GlobalGiving.org: Free Cleft Surgery for 400 Poor Children in India

Abandoned, Rescued, and Saved Again

Duncan Quirk — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:31:31 GMT

Derhadun, India — After a long day's work, Mr. Amarjeet Singh Narwal finally lay asleep on a cold, peaceful night. Around 3a.m., he was startled awake by a strange wailing outside. He threw on a coat and opened the door, where he found an infant wrapped in a dirty, tattered piece of cloth. He cradled the baby in his arms, assuming that the boy's parents had abandoned their son at his door due to his cleft lip and palate.

Amarjeet and his wife brought Krishna, as they named him, to Jankalayan Samiti, a local NGO, to see if they could help. The group provided the Narwals with food and clothes for the baby. The difficulty of feeding little Krishna left him underweight and suffering from a repeated cough and fever. Despite the help they received, when they learned that Krishna would also suffer from speech difficulties on top of his deformity, they feared that his young life and future would be full of despair and torment.

One day, the Himalayan Institute’s Smile Train team reached Panipat for a health camp. The members of Jankalyan Samiti contacted the team about the Narwals and Krishna's treatment in great detail, providing a ray of hope. Amarjeet soon brought his 5-month-old son to Smile Train partner Himalayan Hospital (known locally as Jolly Grant Hospital). Further examinations at the hospital revealed along with a cleft lip and palate, Krishna also suffered from malnutrition and a skin infection. Seeing Krishna’s condition, the Smile Train team started the necessary antibiotic treatment and taught the Narwals proper feeding techniques, basic health care, and nutrition.

The results of the treatment were fantastic and Krishna was soon ready for his free surgery. To top it all off, surgeon Dr. Sanjay Dvivedi convinced the management of the Himalayan Institute to financially support Krishna after his treatment. Dr. Dvivedi repaired Krishna’s cleft lip and nose free of charge, giving him a bright new smile. Krishna was soon discharged from the hospital with his relieved family and has been scheduled for free cleft palate surgery when he is 9 months old. Thanks to the expert Smile Train team at Himalayan Institute, the Narwals can look forward to a bright future for their new son.

Famed Violinist Brings Cheer to Patients in India

Duncan Quirk — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:57:33 GMT

Smile Train donor Paul Peabody

Varanasi, India - Paul Peabody, acclaimed violinist with the New York City Ballet and part of the Grammy winning orchestra that scored "Titanic," just returned from an unforgettable journey providing the gift of music throughout India. A long time Smile Train supporter, Paul enjoyed his second tour of Smile Train India partner hospitals, playing fiddle for patients, families, doctors, and staff.

He spent most of his five weeks alongside Smile Train partners Dr. Sunil Richardson, Dr. Jyostna Murthy, and Dr. Subodh Singh. Paul comforted patients with a myriad of music from classical to traditional Hindi songs, but the requests really came pouring in when staff would find out that he played an integral role in the music for "Titanic." Paul primarily rotated between the waiting room and the recovery room to calm the fears of patients and parents before surgery and use the healing powers of music to aid in their recovery. Towards the end of his trip, Paul was even asked to play for the doctors inside the OR.

"When Dr. Sunil Richardson asked if I would play [in the OR], I gave a stricken look and I made him promise me that there was no way that my sounds could interfere at all with anyone's concentration! He told me that many surgeons actually play classical music to help them concentrate. In the OR everything worked like clockwork: extremely peaceful."

Children who had never heard, let alone seen, a violin before, found themselves glued to their seats as the music washed over them. Whether it was playing Hindi folk songs to comfort crying patients, or playing some of the pop songs he worked on for Michael Jackson and Madonna, Paul's talents, enthusiasm, and kindness revered him to everyone he met.

His visit coincided with India's Independence Day, August 15, where he joined in the celebration by playing for and assisting in Dr. Singh's tree planting, Green Independence Day Initiative. Paul has recently returned to New York and is already getting ready to plan his trip next year.

