Kalniņš - dynamic, accomplished soloist blending opera, jazz, and versatile musical expressions.
- Kristīne Balanas - a musician of “eye-popping virtuosity” (The Times), Latvian violinist is a 3rd prize laureate of the 66th International ARD Music Competition.
- Linda Leen - award-winning Latvian vocalist, singer/songwriter.
- Xylem TRIO - piano, saxophone and marimba/ percussion trio, established in 2006,by three internationally recognized musicians Oskars Petrauskis, Raimonds Petrauskis and Rihards Zalupe.
Speakers
Izīda Gerkena, Managing Director of the “Moller Auto” Group in the Baltics
“Ladies and gentlemen, good evening!
The core value of every country, every company, including Moller Auto, and ultimately every person, is a HUMAN.
This is the aim of today's tribute, the charity concert "Free (to) Live".
To remind us how important each person is to our country. To remind us of the sense of freedom that we can each give throughout our lives, but especially when it is time to go – freely and with dignity. It is our duty to make sure that this happens lightly.
Thank you to everyone who has put so much work into this concert and thank you, everyone, for being with us today! I really hope that the great music will allow you to hear the appeal to donate to Hospiss LV, who are doing a wonderful job helping terminally ill people to spend their time with dignity!”
Andra Levite, gynaecologist and obstetrician, former First Lady of Latvia
"Good evening, dear attendees, dear viewers!
A dignified arrival into life - a life lived with dignity - a dignified exit.
The hope of people is to pass away in old age, after a happy life, peacefully and without pain, in their own bed, in their own home, never to wake again. Living life with dignity, any person in their prime can take care and fight for themselves. However, dignified entry into life and dignified exit are different. In these two situations a person is weak and vulnerable - they must trust in their fellow human beings.
In the final stage of life, a person has different priorities, demands, and hopes than someone with an acute illness. They wish to reconcile and make peace with their family one last time, receive the last sacrament, or stroke the head of their four-legged friend. In a hospital ward, it's not possible to fulfil completely these needs of the dying person. There, other priorities and a different work regime exist. However, checking blood pressure at a certain time of day, taking blood tests, or performing a CT scan are no longer essential for a patient in a palliative situation. On the other hand, appropriate pain management must be provided at any time.
What cannot, and in my opinion, should not, be provided by acute care hospitals, can be provided by Hospice. This is palliative care, both at home and inpatient, taking into account the last wishes of the dying and their relatives. We all will make this final path. Therefore, it's good to know that there will be a place where we can exit from life with dignity.
Thank you!"
Ilze Zosule, co-founder, board member of HOSPISS LV:
"The idea of creating an organisation that would deal with the topic of hospice care in Latvia was born 4 years ago. The idea came from personal experience, which vividly showed that people are left without support at the end of their lives, as well as from the read books and the desire to help. The desire to help, to do something meaningful and necessary is probably what has brought everyone together today, including the audience. I set up the organisation together with Ilze Neimane-Nešpora. We were surprised to learn that at that time in Latvia there was not even the concept of hospice, there was no hospice care, there was no hospice hospital. We found this as strange as not having a maternity ward. There was no organisation that stood up and defended people who, because of their incurable illness, disability, physical limitations, could not stand up for their rights and stand up for their needs, fight discrimination. We have encountered many myths and stereotypes, for example, that hospice care is only for seniors, when the youngest patient we have helped is 19 years old. A lot has been done in four years: a public debate on these issues has been launched, laws and regulations have been adopted and are in various stages of drafting, several hundred volunteers have been trained and go to hospitals every week to support and cheer up terminally ill patients, both with treats and musical performances. Today, we also have musicians on stage who have played in hospitals, thank you to them. We also try to grant the wishes of terminally ill people so that they would experience a miracle, feel alive once more!
Last year, we provided home hospice care to 51 patients, with more than EUR 84,000 spent from donors' funds. Until January 1 this year, Latvia was the only country in the EU without a state-funded hospice service. The first steps have been taken, but there is still much to be done before we can say that palliative care in Latvia is at THE European level and that everyone can die with dignity. There is still no hospital where lonely people can meet the end of their lives with dignity. The creation of such a hospital is a major goal of our organisation."
Head of the Palliative Care Unit at Riga East Clinical University Hospital, Pride of Latvia 2021, holder of the Order of the Three Stars, Dr Vilnis Sosārs.
