Operation Smile Reaches Milestone: 150,000 Children Receive New Smiles

Operation Smile, an international children’s medical charity, proudly announced an incredible milestone: the organization has given 150,000 smiles to children and young adults around the world who previously suffered from a debilitating cleft lip or cleft palate. More than 150,000 lives are now changed forever. A look back at the organization’s history over the last 28 years showcases substantial growth, and an ever-evolving model. As Operation Smile nears its 30-year anniversary, it looks ahead to future initiatives designed to create even greater results for patients.

Recently, on Operation Smile’s medical mission in Guayaquil, Ecuador, the first patient was 2-year-old Cristian Nunez from Quito. Little did he know he represents the first child of the next thousands of patients whose lives will be transformed by a surgery that can take as little as 45 minutes. What his parents did know is that after his surgery, he will never again be shunned or rejected because of his appearance; he can finally eat and speak clearly as he grows up.

The need for quality cleft care is urgent. Every 3 minutes, it is estimated that a child is born with a cleft condition. 1 in 10 children born with a cleft die before their first birthday – 12 percent of children born with clefts die under the age of 5. Additionally, craniofacial disorders affect more children every year than all childhood cancers combined. Operation Smile is dedicated to raising awareness of this life-threatening issue and providing lasting solutions that allow children to be healed, regardless of financial standing, well into the future.

With the help of international medical volunteers and generous donations, Operation Smile provides free reconstructive surgeries to children worldwide. Since its founding in 1982, Operation Smile has grown and evolved into an organization focused on safe surgery for all its patients and building self-sustaining networks in its partner countries. What began as a single visit to the Philippines almost three decades ago is now a catalyst for improved healthcare systems in over 50 countries.

This past fiscal year, Operation Smile provided nearly 15,000 children with new smiles – the most children treated in one year in the history of the organization. Considering the growth over the past five years – with over 51,700 patients treated during that time frame, equaling about 34% of the total patients – Operation Smile’s dream of expanding its reach to even more countries and building a model of self-sufficiency is becoming a reality. Today, more than 64 percent of Operation Smile’s 150 medical missions each year originate from partner countries that are developing their own medical volunteer base and resources to conduct missions at the local level, rather than hosting international volunteers.

“Operation Smile has hit a landmark moment of now operating on over 150,000 individuals and thousands of families whose lives we have had the opportunity to touch,” said Dr. Bill Magee, Founder and CEO of Operation Smile. “And then there are thousands of volunteers who also have been touched, by sharing their times, talents, and treasures with others. Then when we consider the villages that each child impacts by his or her visual change, you can begin to see the dimension that Operation Smile has affected.”

In addition, Operation Smile has established Comprehensive Care Centers in China, India, Vietnam, Columbia, Morocco, Jordan and Honduras. These Centers specialize in the care of children with facial deformities, allowing Operation Smile to treat more children; provide more in-country educational opportunities; and address all the issues surrounding childhood facial deformities to include post-operative care, counseling, speech therapy, dentistry, orthodontics, and nutrition.

Through the years, Operation Smile has always operated in the belief that, one day, every child will have the chance to smile. As we near Operation Smile’s 30-year anniversary, Operation Smile has developed the following initiatives to move the partner countries toward further self-sufficiency:

• Providing training and education for local healthcare providers in the partner countries
• Creating stronger healthcare infrastructures in those same countries through donated medical supplies at the local hospitals; building relationships with other NGOs; and constructing Comprehensive Care Centers in the partner countries that provide ongoing healthcare for patients
• Establishing Operation Smile foundations in each of the partner countries

Future initiatives include increased efforts in two areas of the world where astronomical numbers of children suffer from clefts: India and China. In India, Operation Smile entered into a public-private partnership with the state of Assam to treat children with facial deformities in the region. Each day in India, an average of 135 children are born with a cleft lip or cleft palate. In 2010, an Operation Smile team of 244 medical volunteers from 19 countries carried out a milestone medical mission in Guwahati that provided 1,871 free medical evaluations and 967 facial reconstructive surgeries. To honor the organization’s 20th year anniversary of working in China, Operation Smile is planning an extraordinary China medical mission for 2011. More than 34,000 children are estimated to be born in China each year with a cleft.

As the organization’s model expands, one commitment stays constant. Operation Smile is committed to the belief that safe surgery saves lives. The organization’s Global Standards of Care ensures every patient treated by Operation Smile benefits from the same sophisticated equipment, procedures and highly-trained, credentialed medical volunteers, no matter where they receive treatment. Every medical volunteer – in the United States and internationally – must be credentialed following Operation Smile standards in order to guarantee excellence in cleft care. Operation Smile’s Regional Medical Officers work with in-country medical councils to lead medical quality assurance matters, equipment needs, site preparation, staffing and credentialing — to ensure all local regions are in compliance with the Global Standards of Care. Operation Smile is the only cleft organization that supports the World Health Organization’s Safe Surgery Saves Lives initiative, which includes the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist, which is designed to improve the safety of surgical care throughout the world – even in the developing world.

All children deserve to live their lives with dignity. And for those suffering from cleft lip, cleft palate or other facial deformities, dignity begins with a smile. For updates on Operation Smile’s global efforts, visit the daily blogs on www.operationsmile.org, follow @operationsmile on Twitter, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/operationsmile.

About Operation Smile (www.operationsmile.org) Founded in 1982 by Dr. Bill and Kathy Magee, 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 150,000 children born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities and the organization has a presence in more than 50 countries. In addition to contributing free medical treatment, Operation Smile trains local medical professionals in its partner countries and leaves behind crucial equipment to lay the groundwork for long-term self-sufficiency.