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Guwahati, India: December 2-19
Wednesday, Dec. 9
Monday, Dec. 7 It's the first day of surgery, and the team is working hard. Unfortunately we don't have a Child Life Therapist on this mission, but the student team has stepped up to handle the responsibility of preparing children for their surgeries. Each child is decked out in adorable surgical gowns, thanks to the Blue Peter partnership. Children in the UK have created surgical gowns out of t-shirts for each patient, and the final products are absolutely delightful. Each child gets dressed in our Pre-Op room, then travels to the Child Life area to learn about their operation. Everyone has commented on how amazing the colorful gowns are, and it truly lifts the patients spirits. It's an awesome example of children helping children, and we're so thankful to each child in the UK that has made a contribution to the Blue Peter campaign. I've included a picture of a patient in his new gown, and a picture of student Alexander Bischoff in the Child Life area. - Victoria Stabile, Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
Monday, Dec. 7 Operation Smile volunteer photographer, Peter Stuckings, captures the final moments of screening on Operation Smile's 500 patient mission in Guwahati, India. Over 30,000 children in the state of Assam remain untreated and are awaiting corrective surgery for cleft lip or cleft palate. Operation Smile's team of over 150 medical volunteers have screened 590 patients with a large percentage of those screened able to receive surgery. - Photos by Peter Stuckings, Volunteer Photographer
Sunday, Dec. 6 Tomorrow we begin the first of two weeks of surgery for the children of Assam. Right now, various members of the team are at the hospital informing patients of their status as a surgical candidates or not, while others are taking in the local culture with a tour of a temple. Last night, Bill and Kathy Magee joined us at dinner to share their words of wisdom, and a bit of the history of Operation Smile India. The journey has been long, but the future holds great promise for those with clefts in India, especially here in the state of Assam. The dedicated team leaders have devoted countless hours towards creating a surgery schedule, and due to the length of the mission, it has been roughly twice the amount of work as a regular mission. Though this first team of doctors will only be performing one week of surgery, all surgeries for the entire mission must be scheduled, so we can tell the patients when to arrive in Guwahati for their surgery. When the second team of volunteers arrives, they will already have a schedule of patients created for them. This has meant a lot of paperwork and late nights for a select few team members, but the opportunity to provide surgery for 500 children is such a gift. We have screened over 590 people so far, and a very large percentage of those screened will be able to receive surgery. Additionally, we screened all children with clefts from the district of Lakhimpur, and will be able to provide surgery for all those eligible from that district. They traveled over 10 hours by bus to arrive in Guwahati, and they are all scheduled for the same day of surgery. It was a truly incredible team effort to coordinate this day of surgery, and I'm so thankful we have such passionate and experienced volunteers. My role as Champion of Electronic Medical Records (literally, the Champion... we even made my name tag say it) has been an eye-opening one. I got to see every patient at the end of the screening process. Our nurses and translators would check over the medical charts to make sure all the information was correct before handing them over to Brian, the other EMR, and myself. Though Brian actually trained me in Electronic Medical Records, we made his nametag say Assistant to the Champion, a distinction that should be noted. Reading over every chart provides a real glimpse into the lives of each patient, and what they've been through. Many traveled over 3 hours to arrive in Guwahati, and many don't know their birth date. Some have lost a parent, some have lost a sibling, and their hardships are incalculable. What I find incredible is the calming effect of a smile, and I offer one to each patient as their folder is handed to me. I am so foreign to them, yet I don't want to seem emotionless or cold as I sit behind the computer entering their information. Each time, when I smile at a parent or child, I receive one in return. And soon, many of these children will be able to express their emotions with a new smile. I can't put into words how good it feels to know that. (Pictures by Victoria Stabile) - Victoria Stabile, Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
Saturday, Dec. 5 We've screened over 540 patients so far, and we're holding an additional screening today for the last few patients to go through. At this point, we've got the first week of surgery scheduled, which has been a massive team effort. This has been such an amazing screening process - the setup is so organized, and the team works so well together to get everyone through the different stations of pediatrics, anesthesia, speech pathology, and surgical. Our coordinators have done an incredible job in organizing this grand effort to help the people of Assam, and it truly is amazing to see their tireless dedication to each and every child. In addition, the team from BBC’s Blue Peter television show has created such an awesome amount of awareness in the UK, and I cannot wait to see the surgical gowns made by the children of UK. I am positive the bright t-shirts will lift the spirits of each Indian child as they enter the operating room. - Victoria Stabile, Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
Wednesday, Dec. 2 Operation Smile medical volunteers provided free physical examinations for 150 patients on just the first day of screening. The teams worked until 7:30 p.m., but all the volunteers are doing well and eager to meet the goals of the mission. Here are a few images from the first day of screening in Guwahati: - Photos by Peter Stuckings, Volunteer Photographer
Tuesday, Dec. 1 Today our team of champions arrived in Guwahati, after spending the night in Delhi. This fresh posse is composed of many Operation Smile alums, along with some newbies, and everyone is well prepared for the mission ahead of us. At our team dinner, we had numerous volunteers announce that they had been on over 10 missions, so this truly is a team of champions in the Operation Smile world. We’re expecting hundreds to show up for screening tomorrow, and have room for about 500 surgeries. The excitement among the team is palpable, even with the jetlag! At this point we’ve all checked into the Ginger Hotel and settled into our rooms. Some folks are milling about to greet each other and make new friends, while others have ventured out for a walk around the neighborhood.
