Field Note

Operation Smile
Changing Lives, One Smile at a Time

Lisa D. Jones
Operation Smile

In 1982, Bill Magee, a plastic surgeon, and his wife Kathy, a nurse and clinical social worker, joined a group of U.S. doctors going to the Philippines to operate on children suffering from cleft lips and cleft palates. For five days, the surgical team worked 16-hour shifts and operated on nearly 150 children in three cities. But another 250 children had to be turned away.

When the Magees returned home to Norfolk, VA, they made the commitment to return to the Philippines to care for those children who were left behind. Within a few months, Bill and Kathy raised money and received donated surgical equipment and supplies. In 1982, Operation Smile was launched when the Magees and 18 volunteer doctors and nurses went to the Philippines on its first mission.

Today, Operation Smile supports missions to 24 countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, providing free reconstructive surgery to children and young adults who suffer from cleft lips, cleft palates, tumors, burns and other facial deformities. "The bottom line is changing the life of one child at a time," says Dr. Magee. And to date, Operation Smile volunteers have provided free reconstructive surgery to more than 98,000 children and young adults around the world.

In the developing world, one child in 500 suffers from a facial deformity, almost double the rate in the U.S. Children born in the U.S. with these conditions receive corrective surgery in early childhood, but in developing countries families cannot afford surgery or don't have access to the health care they need.

Approximately 250,000 children are born each year around the world with cleft lips and cleft palates. They have difficulty speaking, eating and even breathing. Most of these children live in embarrassment and isolation. They don't attend school, and some are even abandoned. In as little as 45 minutes, a surgeon can repair a child's cleft lip, bringing hope and possibility not only to the child but also to the family and their town or village. More than 5,000 volunteers have joined Operation Smile to share their time, skills and commitment. Volunteers from countries around the world work side-by-side during two-week medical missions to treat children suffering from deformities. An Operation Smile medical mission team includes plastic surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, a pediatrician, dentist, speech pathologist, child life specialist and biomedical technician. During a typical two-week mission, approximately 300 to 500 patients receive free medical evaluations, many for the first time in their life. An average of 100 to 150 are surgically treated.

A New Smile - A Grateful Family
In January 2005, Operation Smile conducted its annual international medical mission to Managua, Nicaragua. The mission team included nearly 50 medical and non-medical volunteers from Brazil, Canada, Panama, the United States and Venezuela who worked with Operation Smile Nicaragua medical volunteers at Hospital Infantil Manuel de Jesus Rivera. Parents from throughout Nicaragua brought their children to the hospital, hoping that their son or daughter will be chosen for surgery.

During this mission, the volunteers met a five-year-old boy named William who was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate. In 2004, William's father did not have enough money for them to make the seven-hour journey from their rural community to Managua for Operation Smile's annual medical mission. But in 2005, he was able to make enough by selling coffee.

William's grandmother brought him to the mission. William has four siblings, and was the only one born with a deformity, so William's grandmother thought he was sick. She believed that a comet or asteroid had caused his deformities. Consequently, he didn't go to school and his grandmother said kids in the community made fun of him and called him "split lip." William received surgery to repair both his cleft lip and cleft palate. The day after surgery, William's overjoyed granmother could already tell the change in him. She knew the surgery would change his life as well as the whole family's. She was very grateful, saying that William's parents would be thrilled. Now he will be able to eat properly, speak well, and go to school. William was among 121 patients who received life-changing surgery in Nicaragua.

For more information about Operation Smile, visit www.operationsmile.org

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