It is a myth that we will all fall asleep at the age of 90, in peace and harmony, because according to statistics only 10% experience a quick death, for many death is painful and full of suffering, especially for oncology patients. Estimates show that palliative care would be needed for 20-25 thousand people every year, but there are only 7 palliative wards in Latvia, where you have to wait in line for months, for many people it is too late before their turn comes, and if it does - they can only stay there for 10 days, after which the person is discharged home... The Covid pandemic made the situation even worse, as people did not get screened, so the tumours were now late - stage 4. Unfortunately, the ward is full of people whom the doctor compares to the slow landing of a burning plane... Who should actually be in hospice care.
Hospice care is the very end of palliative care, when a person is in a terminal state, passing away. Palliative care is in its infancy here, but in other parts of the world there are not only separate hospice hospitals, but even hospitals with a separate palliative care unit. The doctor tells of a visit to a hospital in Barcelona that had such a hospice ward, where patients only stay for three days. There are even separate beds in the room for your family members to be with you at that moment. (We do not have such an option). In England, on the other hand, even the care team changes when it sees a person leaving, as different professionals work directly with the dying, taking the emotional stress off the staff.
The main message that people say before they die: we are not afraid of death, but afraid of suffering. People ask the doctor: "promise it won't hurt?" Unfortunately, Latvia's economic situation has forced many people to leave the country, so they often face the situation that people in the ward are not exactly alone, but their children are working and living abroad and cannot take care of their parents. That is why we need a hospice to spend the last days of their lives, because by law you can only spend ten days in a palliative care unit.
President of the Latvian Medical Association dr. Ilze Aizsilniece.
We usually call an ambulance or see our GP when we are unwell, but can they help the terminally ill? Can doctors trained to save lives help the dying? Are hospitals a good place to die? No, because doctors are like "running rats" – they cannot provide the dignified care that the dying person deserves. As Hippocrates said, the important thing is to treat with words, but this is only possible if one doctor does not have to be responsible for 20 patients and one nurse does not have to be responsible for 40 patients in a ward, etc.
Hospice care therefore helps not only the patient and their loved ones, but also the medical system as a whole. When the hospice care team visits patients in their own homes, allowing them to maintain their independence, routines and rhythms, unnecessary strain on hospitals is also avoided. In Latvia, this would be particularly important given that doctors and nurses are often on the verge of burnout.
It is vital not only to provide care for terminally ill people, but also to support their loved ones, both before and after death. Hospice and palliative care in Latvia are essential for respecting human rights.
Doctor Pēteris Kļava, who has been working as a reanimatologist for more than 30 years and has been dealing with death on a daily basis, has spent his entire life studying the phenomenon of death
Perhaps one of the reasons why the palliative care and hospice system is moving so slowly in Latvia is because death is a taboo subject. Why do we have this fear of talking about death? Can one, and if so, how can one learn to accept death? Your own and that of your loved ones? How to talk to someone facing a terminal diagnosis. How to help him pass away?
We listened to the doctors, but what does it really mean to be there for a loved one facing a terminal illness? How not to be afraid, knowing that recovery will be impossible, but to take your loved one home, care for them and be with them.
Kristīne Anže, Deputy Head of TV3 News Service and news anchor, who was by her twin sister's side until her last breath, shares her experience. Kristīne's sister Māra died at home with her family present, as Kristīne decided to look after her sister herself.
"Of course, I was insanely scared. The cocktail of feelings and emotions was terrible: despair, exhaustion, fear, the desire to inspire a good outcome when you no longer believe in it. But at that moment I was only focusing on the small goals. When I realised that we were going towards God, it was clear that Māra would live in a country house in Dundaga, I learnt how to make injections, rented an oxygen machine, organised who would take care of her when I had to go to Riga. Other options were not even on the table. How can I leave my loved one in the care of a stranger? I can not. I open the window of the house and she hears the birds chirping, the sun caressing her cheeks... When Māra was still walking, I took her outside, put her in a big garden chair, and she could watch me weeding the rose bed. Māra said: you make me feel most secure. Because I knew what she needed just by looking at her... And there was peace in me too...
... It was a beautiful, sunny morning. I had washed her, changed her, she was lying in a clean bed, smiling, and at one point she started pointing to her ears. She could no longer hear. Then she turned on her side, started breathing more and more slowly... At first I had the typical doer syndrome – what can I do now, but I realised ... now I can only be. I called Māra’s daughter and her mother, her mother sat by her feet, I held her hand, so the three of us accompanied her. The only thing Māra showed us before that was to point us to open the window... It was so simple, so calm and so bright. On a sunny day, with the window open, Māra went to see the birds, the sun and the god... That moment was filled with love. But it would have been wonderful if it happened at the age of 90, with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren present."