What Is Operation Smile?

Founded in 1982, Operation Smile gives free surgeries to underprivileged children across the globe for cleft lip, cleft palate and other facial deformities. Operation Smile operates with a large amount of volunteers---including administrative and medical volunteers---to help children lead normal, healthy lives in spite of their birth defects.

History

Operation Smile was formed by Dr Bill and Kathy Magee in 1982, when they went on a medical volunteering mission to the Philippines to help children with cleft lip deformities. After helping many children, but having to turn many away, they decided that something must be done and Operation Smile was born. As of May 2010, Operation Smile has helped more than 175,000 children with facial deformities to receive surgery and ongoing support to lead normal, healthy lives.

Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate

Cleft lip and cleft palate are facial birth defects that happen in 1 out of every 700 births. Though doctors do not know exactly what causes these birth defects, they believe that it's a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate deformities happen with people of Asian, Latino and Native American descent. A higher proportion of boys are affected than girls. Cleft lip is visible and usually appears as a gap in the skin from the upper lip to the bottom of the nose. Some children have clefts that form both nostrils, and some only have one visible nostril deformation.

Locations

Operation Smile has locations throughout the world, in countries ranging from Singapore to Haiti, Brazil to China, Russia to Vietnam. They also have many locations in the United States, from Denver to Washington D.C., Salt Lake City to South Carolina, Seattle and many places between. This ensures that all children that have access to Operation Smile will have volunteers available to aid in their surgery and get the word out about their services.

Volunteers

Operation Smile was founded, and is run, by groups of volunteers around the globe who go on several missions a year to help children free of charge. As of May 2010, the president, Kathy Magee, still serves as a volunteer. Each mission, which lasts two weeks, has at least 60 medical volunteers to serve the children. These volunteers are comprised of local and international medical professionals to not only repair the defects, but also to train the patient, their family and local medical professionals on how to help the child lead a normal, healthy life.

Giving to Operation Smile

There are many ways to give to Operation Smile. For the private donor, Operation Smile offers an easy online form. There is also an option to purchase products through their Operation Smile Gift Catalog. A person can also create a "One smile" page to fundraise for any occasion. They can also set up a planned giving system or estate giving. On a larger scale, Operation Smile also accepts corporate donations, and boasts XanGo, Fox Mobile Group and Abbott as proud corporate sponsors.

References

• Operation Smile
• birth defects in which the tissues of the mouth or lip don't form properly during fetal development