OPERATION SMILE MEDICAL MISSIONS TAKING PLACE FEBRUARY 20–MARCH 1 IN NICARAGUA AND HONDURAS

   Two teams of Operation Smile volunteers will work simultaneously in Nicaragua and Honduras to assist children born with facial deformities.  An Operation Smile Medical Mission team will arrive in Chinandega, Nicaragua, for an international medical mission taking place February 20-March 1, 2008.  The team consists of more than 35 medical and non-medical volunteers from Bolivia, Canada, Ecuador, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and the United States.  Another Operation Smile team will arrive in Tegucigalpa, Honduras for a medical mission taking place February 20-March 1, 2008 to treat children born with facial deformities.  The team consists of more than 40 medical and non-medical volunteers from Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, the United States and Venezuela. Founded in 1982, Operation Smile is a worldwide children’s medical charity dedicated to helping improve the health and lives of children and young adults. 

Who: 

Two Operation Smile International Mission Teams each comprised of credentialed medical professionals from around the world to include: 
Dr. Armando Siu, plastic surgeon and Operation Smile Nicaragua Medical Director
Dr. Ben Hu, anesthesiologist from California
Lucia Mauer, R.N., clinical coordinator from Washington
Sharon Neece, R.N., pre/post-op nurse from Virginia 
Susan Craig, medical records specialist from Florida
Dr. Oscar Sarmiento, plastic surgeon and Operation Smile Honduras Medical Director
Dr. Juan Carlos Funes, plastic surgeon and Operation Smile Honduras Assistant Medical Director
Kathy Majette, R.N., pre/post-op nurse from Virginia

When:  

February 20-March 1, 2008

Where:  

Hospital España    
Chinandega, Nicaragua 

Hospital San Felipe
Tegucigalpa, Honduras

   Nicaragua became an Operation Smile partner country in 1993.  Since that time, Operation Smile medical volunteers have provided more than 3,800 Nicaraguan children with free medical evaluations and more than 1,900 have received life-changing surgery during medical missions.  This is the second mission to be held in the city of Chinandega, 15 international medical missions have taken place in Managua.  The last Nicaraguan international medical mission took place in November 2007 during Operation Smile’s 25th Anniversary World Journey of Smiles, when a mission team of more than 40 medical and non-medical volunteers from Australia, Canada and the United States arrived at Hospital Infantil Manuel de Jesus Rivera in Managua to work with Operation Smile Nicaragua volunteers.  Parents from throughout Nicaragua brought their children to the hospital hoping that their son or daughter would be chosen for surgery.  Plastic surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, pediatricians, a dentist, child life specialist and speech pathologist worked together to bring new smiles to children suffering from facial deformities.  The medical team provided 225 children and young adults with free medical evaluations and 101 patients received free reconstructive surgery. 

   Honduras became an Operation Smile partner country in 1997.  Since that time, Operation Smile medical volunteers have provided more than 3,750 children with free medical evaluations and more than 1,600 have received life-changing surgery during medical missions.  The last mission to Honduras took place in November 2007 during Operation Smile’s 25th Anniversary World Journey of Smiles, when more than 40 medical and non-medical volunteer team members from Britain, Canada and the United States worked with a Honduran medical team in Santa Rosa de Copan. The medical team conducted free medical evaluations for 71 children and young adults and provided surgery for 62 patients suffering with facial deformities.

   In August 2007, Operation Smile Honduras opened the operating rooms in its new Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate Clinic. The Clinic allows Operation Smile to provide pre and post-operative evaluations,
follow-up speech therapy and dental appointments, as well as administrative services to plan local missions staffed by Honduran medical teams. With the opening of the Clinic, Operation Smile Honduras is able to provide care for more children throughout the year.  In 2007, Operation Smile provided its partner countries with state-of-the-art medical equipment, which will allow Operation Smile Honduras to perform surgeries year round in its new Clinic.  More than 200 patients come on a regular basis for free medical care and psycho-social services the clinic offers in the fields of plastic surgery, pediatrics, speech pathology, orthodontics, nutrition and psychology.  More than 1,000 consultations have been conducted by the Foundation’s medical volunteers since the clinic opened.