International updates

Across the globe!

The Smiles Club at the Grove School in Connecticut sponsored a campus Hat Day where staff and students donated $1 or more to wear a hat for the day, and collected nearly $100 in donations. Later on, The Smiles Club held a bake sale which raised $250 more.

Operation Smile Club at Lexington High School, Massachusetts, has raised $20,000 to fund 83 surgeries since it was founded two years ago. Club members raised both funds and awareness through lollipop and smiley-face pin drives. They further collected $7000 through a benefit dinner which included a silent auction.

Isn’t it amazing how our peers across the globe are similarly devoting themselves to this common cause?(:

Operation Smile Train...?!?

Unveiling the truth to why Operation Smile has changed its name recently…

Extracted from Operation Smile’s official website:http://www.operationsmile.org/

On the 14th of February 2011, the boards of directors of Smile Train and Operation Smile, two of the leading cleft lip and cleft palate charities in the world, announced that they have voted to combine the two organizations into a single new entity, to be known as Operation Smile Train.

In a joint statement, Charles B. Wang, Co-founder of Smile Train and Dr. William P. and Kathleen S. Magee, Co-founders of Operation Smile, said, “We are delighted that our boards have voted to unite our two organizations. By combining our talented staffs and programs, we bring together the best volunteer doctors and other medical personnel, with the best in-country facilities, and will be able to reach more children than the two charities would have separately. Additionally, our merged resources and knowledge will enhance educational and research programs, laying the foundation for long-term, locally-driven progress in cleft lip and cleft palate treatment.”

Howard J. Unger, currently the Chief Operating Officer of Operation Smile, will hold the same title in the new organization and will have day-to-day management responsibility. Operation Smile Train will be headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, and will have an office in New York City.

With a combined history of over 40 years, Smile Train and Operation Smile have jointly provided 750,000 surgeries to children with cleft lips and/or cleft palates. Together, their operations span over 90 countries, where they also have helped provide related training to thousands of surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and other medical professionals.

William R. Fox, the current Chairman of Operation Smile’s Board, commented, “This is a natural combination that unites two of the leading cleft lip and cleft palate charities into what will be one of the largest surgical, humanitarian, non-profit organizations in the world. Over many years our two organizations have distinguished themselves by providing life-changing surgeries to hundreds of thousands of children around the world, while operating in a highly efficient manner. Operation Smile Train will continue this tradition. We are tremendously excited for what lies ahead.”

So are we! May Operation Smile Train scale greater heights to recreate even more smiles around the world.

Overseas Diaries

International mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh: January 15-23

Operation Smile’s second international mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh was a great success. Medical volunteers hailing from 11 countries including Bangladesh, Singapore,China, India and even Peru provided medical examinations for 148 patients and surgery for 98 children.

Part of this mission, were four of our very own Operation Smile Singapore students, including Karen Oung, General Secretary of the OSSSCNEC.

Karen shares her experiences on her first ever mission trip:

The 15th to the 23rd of January 2011 were a couple of extremely meaningful days for the 4 of us participating in the Dhaka mission trip as student volunteers. In Dhaka, we saw first-hand the efforts of Operation Smile Singapore and the entire National Chapter come to fruition; 98 cleft-lip and –palate patients underwent surgery; an experience that has changed their lives forever.

In all honesty, we arrived at the mission site not really knowing what to expect. It was clear from the start that we would be pretty helpless from the medical standpoint, since none of us had the necessary training or education. However, we are quite proud to say that we did contribute positively to the overall success of the mission. This was possible due to us taking on various roles such as that of Medical Records and Electronic Medical Records personnel and Patient Imaging Technicians.

The main responsibility of the Electronic Medical Recorder was to keep track of and generate operating schedules as changes were made throughout each day. Together with the Electronic Medical Recorder, Medical Recorders ensured that all surgeons, nurses and other medical staff were kept updated on each patient’s medical condition, such as patient allergies etc. Patient imaging, on the other hand, involved documenting the patients’ cleft-lip or –palate conditions at different stages in their treatment, namely pre- and post-operation.

It is difficult to put into words what exactly each of us student volunteers took away from this mission. However, it is perhaps the simplest answer to say that being in Dhaka and contributing, albeit indirectly, to the 89 miracles there has given greater meaning to the continued work we do as members of the Operation Smile Singapore National Chapter.

Check out the mission blog at http://tinyurl.com/4f986mx right now!

For reflections on the mission by our student volunteers, please visit: http://www.just-photography.com/blog/date/2011/02

Groovy Trivia

Approximately one in every 500 babies in Asia is born with a cleft lip and/or cleft palate.

A cleft patient’s smile can be repaired in as little as 45 minutes, and for as little as S$360.