Operation Smile UK Spring 2014 Newsletter

Jus £150 antd 45-minu a operatio te n change can child’s li a fe

Spring 2014

>> CEO UPDATE Thank you so much for the support that you have shown us this year.

2013 was a fantastic year for Operation Smile; we achieved so much to help children across the world, but we couldn’t have done it without you.

Dreams come true for Valery in Guatemala

For children suffering with a cleft lip or palate there is no holiday from the bullying, rejection or physical pain their facial deformity causes them to endure. That’s why your continued support is so critical.

Your compassion and generosity really does change children’s lives forever. By helping to provide access to free surgery and the necessary aftercare, you are not only giving a new smile right now, you’re giving children the opportunity to make a better life for themselves.

You may remember I wrote to you recently asking for your help to fund a forthcoming medical project in Rwanda. In order to run this project and help perform more than 100 life-changing operations we needed to raise £56,000. As ever, your generosity has been amazing and we have met this target, which means we will be returning to Rwanda in May to carry out these operations. I cannot thank you enough.

Valery Joanne Merlos Castro was born in May 2012 in Guatemala. The pregnancy was planned and during the pregnancy Valery’s mum Silvia took vitamins, received proper prenatal care and didn’t drink or smoke.

She had already had one successful pregnancy. What should have been a happy time turned to fear when a routine scan revealed that Valery had a cleft lip and palate.

But in the week after her birth Silvia found feeding Valery difficult because of her cleft and as a result she was not putting on weight. The family’s financial position meant paying for an operation was out of the question.

Thanks to Facebook they found that Operation Smile was running a mission in Guatemala for the first time in 2012. They took Valery along and despite her “I had an ultrasound and weight she did well in the the doctor gave me the bad medical evaluation and news…Valery had a cleft Silvia soon got the good lip; we felt very bad, we left news that Valery had been Valery Castro before the clinic feeling as if it was her life-changing op approved for surgery. In a bad dream,” says Silvia.

October 2012, aged just It was even worse since they said it three months, Valery had her first was a bilateral cleft lip and cleft palate. surgery. The change was dramatic Silvia could not imagine how her and had an instant impact. child’s face would look. She knew it could be corrected with surgery, but “I will always be grateful to each what mother could be at ease knowing person that makes Operation Smile’s her baby would need surgery? work possible. After a few days Valery When Valery was born, Silvia was eating normally and we could see couldn’t stop thanking God for her life. a beautiful smile shine on her face.”

Follow the Smiles

and get real-time updates online!

Alex Talbot Chief Executive

Experience the joy of a child’s transformation by watching our YouTube videos.

Get real-time updates on our Twitter feed @opsmileuk. Then share the smiles and spread the word on Facebook.

>> FIELD UPDATE

>> OPERATION SMILE EVENTS

What YOU helped us achieve last year

A great night at

As the world’s largest volunteer-based medical charity of its kind, Operation Smile is committed to increasing our reach to improve the lives of children affected by clefts.

This not only means providing free

surgery through our medical projects, but building local sustainability through training of local medical teams and investment in partnerships with Governments and institutions to build Cleft Care Centres. This enables us to

474,047 Free Healthcare Evaluations.

By our paediatricians, surgeons, anaesthetists, dentists, speech therapists and child physiologists. For many patients this would have been the first time they had seen a doctor.

21,474 Free Surgeries

14,178 DENTAL PROCEDURES PERFORMED ON CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS, ASSISTING REPAIR OF CLEFTS AND SPEECH DEVELOPMENT.

*see our India article on the back page

OUR TEAM OF VOLUNTEERS HAS GROWN, WITH 185 NEW VOLUNTEERS MAKING THEIR FIRST PROJECT LAST YEAR.

2,028 Local Medical Volunteers trained.

We train local volunteers in order to improve healthcare standards in many poorer communities.

179

MEDICAL PROJECTS – WERE CONDUCTED ACROSS 37 COUNTRIES IN 12 MONTHS.

offer children the vital aftercare to get their lives back on track, including surgical evaluations, dentistry and speech therapy.

Take a look at what your donations helped us achieve last year...

