Virtual telehealth program wins silver at 56th Anvil

EACH day, 540 children around the world are born with a cleft, causing difficulties with eating, breathing, hearing, and speaking. To help these children, Smile Train, the world’s leading cleft organization, supports 100%-free cleft repair surgery and comprehensive cleft care for children globally—a service that could have been severely disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic, if not for the Virtual Telehealth Program and Speech Camp that was launched in the Philippines.

Since the start of the pandemic, Smile Train’s Speech Telehealth Program in the Philippines has treated over 100 patients, providing them with more than 700 cleft care-related sessions, including speech therapy, nutritional support, breastfeeding guidance for mothers of babies with clefts, pre-surgical consultations, and psychosocial care. This initiative was recently recognized during the 56th Anvil Awards as the organization bagged the Silver Award.

Launched in April 2020, two weeks into the lockdown, the Virtual Telehealth program is manned by volunteer speech language pathologists. Maximizing technology and social media, the Virtual Telehealth Program made use of Facebook Live, chat applications such as Viber and Messenger, and online discussions to ensure that speech therapy classes continued virtually. Moreover, the telehealth program managed to reach cleft patients who live in rural or isolated communities and made its services more readily available or convenient for people with limited mobility, time, or transportation options.

”This recognition by our peers in the communication industry is proof that we are making headway in our call for a more efficient telehealth network. A combination of a variety of solutions as encouraged by telehealth will ensure that children and adolescents with special needs do not get left behind, especially during a global pandemic,” said Kimmy Coseteng-flaviano, Area Director – So uth East Asia, Smile Train.

The over 700 sessions given to more than 100 patients were provided from April 1st to December 31, 2020. With a strategy focused on educating, amplifying, and sustaining, Smile Train’s Virtual Telehealth Program garnered widespread coverage in the media, positive public reception, increased recognition for Smile Train and its advocacy, and ultimately saw an increase in speech language pathologists interested in working with Smile Train Philippines.