A typical day on a mission starts with doctors/surgeons performing rounds on patients in the ward, those who have had surgeries and those who are scheduled for the current day. The ward is not quiet, with children and babies laughing, singing, playing, and sometimes crying. The sounds of childhood are universal that exist in all areas of the world.

Rotaplast volunteer Bob Herold (Ward Coordinator) seen here, works closely with medical staff and local nurses to keep the flow going, a difficult task on any given day. The local nurses, under the supervision of nurse Ligaya Agustin, work at staying ahead of the pain which not only makes the patient feel better, it also speeds up recovery.

Transformations:

Surgeries  treat a pathological conditions such as a disease, injury or help improve bodily function and/or appearance. Some results post-surgery are visible, like a cleft lip repair and some are not, like a cleft palate repair. Regardless of the procedure, it results in increased self-esteem, self-confidence and satisfaction with appearance. Their every day lives are positively changed and forever affected.

Here we have six month old Dhavani in need of a unilateral left cleft lip repair. She and her mom captured the hearts of mission volunteers.

 

Nine-month old Jiya required a left cleft lip repair and a soft palate repair, pictured here with her dad.  However, due the complexity of repairing a soft palate, only the cleft lip repair was done on this mission. Here are the before and after photos of Jiya.

Sisterly Love

Sisters Adeti (2 years old) and Sonan (3 years old) from New Delhi were both born with two fingers fused together on both hands.  Their grip is affected by this deformity.  The surgeons operated on their dominant hand to separate the two fingers.  They will have their other hand repaired next year.  Rotarian Gaurav from Rotary Club of Delhi Restoring Smiles will be coordinating physical therapy for them upon their return to New Delhi.

And some other smiles that make our day!

Nurses Liz, Tami and Dr. Barb enjoying a taste of a local soft drink

Local volunteer students provided translation services to the team