Operation Smile Joins USNS Comfort as Part of Four-Month Latin American Deployment

Operation Smile, a worldwide children’s medical charity that provides free surgery to children in developing countries born with facial deformities, will join the United States Navy’s hospital ship, USNS Comfort, during its summer 2007 humanitarian assistance deployment. The USNS Comfort mission will provide humanitarian services to 12 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean during a 120-day deployment. These services will include basic surgeries, nursing educational opportunities, public health interventions, veterinary services, and basic infrastructure support and construction. 
 
 Operation Smile will be working side-by-side with the Navy in three countries: Nicaragua, Peru and Colombia. The Operation Smile volunteer medical teams will be comprised of international volunteers in both Nicaragua and Peru, while a team of Operation Smile Colombian medical volunteers will conduct a medical mission in a Buenaventura local hospital.  Approximately 125-150 children suffering with cleft lips and cleft palates will receive free reconstructive surgery as a result of these three medical missions. 

 Operation Smile Chief Medical Officer Dr. Rob Rubin said, “Operation Smile is honored to participate in the USNS Comfort’s deployment to Latin America and the Caribbean Sea region.  Following our successful participation with Comfort’s sister ship, USNS Mercy, in the Pacific last year, we along with our medical volunteers from Nicaragua, Peru and Colombia are excited to join with the Comfort’s crew in bringing new smiles to the children of Latin America.”

 USNS Comfort will depart from Norfolk, Va., on June 15.  The first mission stop involving Operation Smile will be in Puerto Corinto, Nicaragua, in mid-July.  Free medical evaluations will be conducted by Operation Smile volunteers in local hospitals to identify surgical patients who will then be transported aboard the ship.  Operation Smile medical volunteers will work side-by-side with Navy personnel and conduct three days of surgery.  Post-operative checks for the patients will take place the following week at Hospital España, in Chinandega, a partner facility that Operation Smile utilizes for its medical missions to Chinandega. 

 USNS Comfort will move on to Salaverry, Peru, near the city of Trujillo for the next medical mission involving Operation Smile in early August. Operation Smile Peru has conducted several local missions in Trujillo and has worked closely with the local hospital and Ministry of Health.  Free medical evaluations will be conducted by Operation Smile volunteers in Hospital Belen to identify surgical patients.  The ship will be anchored offshore and the Peruvian Navy and Coast Guard will transport patients to the ship and back.  Operation Smile’s medical team will work with Navy personnel to conduct three days of surgery. Post-operative care will also take place at Hospital Belen in Trujillo the week following surgery.       

 In late August, Operation Smile medical volunteers from Colombia will work at Hospital Departamental de Buenaventura to provide free medical evaluations and two days of surgery to children. 

 Comfort is operated and navigated by a crew of 68 civil service mariners (CIVMARS) from the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command.  During its four-month deployment, the ship is scheduled to make port calls in Belize, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
 
 Operation Smile, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, was honored to be invited to join USNS Comfort’s staff and crew on this deployment.  This is the second time Operation Smile has been invited to participate in a Navy hospital ship mission.  The first mission took place June 28-July 5, 2006, and involved nearly 40 Operation Smile volunteers deployed with the U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy to Chittagong, Bangladesh.  The Operation Smile international team provided free medical evaluations at Chittagong Medical College Hospital for more than 140 children and treated 54.  The patients selected for surgery were transported by helicopter from Chittagong to USNS Mercy where the surgeries took place.  This mission marked the first time Operation Smile has treated children from Bangladesh, with plans to conduct future missions in the country in the near future.

About Operation Smile (www.operationsmile.org)
Founded in 1982, Operation Smile, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, is a worldwide children’s medical charity whose network of global volunteers are dedicated to helping improve the health and lives of children and young adults.  Since its founding, Operation Smile has treated more than 100,000 children born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities. In addition to contributing free medical treatment, Operation Smile trains local medical professionals in its 25 partner countries and leaves behind crucial equipment to lay the groundwork for long-term self-sufficiency.  Operation Smile commemorates its 25th Anniversary with a year-long, multi-faceted series of initiatives to promote sustainability and capacity-building among its 25 mission countries.  The year-long anniversary celebration will culminate in November 2007, with the World Journey of Smiles, more than 40 simultaneous missions in 25 countries, with a goal of providing new smiles and new lives for an estimated 5,000 children living with facial deformities.

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Media Notes:  To receive images, b-roll footage or additional information, or to request an interview with an Operation Smile spokesperson, please contact Lisa Jones at ljones@operationsmile.org or 757-321-3252.  Regular updates on the Comfort deployment are available on the SOUTHCOM web site, www.southcom.mil and the NAVSO web site at www.cusns.navy.mil.