Thank you for your support in 2020 that helped us provide much-needed cleft care for underserved patients and their families in Ecuador during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now our team is on the ground there this week to provide free comprehensive cleft care to our patients!
We are retiring last year's project and have a new project for 2021. Please take a look at the project for our the current outreach program: Healthy lives for children with cleft in Ecuador - GlobalGiving.
We hope you will consider renewing your contribution, and sharing our work with your network on social media.
With much gratitude,
The Global Smile Foundation Team
Thank you for supporting our patients in Ecuador during the past year. By making Telehealth and feeding/nutrition assistance possible, your gift helped Global Smile Foundation (GSF) and Fundación Global Smile-Ecuador provide comprehensive cleft care to patients in a difficult time.
We plan to return to Guayaquil, Ecuador in September 2021 after having had to cancel three outreach programs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have expanded this upcoming program to help the hundreds of patients who urgently need our humanitarian cleft care services. So many of our patients have been waiting for care during the last 15 months or even longer, because access to cleft care is extremely limited in the country. In addition, parents of the many new babies born with cleft have asked for assistance.
Fundación Global Smile-Ecuador also hopes to re-open our Cleft Care Center in Guayaquil. The Center was closed temporarily during the pandemic and its reopening will be essential to meeting the needs of our increased patient population.
GlobalGiving will retire this project shortly and we hope you will be part of our new campaign for the September 2021 outreach program. Please follow us on social media or join our monthly updates list (links below).
We are truly grateful for your support.
Sincerely,
Lisa Crist
Director of Development
Links:
Your support in 2020 enabled the Global Smile Foundation (GSF) and Fundacion Global Smile-Ecuador teams to provide much-needed cleft care for our patients and their families during a difficult time. Telehealth, feeding assistance, and speech therapy video sessions were all made possible through your donations, as well as a limited number of surgeries at our Cleft Care Center.
This month, Ecuador began the widespread distribution of vaccinations against COVID-19. We are watching the public health situation closely and plan to resume our in-person missions to Guayaquil in September 2021. GSF is the largest provider of comprehensive cleft care in Ecuador and we know that our patients need us. Due to the cancelation of missions during the global pandemic, we have more than 100 patients waiting for their first cleft lip surgery and still living with untreated cleft.
In March, we will be launching a new program on GlobalGiving to support our missions in 2021. I hope that you will visit our program page to see how you can continue to make healthy smiles possible for underserved patients.
Please visit the links below for more information and to see the patients whose lives are changed thanks to your generosity. If you have any questions, please contact me at lcrist@gsmile.org.
Best wishes,
Lisa Crist
Director of Development
Global Smile Foundation
www.gsmile.org
Links:
Thanks to your support, Global Smile Foundation (GSF) has been able to provide much-needed care for our patients and their families during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Our GSF & Fundacion Global Smile-Ecuador team members have, to date, been able to:
With recent improvements in the public health situation in Ecuador and adhering to our COVID-19 safety protocols, our Ecuadorian team members from Fundacion Global Smile-Ecuador were able to provide cleft lip repair to Liam last week. You can see his transformation in his photos - just 48 hours after his surgery! By making comprehensive cleft care possible, your contribution is helping GSF patients to grow and thrive!
GSF is the largest provider of comprehensive cleft care in Ecuador and maintains relationships with hundreds of patients. We have seen that proper care reduces the risk of poor health, poor nutrition and bullying for children born with cleft. Our patients are able to attend school, integrate into their communities and have productive lives. Without the financial and social burdens of caring for a child isolated at home, their families are in stronger positions able to access communities and employment.
If you would like to sign-up for our monthly newsletter or have any questions, please contact me at lcrist@gsmile.org.
Best wishes,
Lisa Crist
Director of Development
Global Smile Foundation
www.gsmile.org
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