Fans whirl and dot the gymnasium, known to us as the pre-op and post op wards. It’s 7:00 am and humidity hangs in the air. Babies and children from yesterday’s surgery wait for Rotaplast doctors to make their rounds and clear them to go home.
Children in the pre-op ward also wait – apprehensively – for their turn at a surgery that will correct a palate anomaly. Most of the operations today are for palate repairs. For these children, repairing their palate gives them an opportunity for their speech to develop normally and to eat without the risk of food clogging their nasal passage. Below, Dr. Paula Rand examines 3 year old Nino Dominc Lazarte.
By 7:30 am our first three patients where examined, processed and transported to the surgical floor. Below, our transport Ami Borovick checks the child’s identification along with their chart before they are wheeled down the ramp to the 2nd floor. 
Dr. Rod Simonds finishes up a palate repair while being assisted by Lucille Pinlac, RN. Below, anesthesiologists Dr. Arun Rama and Dr. Mark Singleton prepare a child in the OR.
A typical palate repair operation takes about an hour and a half to two hours. After the operation, the child is carried to the recovery room (PACU) where (below) Paula Fillari, RN and Luisa Poquiz, RN take care and monitor the patients until it’s time to call in either mom or dad.
