Posts from Past Missions

Celebrating a Legacy of Service: UC Davis and Rotaplast

Davis, California

For decades, Rotaplast and the University of California, Davis have shared a powerful and enduring partnership—united by a common purpose: to deliver life-changing surgical care to communities in need around the globe. Through this shared mission, UC Davis Health has

Meet Rhiana & Adriana

Cebu City, Philippines

Meet Dhanica Raven Vilos

Cebu City, Philippines

Stories from the Ward

Faridabad, India

A teenage girl with burn contractures on her wrist, elbow, and knee from an untreated accident as a baby arrived at the clinic with her sister, both burdened by exhaustion and hesitant to trust. They were worried about the physical

Day 12 – Post clinic part two

Agra, India

Another successful mission completed Of all the patients who have had surgery in the last few days, most are still being seen by the surgeons and nurses today. This is the second part of the post clinic. Bandages are changed

Day 11 – Post clinic part one

Agra, India

Today is our last day of the mission in Firozabad. This mission is mainly characterized by the many burns. Unfortunately, it still happens very often that children get burns in and around the house. The biggest cause is actually that

Day 10 – The last full day of surgery

Agra, India

The last full day of surgery is a great success. Many patients have been operated on today with complex burns. The total will be 58 patients with 92 procedures/surgery at the end of the mission. This morning we started with

Day 9 – a puzzle every day…

Agra, India

Sometimes it is difficult to schedule the operations here in Firozabad. Not because there are no registrations (despite the fact that there may also be some more), but mainly because there are ‘no shows’ and ‘Walk Ins’. If a patient

Day 8 – start of the second part of the mission…

Agra, India

  This mission is characterized by the many burns and the misery that this brings to their lives daily. We can imagine that the (often painful) scars make it so hard to play and move freely. It makes it difficult

Day 6 – Not only “lips”…

Agra, India

Rotaplast not only operates on cleft lips, but also open palates and not to mention scars after burns. The scars are not only painful, but often cause limitations. The scars do not grow. They are not flexible. They become ‘tight’

Day 5 – ‘The Ward’ is a dynamic place

Agra, India

An important and dynamic place during the mission is ‘The Ward’. This is monitored and organized by Agnes. All patients arrive here the day before their planned operation and then spend the night to be ‘seen’ by the doctors in

Day 4 – First day of creating smiles and changing lives

Agra, India

The Rotaplast team has started to make a first beautiful operation day. Everyone is settled in their place and coordinate the first operations with each other. There are 3 operating tables and with that there is a good ‘hit to

Day 3 – What you see is what you get: pre-clinic

Agra, India

A campaign has been conducted and that resulted in a lot of registrations. The procedure is this mission according to Covid protocol and that means that an extensive covid test is taken with every applicant / patient. A test that

Day 2 – Press conference at the Ravi Unity Hospital

Agra, India

At 05:00 we leave from the airport with a bus to the hotel. And after a long drive of 4 hours we arrive there. It is then 09:15 and we first have breakfast. We have a lot of respect for

Day 1 – On our way

Agra, India

From March 13 to 25, Rotaplast International will again do a medical mission in Agra, India with Rotaplast Nederland. Agra is a district in Uttar Pradesh (a state in India). There are approximately 1.6 million inhabitants, the majority of whom

DAY TWELVE – Saying Goodbye

Cebu City, Philippines

71 Smiles Saved. 71 Lives Changed. As the patients all came back to the hospital for Post-Clinic, the atmosphere was markedly more upbeat than Pre-Clinic days. Smiles were everywhere — parents, surgeons, nurses, children…even strangers. 42 cleft lip repair and

DAY ELEVEN – Last Day of Surgeries

Cebu City, Philippines

The Lingo Family Returns On day three, we introduced the Lingo family (As). Today is the last day of surgeries, but the first day of a new life for Aldrich Lingo and his family. This morning, Aldrich and his mother

DAY TEN – Reunions

Cebu City, Philippines

Reunited On Day Six’s blog, we shared the story about how Tom Fox found 5-year-old Nina playing in an abandoned parking lot and convinced her parents to get surgery for her cleft palate. Tom and Anton asked around the neighborhood

DAY NINE – A Personal Story

Cebu City, Philippines

Debi’s Diary As the missions official Historian, I’ve been writing thus far in 3rd person. Today’s blog is my own personal story about a 5 year old boy named Joshua who stole my heart. The hospital has no central air

DAY EIGHT – Milestones & Memories

Cebu City, Philippines

A Milestone Is Celebrated As many Rotarians and Rotaplast volunteers gathered around, Past District Governor Antonio “Anton” Florendo remarks, “This kid right here is Aeron Skyler Tabas. He is one year and five months old and he is the 1,500th