Paul Peabody playing in the Smile Train OR

Paul Peabody and Smile Train Dr. Subodh Singh

G.S. Memorial Hospital's 20,000th Surgery

Duncan Quirk — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 16:41:21 GMT

Baby, G.S. Memorial's 20,000th Smile Train Patient

Recently, one of Smile Train’s oldest and highest performing partner hospitals, G. S. Memorial Plastic Surgery Hospital in Varanasi, India, reached a new milestone — 20,000 Smile Train sponsored free cleft surgeries. Under the leadership of Dr. Subodh Kumar Singh, G. S. Memorial is one of the largest cleft centers in the world and has been a Smile Train partner since April 2004. Dr. Subodh and his staff are also featured in the 2008 Academy Award®-winning Documentary, Smile Pinki.

The 20,000th patient, Baby, is an 8-month-old girl born with both a cleft lip and palate. She was originally screened by Dr. Subodh at a camp in Daltonganj, Jharkhand when she was 13 days old, but was not fit for her surgery scheduled in December. She returned this summer for her surgery and became G.S. Memorial’s 20,000th patient.

Smile Train Conference in India Underway

Duncan Quirk — Tue, 10 May 2011 14:20:47 GMT

NK-India

Hyderabad, India – Coming all the way from Nigeria, Nkeiruka Obi (NK for short) our new Program Manager of West Africa, met her counterparts for the first time. Under the guidance of expert Smile Train partner Dr. Subodh (of Smile Pinki fame), NK witnessed a cleft examination at a special conference designed to bring together the international Smile Train team and set forth a structural plan for the coming years.

NK is responsible for bolstering our programs throughout Western Africa, a hard task considering the lack of trained surgeons and deeprooted superstitions in many of the countries she will be working in. NK remains undaunted in her task of growing Smile Train’s programs and is determined to make the most of her time in Hyderabad and learn more about the successful expansion of our Indian programs over the last decade and take their best practices back to Nigeria.

As NK pointed out in an email a few days onto the job, dismissing the myths and stigmas associated with clefts is the first step to making sure every child can smile.

”I just got back from the South West Region, and to my utmost, shock discovered that children with clefts are still being condemned to a lifetime of isolation and suffering in that part of the country, some even abandoned or killed. In fact, it is incredible.

On my way, the taxi driver was stopped by the local govt. ‘boys’ to produce his state driver’s licence…which of course was not available as we were coming from Lagos. After much pleading, they told the guy to pay N42000 before they can let us go. At that point, I had to step in. I shared with them the mission of Smile Train and gave them a copy of our flier. Immediately, one of them confessed that this was news to them as from where they are from the belief is that clefts are monsters or rabbits in human form that shouldn’t be allowed to live….fortunately one of them had a brother that had a cleft. With the revelation that a cleft can be corrected and now at no cost, I gave him the contact details of our partners in the SW.”

Thanks to an attempted bribery, of all things, one more patient whose community thought that he was a monster will be receiving surgery and a new life. You can be sure that he’ll be spreading this great news to everyone he can, helping us dispell the local superstitions and help even more patients. With NK’s help, we plan to greatly expand our programs throughout Africa and reach every child with a cleft.

Smile Train India Update

Adina Wexelberg-Clouser — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 20:01:03 GMT

Since we were founded in 1999, Smile Train has provided over 630,000 cleft lip and palate surgeries to poor children in developing countries. So far this year, Smile Train India partners have performed 215,076 surgeries. We have also added 5 new medical partners to our team. Thank you so much for helping us give desperate children a second chance at life!

Cleft Lip & Palate Centre Site Visit

Bill Brower — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:20:48 GMT

Bill Brower is a Field Program Officer with GlobalGiving who visited our partners’ projects throughout South and Southeast Asia. On June 15th he visited the Smile Train Cleft Lip and Palate Centre at Meenakshi Mission Hospital in Madurai. His “Postcard” from the visit:

Smile Train and Meenakshi provide totally free surgeries to those with cleft lip, palate and other facial birth defects in southern India. This includes transport—a prohibitive expense for many which is often overlooked.

I spoke with a mother holding her baby who had just recently undergone the surgery. She said when the baby was born everyone in her family cried. According to the staff at the hospital, the biggest challenge they face is educating the parents—convincing them that the birth defect was not the result of the “sin of the parents”. The woman said, “they’re not crying now.” She and her husband are day laborers, and would not have been able to otherwise afford the surgery.

