GC4 Update October 2011
Namaskar It is our pleasure to update you on the Guwahati Comprehensive Cleft Care Center. This unique public private partnership is making daily progress towards achieving our goals of Increased Capacity, Decreased Costs, and a Cleft Free Assam. October has been another month full of progress and evolution at GC4, and we very much hope you enjoy this update. --Team Guwahati
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10th and 11th International Missions Our September mission at the GC4 facility was a great success with the combined team of GC4 Staff members and Operation Smile volunteers working together to provide lifechanging surgeries to 135 Assamese patients. Our November “mission� will take place from November 12 to 20, the team will consist almost entirely of GC4 staff, with only two anesthesiologists and one plastic surgeon required to run four general anesthesia tables for seven days of surgery. GC4 has reached major milestones, and has become a self-sufficient and sustainable, high volume, full time cleft care center, and a successful model for quality surgical care in the developing world. Instead of missions, GC4 will now regularly host visitors and professionals from all disciplines to continue with educational exchange and expansion of our care.
GC4 Surgical Performance The number of children that receive quality long-term care continues to increase. The full time team now performs 50 free operations per week in the Center. With some help from our international friends, we treated 231 patients in September. Through September we have treated 1027 patients at GC4, and have been as busy as ever in October! 2
GC4 now is making major contributions to global cleft care, and currently is responsible for 18% of all patients treated by Operation Smile worldwide!
Patient Follow Up Program: Our new follow-up campaign is demonstrating substantial increases in patients returning for evaluations and future treatments. In the prior two months, we have tripled the number of patients being seen for early and late post-operative visits.
DOFAST Our District Outreach Follow-up and Speech Therapy program has taken off. 135 patients received evaluations and speech therapy sessions closer to home in September, who would not have otherwise received care. Our second DOFAST camp is scheduled for November 2nd-3rd in Nagaon, where hundreds of patients are expected. Our plastic surgeons, Patient Counselors, and speech therapist are headed back to the districts to continue this exciting program of expanded care.
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Patient Counselor Program Our team of Operation Smile Patient Counselors continues to break records in extending our services to patients in the most remote regions. They are constantly traveling the state to educate patients, families, and local healthcare workers about cleft lip and cleft palate. They identify, pre-screen, and facilitate transport for our patients to Guwahati for life changing operations and new smiles. These young men and women are vital to our success, and have expanded their roles into our outreach follow-up programs. On November 9th, a new class of Patient Counselors will join Team Guwahati. They will receive orientation and training so that they too can contribute to a cleft free Assam.
Division of Research and Outcomes: The Operation Smile India Institutional Ethics Committee serves as review board for all projects and met for the first time on October 25th. They approved seven research projects created by our division. This gives the go ahead for our research team to continue progress and eventually publish findings that will contribute the cleft care worldwide. Journal of the American College of Surgeons Features Guwahati Comprehensive Cleft Care Center In it’s October issue, the nation’s premiere surgical publication released an article describing GC4 as, “a modern surgical center devoted to the multidisciplinary treatment of cleft lip and palate in a region where local access to care is otherwise unavailable. “ It also points to GC4 as, “an example of sustainability progressing toward self-sufficiency .” Journal of the American College of Surgeons. 2011 Oct. 213(4):573-74. 4
Age: 3 months Malnourished
Nutrition Program
Age: 7 months Healthy!
A specialized nutrition team identifies malnourished patients and provides integral interventions, to rescue these patients and prepare them for successful operations. As you can see, our efforts are paying off!
Faces of Transformation (2011)
This mosaic of the Operation Smile logo is composed of 1462 unique photos of patients, families, staff members, and volunteers in the state of Assam in Northeast India. Inspired by diverse people working together towards a common vision, these images were shot and compiled by Dr. Alex Campbell and Dr. Carolina Restrepo L贸pez, while serving as founding plastic surgeons of the Guwahati Comprehensive Cleft Care Center and working with Team Guwahati for a cleft-free Assam. The first two editions have been donated for permanent display at GC4.
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