Operation Smile Provides Free Surgery in Hinche, Haiti, from December 8-13

An Operation Smile team of international medical volunteers will be in Hinche, Haiti, from December 8-13, where they will provide free physical examinations and reconstructive surgery to children suffering with facial deformities.  More than 20 Operation Smile medical and non-medical volunteer team members, including plastic surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and others, will care for children who suffer from cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities.  This is Operation Smile’s second medical mission in the country of Haiti and is part of a continuing collaboration with Partners In Health, a non-profit corporation active in the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa, Russia, and the United States, that provides a preferential option for the poor in health care. In Haiti, working in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Population (MSPP), Partners In Health provides comprehensive community-based primary care services and treatment for HIV and tuberculosis at nine sites in the Central Plateau and Artibonite.  Operation Smile volunteers from Colombia, Norway, Russia and the United States will work with Partners In Health and MSPP staff at Saint Theresa Hospital in Hinche.  The medical team will conduct free physical examinations for patients on December 8, followed by free surgeries on December 9-13.  Cleft lips and/or cleft palates occur in approximately 1 per 500-700 births in the world.  More than 200,000 children are born with a facial deformity each year worldwide. It is estimated that more than 15,000 people in Haiti are currently suffering with these deformities.
 
Operation Smile will conduct a series of medical education and training programs for more than 40 Haitian medical professionals. On December 4, Operation Smile will conduct a Basic Life Support (BLS) training course for Haitian nurses and on December 5, will conduct a pre-Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) course. Operation Smile is the only organization authorized by the American Heart Association to function as a global and mobile International Training Organization (ITO).  In addition, several Operation Smile medical volunteers will conduct lectures on December 10. Operation Smile anesthesiologist Dr. Kelly McQueen will give a presentation titled “Labor Delivery/C-Section Anesthesia.”  Operation Smile Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist Mary Dudley will lecture on Neonatal Resuscitation and Infant Physiology.  And Operation Smile Pediatric Anesthesiologist Dr. Judith Brill will speak about Airway/Laringospasm/Mask Ventilation/LMAs in children and adults. Partners In Health has identified local medical staff and nurses from the National Nursing School in Port-au-Prince to participate in training, and has provided Operation Smile with its educational facility, located on the hospital campus, to host the education programs.

Operation Smile and Partners In Health have both been awarded the $1 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize to recognize outstanding contributions made to alleviate human suffering. This shared honor has brought the two organizations together for this collaboration in Haiti.  For this medical mission, Partners In Health has arranged local ground transportation, meals and lodging for the volunteers.  Partners In Health has also provided some of the medical supplies, such as oxygen tanks and IV fluids, to be used during the mission.  Working with Haitian Customs agents, Partners In Health successfully cleared Operation Smile’s medical supplies and equipment into the country.  In addition, Partners In Health has contacted cleft lip and cleft palate patients in their network and has arranged for a shelter to house patients who have traveled long distances. 

 Dr. John Meara, Plastic Surgeon-in-Chief at Children’s Hospital Boston,will serve as the Field Medical Director during the mission.  Also joining the medical team is Dr. Stephen Sullivan, Dr. Meara’s 2008 global surgery fellow.  The purpose of the fellowship, which is organized through Children's Hospital Boston and Partners In Health, is to train leaders who will further promote surgical care, education, and research pertinent to global surgery.

The last Operation Smile medical mission conducted in Haiti took place in March 2008, when a team of more than 30 medical and non-medical volunteers from Brazil, Canada, Colombia and the United States worked with local Haitian medical volunteers at Saint Theresa Hospital in Hinche and provided 64 patients with free reconstructive surgery.  This was Operation Smile’s first medical mission in Haiti as part of a collaboration with Partners In Health.  During the mission, Operation Smile also conducted a series of medical education and training programs for more than 60 Haitian medical professionals. 

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 volunteers have treated more than 120,000 children born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities and currently work in 51 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. 

About Partners In Health (www.pih.org)
Partners In Health (PIH) is a nonprofit corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1987, PIH is committed to working with partner organizations to improve the health and well-being of people living in poor communities. PIH currently provides technical and financial assistance, medical supplies, and administrative support to partner projects in Haiti, Peru, Russia, Rwanda, Lesotho, Malawi, Burundi, Mexico, Guatemala, and Boston.

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.

For additional information or interviews with Partners In Health, please contact Andrew Marx at amarx@pih.org or 617-432-1976.