This time on Community Connects, a panel of members from Operation Smile join Marissa Reckmann, CEO, AGAT Laboratories and Director, AGAT Foundation to discuss life-changing surgeries around the globe.
Founded more than 40 years ago by Dr. Bill Magee and Kathy Magee, Operation Smile is a leading global non-profit transforming lives of children born with cleft lip and palate in low- and middle-income communities. Today, operating in more than 36 countries in the global south, through a small team and a dedicated group of volunteers, they’ve performed thousands of cleft lip surgeries, strengthened local healthcare systems, and increased access to life-changing procedures.
“Before you’d hear stories of 20 hours on a bus to get to Operation Smile,” says Mark Climie-Elliott, CEO, Operation Smile Canada. “Today we have the capacity now built to be able to go to those communities so the burden that’s on the family is lessened.
“Many hospital partnerships have been signed and agreed upon with local ministries of health. And that enables us to go do more training and education in advance and strength these local health systems. Over the next decade, we’re going to help one million more children receive the care that they need closer to where they live.”
As part of the work Operation Smile does, they’re supporting healthcare systems with the ability to perform these surgeries in the future. But that also has a positive knock-on effect on the infrastructure as a whole.
“We have very stringent global standards that we adhere to,” says Dr. Kevin Calder, a cleft surgeon who has worked with Operation Smile for over 12 years. “Working in collaboration with the local governments, specialists, training, medical education… it’s really helping these countries to be able to build their own infrastructure.”
“It’s through that child with cleft that those communities now have a strong health system and an operating room,” says Climie-Elliott. “For anyone in the community that needs it, now there’s a surgeon there that’s locally trained that might be able to help them.”
Through a strong passion-driven team, Operation Smile are able to support children to get the surgeries they need. But some of the work goes beyond the surgery alone. One volunteer, Kelly Raymond, is a certified child life specialist. Raymond works to ensure “children can be children when in hospitals,” as she focuses on reducing fear and anxiety around hospitalization and medical procedures.
“A lot of the work we do is through play,” says Raymond. “Helping them [children] understand through play makes it less threatening and makes it a bit more easy… Our goal is to empower these children to overcome some of these fears and anxiety.”
AGAT Foundation is a proud supporter of global causes and life-changing initiatives like that of Operation Smile’s mission. Aligned with our Flux de soutien in Public Health & Wellbeing and Community Infrastructure, the partnership is a perfect match.
“I tell them [parents] the story of people like AGAT and of all of the donors across the country,” says Climie-Elliott. “I literally always say to the families, there’s somebody in Canada who’ll never meet you, but they love you. And it’s that love that drives everyone together in our family.”
Hear more about Operation Smile’s mission and how they’re supporting communities worldwide in the latest Community Connects video below.
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