30

Performed by volunteers on children and young adults worldwide. Approximately 30% of all surgical procedures were conducted in one of our 25 worldwide care centres* which provide year-round treatment for our patients.

5,400 MEDICAL VOLUNTEERS

Carols by Candlelight

New Medical Sites.

Last year we expanded our reach to treat more children in places such as Guatemala and Nepal for the first time.

62%

of surgeries were performed by local volunteers.

This shows continued progress in building in-country sustainability through the training and certification of local volunteers.

7,463 POST-OP EVALUATIONS ENSURING EACH PATIENTS GETS THE BEST POSSIBLE ONGOING CARE.

£3.6 million of Vital Medical Supplies including surgical supplies, pain relief and antibiotics, were shipped to medical projects last year. These are vital in upholding our standards of care.

Thank you to everyone who attended our London Carols by Candlelight in Mayfair and the City before Christmas.

The services were a fantastic success, raising just over £100,000 which will help us to transform the lives of children all over the world.

The services were supported by fantastic celebrity readers including Barbara Windsor, Bill Bailey, Honor Blackman, Clive Woodward, Mishal Husain, Lucy Kellaway and James Cracknell. The Overtones also performed our Christmas single, ‘Smile’.

Commenting on the evening, the new Dr Who, Peter Capaldi, said: “It was a lovely, festive evening, with fantastic performances from The Overtones and IDMC Gospel Choir. I’m thrilled to be supporting such an important and life-transforming cause.”

If you missed the Carols, fear not; you can join Smile Ambassadors Andrew Strauss and Shane Warne at the 6th Celebrity Cricket Day and Summer Ball on 4th July 2014 at the Bank of England Sports Ground.

For further information please visit www.operationsmile.org.uk/cricket

>> SUPPORTER SPOTLIGHT

Mark Gets Active...

Exercise more, enter more challenge overdue to help give others a similar events and get the work/life balance chance to transform their future by right were Mark Johnson’s three raising money for Operation Smile.

New Year’s Resolutions at the start During 2013, Mark duly completed of 2013. “I’ve never 12 spectacular events, been one of those on including the Brighton the side-lines, looking Marathon, a 250-mile in,” says Johnson, a cycle from Epsom to 42-year-old Sales Brussels and a run from Manager from Kent, sea level to the summit “but I’d allowed other of Snowdon and back things to stop me from down again. “It has entering events. I was been one of the most working hard and I memorable years of my was using that as an life. It’s changed my excuse.” whole outlook,” he says.

He resolved to Mark single-handedly achieve all three of raised an incredible his resolutions by £7,000, funds which committing to complete Mark Johnson raised £7000 will transform the lives 12 back-to-back events taking on 12 epic challenges of no fewer than 46 by the end of the year, children born with clefts. each one different from the last.

If you feel inspired by Mark’s Another motivation for Mark was achievements, or have decided this the life-changing reconstructive is the year to smash your New Year’s surgery for a cleft palate that he Resolution, we have a range of great received as a teenager. Having been challenges for you to get involved in. treated here in the UK, where babies are normally operated on before their For more details see operationsmile.org.uk first birthday, he felt the time was long or email fundraising@operationsmile.org.uk

2014 CALENDAR

OF EVENTS Hammer Sportive / 13th April The Hammer Trophy Cycling series are timed ‘personal challenge’ events with a distinctly European flavour. Whether you’re an experienced cyclist or a complete novice, the Hammer series lets you test yourself to reach a personal goal.

London Marathon / 13th April The Virgin London Marathon is one of the world’s most iconic marathons. Completing a marathon is a brilliant achievement in itself, but you can make it even more memorable by raising vital funds to give a child a new smile.

Trekfest / 7-8th June or 6-7th Sept This is a walking event, and the challenge is simple – every trekker aims to complete the 54-mile route within 24 hours, or the 27-mile route within 12 hours. There are two locations to choose from – Brecon Beacons or Peak District.

Windsor Triathlon / 15th June Being titled the ‘Event of the Year’, this scenic triathlon based in England’s Royal county is one not to be missed. With limited places available you’ll need to be quick!

