By Frank Peterson | President
The Cleft Infant Nutrition Program Partner for Surgery started with our sister organization in Guatemala six years ago has become a critical part of health care in rural Guatemala for children born with this defect. Eighty per cent of the children in the program are referred to us by midwives and local health promoters which means children and families get attention in lactation assistance, nutrition education and the care and feeding of cleft children shortly after the child is born. However, when children are not enrolled within a few days after birth, dehydration, malnutrition, and illness are the norm.
Ruth Arias and her family live in the very small rural village of El Remolino 75 miles from a regional hospital. When Ruth’s mother, Herly, saw Ruth at birth, she became distraught and developed emotional and physical problems. Ruth has a cousin with a cleft and no one imagined another child would be born in the family with a similar problem. Ruth was not well cared for and her life was in danger. She was almost one month old before Julio, a health promoter with our Guatemalan sister organization, Asociacion Companero para Cirugia, learned of Ruth and enrolled her in the Nutrition Program and assisted Ruth’s mother. Because of the support provided by the program, both Ruth and Herly’s health improved and Ruth was able to qualify for surgery when she was 10 months old. Under the guidance and support of Julio, Ruth has had her lip repaired and within a few months we hope she will be ready for surgery on her palate and start speech therapy. Herly was almost speechless after Ruth’s surgery, but managed to say, “The help provided by Companero para Cirugia made this miracle possible - thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Since our report to you three months ago, 60 children from this program have received corrective surgery from the San Francisco Bay Area Faces of Hope team. This experience of the Arias family is similar to the other 165 children who already received corrective surgery this year in large part because of your financial support. Please encourage your friends to be a part of this unique program that helps children and their families to better health.
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