This hotel had quite the soundtrack - they only play country music in the lobby. Though I'm a native Nashvillian, I regard country music as an unavoidable plague that seems to be present in all corners of the world. Literally, the radio station claims "The sounds of Nashville are heard here." I've traveled over 7,000 miles and I still can't escape Dolly Parton. I made my way down to the room of our student team, consisting of Alexander Bischoff and Dalton Valerio, to see how they were organizing the mass of toys and toothbrushes they brought along. Along with their student sponsor, Brittany Williams, they managed to haul over 2,000 toothbrushes from the U.S. to hand out to patients and their families. These small gifts will come with a lesson in dental hygiene that illustrates the importance of teeth. Those babies really are a gateway to the body, so keeping them clean makes a big difference in your overall health! Dalton and Alexander have created presentations about dental hygiene, burn care and prevention, Oral Rehydration Therapy, and basic nutrition. Beyond just toothbrushes, the team has collected a heap of toys to keep the kids entertained while doctors take care of them. Shout out to my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Roberts, for providing about 40 lbs. of these toys through the efforts of her students! Here’s a picture of the boys and their toys! Later gators, - Victoria Stabile, Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
Tuesday, Dec. 1 Just wanted to give a quick update! The team has reached Guwahati safely, there have been no hiccups, and things went pretty smooth. The team is doing great, people are in high spirits. We do have some team members coming in throughout the week. Lee (our CC) who wasn’t able to make is today due to visa problems is coming in tomorrow, till then we have asked Kathy Majette to step in and take control over screening. We just finished the welcome meeting and the team leaders meeting, everybody looked comfortable and all set for tomorrow. Things look great at the hospital; screening has been fully set up. We are all ready to roll. The Blue Peter team also made it to India without any problems and are all set to start their work tomorrow, they visit a patient at their village tomorrow, they are all charged up and ready to go. Will surely keep you guys updated throughout the week. Regards, - Abhishek Sengupta, Regional Coordinator, Operation Smile India
Tuesday, Dec. 1 News from Guwahati! Most of the team arrived to New Delhi last night and they all traveled to Guwahati today. The team is in high spirits and is looking forward to the first day of screening tomorrow. Program Coordinators Allison Bradshaw, Abhishek Sengupta and Joella Adams are running the first big team meeting tonight and hoping everyone recovers from jet lag to be geared up for tomorrow. - Scott Snyder, Senior Program Coordinator Monday, Nov. 30 About this mission: Operation Smile is preparing to work in Guwahati on its largest mission in India to date. From December 2-19, over 150 medical volunteers will work to treat 500 children and young adults suffering from cleft lip and cleft palate. This mission is the first of two major patient objective missions in India. The second mission will be held January 7-15, 2010, in Mumbai with the goal of treating 1,000 patients. Operation Smile’s missions to India are part of our broad based initiative to treat the 30,000 Indian children in the state of Assam who remain untreated. Each year, 800 children in India are born with clefts. To date, Operation Smile has provided new smiles for 2,306 children in India. The BBC’s popular U.K. television show Blue Peter will also be in Guwahati to film a follow-up story on a recently episode that was filmed on an Operation Smile mission in May. The BBC will make home visits to a few of the children who were treated in May and see how their lives have changed. - Kristi Kastrounis, Online Community & Social Media Specialist
Sunday, Nov. 29 Last year Dr. and Mrs. Magee returned from an extremely successful mission to Guwahati, India, with the promise of strong government partnership in Assam state, and the idea that we would all work together across borders and time zones and in many languages, to accomplish the largest mission at any Operation Smile mission site to-date. Dr. Magee calls these types of projects a BHAG (big hairy audacious goals), from the book by Jim Collins "Built To Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies." BHAGs are the stretch to make a home-run kind of project that keep our hearts and minds working so vibrantly together to continuously grow as an organization. To make this mission a reality, our Missions team worked with our colleagues at Operation Smile India to build a team composition of volunteers who will operate for two simultaneous weeks in Guwahati. This means more than 25 surgeons alone will be part of this team! Recruiting all these volunteers, leading them through the visa and temporary medical licensure process has been a BHAG unto itself, but has all come together beautifully, thanks to solid and meticulous efforts by everyone from Program Coordinators to our incredible Am EX representative, Diane, who has booked every single air ticket for this massive mission. More than 150 medical and non-medical volunteers will work shoulder by shoulder to bring first smiles and a shot at a great future to the children of Guwahati. I'm sitting in the airport now, preparing to fly to India, and am with the Magees, my colleagues and one of our student team members, Alexander. I'm so impressed that he has been reading curiously about the culture of India and is ready to jump into keeping children joyful and lessening their anxiety during screening. 14 hours from now and two novels later, we'll be in India ready to meet the team and make this BHAG happen. - Danna Weiss, International Programs Manager |
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Yesterday afternoon, Brittany Williams, our two student volunteers Alexander and Dalton, and myself visited a local orphanage in Guwahati. Upon arriving we were warmly greeted by the staff as well as several of the children. After a wonderful tour of their facilities and some tea, the children again welcomed us with a couple beautiful songs! 
I discovered a door to the roof was open, so a few of us have taken advantage of the stunning views of our surroundings. We witnessed a beautiful sunset, of which I’ve included a picture.