Operation Smile celebrates 35 years of bringing health and hope to Filipino kids
35 years on, Operation Smile continues to transform children’s lives through reconstructive surgery and therapy
sk anyone if they know about Operation Smile and the automatic answer will be “Oh, aren’t they the people who fix harelips in children?” While this is true, Operation Smile’s mission goes beyond the mere reconstruction of paediatric facial deformities. It would be more appropriate to say that the 35-year-old organisation is dedicated to improving children’s chances in life through reconstruction and relevant therapy.
“A child who can’t speak and isn’t eating because of a deformity isn’t going anywhere in life,” opines Operation Smile co-founder and president Kathleen Magee, who was recently in the country as part of its 35th anniversary. This was the impetus behind the medical mission that brought her and her husband Dr William Magee, a paediatric plastic surgeon, to the Philippines in 1981. “We went to Naga in the Bicol region where we were met by 300 families who were advised that they could get free reconstructive surgery for their children. At the time, we could only take care of 40 cases but the number of patients who came was overwhelming. We promised to come back and finish the job.”
The Magees kept their promise and, today, Operation Smile missions are held in over 60 countries, improving the lives of over three million children worldwide. Along with reconstructive surgery for harelips, cleft palates, and facial tumours, Operation Smile also provides speech therapy and dental care through its Care Centres in various parts of the world.
A Continuing Mission
Today, Operation Smile continues its periodic medical missions to various parts of the world, most especially in the Philippines where nearly 5,000 children are born with deformities of the palate every year. Its scope has grown to include adults with particularly jarring deformities or who require surgery for disfiguring tumours in the face and jaw.
The organisation has also made a foray into digital applications which could expand their reach to the farthest places in the country. Produced in tandem with the Boy Scouts of the Philippines and Smart Communications, the app enables individuals to take pictures of those in need of reconstructive surgery but do not have the finances or live in particularly remote provinces. The pictures are transmitted to Operation SmilePhilippines which promptly dispatches a team to the patient’s location.
Proper Care for All
Now on its 35th year, Operation Smile has launched a new global initiative called Until We Heal, which brings together those with shared advocacies along with governments and healthcare experts to push for access to safe surgery and appropriate medical care for individuals with cleft conditions.
Through Until We Heal, Operation Smile aims to meet three of the 17 sustainable development goals set by the World Health Organisation (WHO): to increase public awareness regarding specific health conditions through better education and information; to ensure equitable access to health services, particularly safe surgery and related therapies; and to ensure and promote better health for all.
As Kathleen puts it, “Operation Smile believes that safe surgical care is a universal human right, and we are doing our part to address the problem by providing safe and effective cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries around the world, training doctors, and by providing medical equipment and resources.”
Thanks to its medical programmes throughout the globe, Operation Smile has helped reduce the stigma attached to those with cleft conditions. More than just restoring smiles to children’s faces, it continues to help them build a future where they can stand proud and without fear as good and useful citizens.
For further information on Operation Smile’s Until We Heal initiative or to sign a pledge of commitment to help the cause, log on to untilweheal.org