Operation Smile Harnesses Assets In Support of Haiti
On Sunday, Jan. 22, Operation Smile, Inc., sent a team of 20 highly skilled medical professionals including plastic and orthopedic surgeons, anesthesiologists, critical care nurses and technicians, to Haiti, along with over 3 tons of life-saving medical equipment and supplies. The medical volunteers, supplies and equipment traveled to Santo Domingo International Airport in the Dominican Republic and will then proceed into Haiti to provide much-needed medical treatment and assistance.
Operation Smile staff are on the ground in Port-au-Prince working in collaboration with local officials and other relief organizations including Partners In Health to coordinate efforts. Operation Smile has collaborated with Partners In Health since 2008 to launch programs for free cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries for children in Haiti.
Nine members of the medical team are from the Penn State Hershey Medical Center in Pennsylvania and several have worked with Operation Smile on previous medical missions. The rest of the team is comprised of Operation Smile medical volunteers from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Washington. Additional volunteers from around the world are being organized to provide further support.
For updates on Operation Smile’s efforts in Haiti, you can read its blog on www.operationsmile.org/haiti, follow @operationsmile on Twitter, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/operationsmile.