I also spoke with a 21-year-old who had arrived by bus from 2.5 hours away. She had gone to one of the camps the Centre puts on in communities in the region and had come in a few days previous to get surgery performed on her cleft palate. She showed off the results and said she’d come back for speech therapy.

Judging by the Smile Train partner I met with in Manila (http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/philippines-free-cleft-palate-surgery/updates/?subid=6043), the center could be able to do more surgeries so further support would hopefully help the Centre expand its reach.

What do you think about this project? Hit “comment or rate report” to give your feedback. Thanks for supporting the Smile Train!

Smile Train Partner, Vedant Hospital

Adina Wexelberg-Clouser — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:35:23 GMT

Vedant Hospital is located in Nashik, in the Indian state Maharashtra. This past year, Smile Train surgeons there performed 144 surgeries. Hospital staff worked with the Impact India foundation to ensure that all cleft patients in Nashik and the surrounding areas received the help that they needed. They traveled to remote, impoverished places in order to provide information about the program and transport patients back to the hospital. In September 2009, also in conjunction with the Impact India Foundation, the hosptial held a day long medical camp. Pictures of this day are attached.

Attachments:

Vedant_Hospital_9.2009.pdf (PDF)

Tata present six Nano cars to charity

Adina Wexelberg-Clouser — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 19:37:22 GMT

The following is an article from the 'Thainy – Thailand Blog' from April 7, 2010 http://www.thainy.com/2010/04/tata-present-six-nano-cars-to-charity-3/

"Smile Train, the world’s largest cleft charity, today received six Tata Nano cars at the hands of Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons, for the hospitals it supports in India.

Mr. Tata ceremoniously handed over the keys to Smile Train surgeons from throughout India, in the presence of Smile Train’s Co-Founder and President, Mr. Brian Mullaney, Smile Train India Regional Director, Mr. Satish Kalra, the Vice Chairman of Tata Motors, Mr. Ravi Kant, and dignitaries.

The Nanos will be used by the recipient hospitals to raise awareness for the devastating problem of clefts and the simple procedure, which can correct it, which Smile Train provides for free to any child in need. Already recognisable on the roads because of their innovative design and style, the new Smile Train Nanos display dramatic before and after pictures of children who have been helped, providing a simple message that clefts are easily correctable.

In India, SmileTrain started with a unique idea of empowering local doctors to help children with clefts in their own communities. Now in its tenth year, SmileTrain works with 400 selfless local surgeons in 180 partner hospitals in India and helps over 50,000 Indian children a year, smile for the first time. In ten years, the organisation has helped over 200,000 Indian children.

Children with clefts are forced to live a life of shame and isolation, believing that a cleft is a curse from God. A simple, 45 minute surgery that costs as little as Rs. 12,000 can change a child’s life forever, allowing them to attend school, eventually get a job, and get married. This compelling transformation has been evocatively captured in Smile Pinki, the Oscar-winning Best Short Documentary of 2009.

In addition to creating a new model of working directly with local surgeons, Smile Train completely revolutionised the way clefts were treated throughout the world by utilising cutting-edge technology. To help even more children more efficiently and effectively, the organisation has employed techniques such as the creation of the world’s largest cleft database and has developed award-winning virtual surgery DVD’s to train doctors in remote areas of the world.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Brian Mullaney, said, “These tiny cars will have a huge impact in alleviating the suffering of desperately poor children and their families throughout India. They will have the highest ‘Smiles Per Gallon’ rating of any car on the road.”

The six Tata Nanos will be used by Astha Plastic Surgery Hospital at Jalgaon (Maharashtra), Sant Parmanand Hospital at Delhi, Varun Hospital, Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh), New Leelamani Hospital at Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Dev Kamal Hospital, Ranchi (Jharkhand), and Dr. Jeyasekharan Centre for Cleft Care Nagercoil (Tamil Nadu).