Celebrity Cricket Day & Summer Ball / 4th July Once again we’re bringing together the ‘who’s who’ of international cricket for our celebrity tournament, then in the evening we’ll ‘transport’ you to Rio for a night of fine dining, glamour and fabulous entertainment at our Summer Ball.

British 10K / 13th July Can you see yourself taking to the streets of London this summer to enjoy England’s most iconic 10k with your family and friends? This run is perfect for Miles for Smiles runners of all abilities. Sponsorship of £150 and one hour of running will change the life of one child forever.

RideLondon 100 / 10th August After huge success for Team GB’s cycling stars at the London 2012 Olympic Games, RideLondon 100 celebrates the new legacy for cycling. The RideLondon event offers a series of events for riders of all levels to take part.

Royal Parks Half Marathon / 12th Oct Run through four of London’s spectacular Royal Parks and past many of the city’s world-famous landmarks. Every year London’s Hyde Park glows with the last rays of summer whilst our runners complete the challenging course.

Miles for Smiles Cycling Club We host monthly training rides for all Miles for Smiles cyclists on the first Sunday of every month. In partnership with Hammer Sports, the rides are for cyclists of all abilities and head out from Hampton Court in south-west London.

Find out more about all of our events – www.operationsmile.org.uk

0844 581 1110 • operationsmile.org.uk Charity Reg. No.1091316

Plea e s ee our wes b s it e for the lates t n e w s, and fo on Faclleow us book and Twit ter

Guwahati Cleft Care Centre reaches 10,000th surgery Following our Blue Peter Appeal visit in 2009, we committed to build a dedicated Cleft Care Centre in Guwahati, India. Working with the Indian Government and National Rural Health, the state-of-the-art Care Centre, opened in 2011 with the aim of making Assam the first cleft-free state.

Since then we have provided year-round care to cleft patients, including post-op care, dentistry, speech therapy and counselling. It also provides a central hub for the training of local medical professionals. The centre, one of 25 worldwide, is a prime example of the sustainable initiatives run by Operation Smile.

At the end of 2013 Operation Smile India celebrated performing its 10,000th life-changing cleft operation in less than four years when Serlin, a one year-old baby girl received surgery.

“It’s exhilarating for me and my entire team to be part of history in Operation Smile India. We are so grateful and really appreciate the dedication and contribution of all of our staff, supporters, and volunteers who make this work possible,” says Care Centre Director Mahesh Deori.

Volunteer staff at the Guwahati Care Centre, one of 25 worldwide

Sarban received life-changing surgery at Guwahati Care Centre

>> VOLUNTEER MAP Operation Smile is truly worldwide: here’s where more UK volunteers are off to in the next few months

A E

J

D

B

F

G C H

A B C D E F

Mission Site Jordan India Bolivia Myanmar Mexico Nicaragua

Date Jan Feb March April March Feb

UK Volunteers 1 9 1 2 1 2

Mission Site G DRC H Paraguay J Dom. Republic

Date March March April

UK Volunteers 1 1 1

Thank you to The Emirates Airline Foundation for donating flights to our medical volunteers and saving Operation Smile vital funds.

>> VOLUNTEER FOCUS

What g volunteerine means to m Our UK volunteers are preparing to visit nine countries in the next few months. Your gifts have helped ensure that our teams have all the necessary medical equipment and supplies they need to perform life-changing surgeries for waiting children. Dorothy (pictured above) is one of our volunteer nurses.

Dorothy, a retired UK scrub theatre practitioner, has been volunteering for Operation Smile for two years.

She’s been on three medical projects to date, two in China and the third one in Bolivia, South America.

“I started volunteering for Operation Smile because I wanted to make use of my nursing skills to help those in need. I loved the first project I went on to China. I’m Chinese myself, so I feel even more empathy for the children in that area knowing that I am helping to improve their quality of life. Being born with a facial disfigurement can make a child’s life miserable. To think that a simple operation that takes as little as 45 minutes can change this is amazing and it is great to be part of that!”

If you’d like to find out more about becoming a medical or non-medical volunteer, you can contact us on volunteers@ operationsmile.org.uk or by calling 0844 581 1110.