ABOUT SMILE TRAIN

Smile Train is the world’s leading cleft charity with thousands of partners and programs in 76 of the world’s poorest countries. Our mission is to help the millions of children in developing countries who are suffering with unrepaired clefts. We provide free cleft surgery to children from poor families that give children not just a new smile, but a new life. Now in its tenth year, Smile Train has helped over 580,000 children. "

India Update

Adina Wexelberg-Clouser — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:42:47 GMT

This past year Smile Train completed 45,0000 surgeries in India. Next year, in conjunction with our 183 partner hospitals, we are hoping to perform over 49,000 surgeries. In addition, we are in our third cycle of the India Smile Grant program. This year, we have 73 participating hospitals and will distribute $125,986 to some of our poorest patients and their families. In the coming months several screenings of the documentary Smile Pinki will take place across India. We are very excited to bring this Oscar winning film back to where it was created!

SMILE PINKI: A Real world Fairy Tale Wins an Oscar

Michele Sinesky — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 04:55:57 GMT

Pinki Before

Celebrating our 10 year anniversary, Smile Train will help more than 500,000 children all over the world receive free, life changing cleft surgery. Over this same decade Smile Train has helped more than 100,000 children in India, giving them a new smile and a second chance at life. Completing 40,000 more surgeries this year than last year, Smile Train partners with 184 local hospitals. The goal for 2009 is to help 50,000 poor children in India and create 160 new partner hospitals.

In a real-world fairy tale, and for one special moment at the 2009 Academy Awards, amidst hundreds of A-list stars, all eyes were on Pinki, the 8-year-old subject of the documentary SMILE PINKI, as her film won the Oscar for best documentary short. The captivating story of a desperately poor little girl in rural India whose life is magically transformed when she receives free surgery to correct her cleft lip highlights the work of American charity Smile Train, a charity devoted to providing free cleft palate/cleft lip surgery to children in 76 developing countries around the world. The free surgery and related treatment that The Smile Train sponsors are performed by local medical teams in local hospitals in developing countries. This “teach a man to fish” strategy builds in-country capacity while helping very poor but very proud communities become self-sufficient, one smile at a time. For more on Smile Train and the best documentary short Smile Pinki, visit: www.smiletrain.org <http://www.smiletrain.org>

Pinki After

India Update

Michele Sinesky — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:30:26 GMT

Before

In 9 years, Smile Train has helped more than 129,000 children in India, giving them a new smile and a second chance at life. Completing 10,000 more surgeries this year than last year, Smile Train partners with 184 local hospitals. The goal for 2009 is to help 50,000 poor children in India and create 160 new partner hospitals.

The Smile Train is dedicated to helping the millions of poor children in the world who suffer from cleft lip and palate through free surgery and free training for doctors. The free surgery and related treatment that The Smile Train sponsors are performed by local medical teams in local hospitals in developing countries. This “teach a man to fish” strategy builds in-country capacity while helping very poor but very proud communities become self-sufficient, one smile at a time.

After

India Update

Michele Sinesky — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 01:56:19 GMT

Anu, age 2, before

In 8 years, The Smile Train has helped more than 93,500 children in India, giving them a new smile and a second chance at life. The Smile Train partners with 121 local hospitals and its goal for this year is to help 45,000 poor children in India.

Anu, age 2, after

Smile Train Partner in India Celebrates 1000 Smiles

Karen Lazarus — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 14:10:24 GMT

Latur, India — May, 14th 2006

The Smile Train's partner hospital in Latur, India has a reason to celebrate. The Lahane Hospital in Latur has completed 1,018 cleft lip and palate surgeries since their partnership with The Smile Train began on December, 1st 2004. This amazing accomplishment was made possible with The Smile Train's help.

To celebrate over 1,000 children's cleft repairs in only 17 months, doctors and staff at the Lahane Hospital organized a get together for the cleft patients and their families. Dr. Kalpana Lahane, Chief Dentist, gave a speech and presentation about orthodontic and dental management of children with cleft lip and palate. His speech was followed by Dr. Lahane, Plastic Surgeon, who spoke about caring for a child after cleft surgery. Then, to make the day even more special for the children who attended, Dr. Rajesh Shah, Chief Anesthetist, handed out school bags as gifts.

To conclude the celebration, Dr. Lahane thanked The Smile Train for all of their contributions to the hospital and for helping provide over 1,000 children in India a bright new future and a second chance at life.

Links:

http://www.smiletrain.org/news/2006/060206.htm