Last Day of Surgery - Lots More to Do

Within the next several hours, the surgical phase of World Journey of Smiles will be over. Well over 4000 children will have been safely operated upon with most, long since discharged from the hospital, back home and starting a new life filled with hope and plenty of laughs. The mission continues however, both in the short and long term. Over the next several days, our perioperative crews will be cleaning and packing supplies, separating those that will be donated to each site and those that must return to headquarters to be cycled, serviced and made ready for the next missions. Our post op teams will be receiving patients next week to make sure that everyone is healing well and understands what is needed for continued follow up. Long term planning has begun in earnest for amplifying our comprehensive care center concept. Educational exchanges have been planned and our research efforts for genetic analysis will get underway soon after we return. Much has been accomplished over the last 10 days with so very much more to do as we move forward together.

- Dr. Randy Sherman

Streaking Towards the End

As of last count, we have safely and successfully treated well over 3000 patients with facial deformities and other related conditions. All of our teams have performed beautifully and some have started the journey home with indelible memories. The Magees have presided over opening ceremonies in many of our new centers including China, Jordan, Morocco and Colombia. Our Chairman, Howard Unger, attending a gala in Singapore last night, participating in the official signing of a strategic cooperation letter between Operation Smile and KK Womens and Childrens Hospital which will become a major resource partner in the southeast Asia region. Most importantly, all of our phenomenal volunteers continue the hard but rewarding work of getting the kids fixed each day. Cyclone Sidr is bearing down on Kolkata. Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of our team members are out with the one or two remaining being safely housed. Richard VanderBurg, our regional VP has instructed our local leadership to provide any resources needed to safely feed and house any of our remaining patients and families who are in need. I will meet the Magees along with John Canady, president-elect of ASPS, Paul Pomerantz, executive director of ASPS and the entire Quito, Ecuador team to close the WJOS tomorrow and begin planning for our next 25 years. Thank you all.

- Dr. Randy Sherman

HUMP DAY

For many years, over hundreds of Operation Smile missions, we have noticed a rhythm which develops during the conduct of each experience. While each site brings unique challenges, the demanding work, long hours, and long distance from home begins to take a bit of a toll on our volunteers’ energy and morale. We call Wednesday Hump Day as it is the farthest out on each of our trajectories towards the journey back home. It is each mission Wednesday when we are most alert towards the emotional health of our volunteers, patient safety issues, attention to detail, and providing a glimpse over the wall towards the finish line. Hump Day takes its name from a little known place where some 65 years ago valiant allied aviators performed remarkable feats in hostile circumstances to keep the supply lines open to the Chinese thus saving thousands of lives, not too dissimilar to what our volunteers are doing daily during the World Journey of Smiles. An abstract from Wikipedia tells us,

“The Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in World War II to the eastern end of the Mountains over which they flew from India to China to resupply the Flying Tigers and the Chinese Government of Chiang Kai-shek. The pilots started flying The Hump in April 1942 when the Japanese blocked the Burma Road, and they continued to do so until 1945 when the Ledo Road opened. Flying over the Hump was a risky endeavor. The air route led first over the Himalayan foothills and finally to the mountains, between north Burma and west China, where violent turbulence and terrible weather was standard. Transport planes flew around the clock from any of thirteen bases in northeastern India, landing about 800 kilometers away at one of six Chinese airfields. Some crews flew as many as three round trips every day.”

Most of our mission sites have completed their Hump Day and our kids continue to do well. Over 2000 children have had successful surgery as of this morning’s cumulative regional reports. All surgical teams are bending over backwards to make certain that our margin of error remains very wide and that we stay well within our safety zones. Waters have subsided nicely in Hue, strikes are over in Kolkatta though Richard VanderBurg, our Asia VP, has alerted us to a new tropical cyclone named Sidr bearing down on that region over the next 24-48 hours. All eyes are focused on the safe and successful completion of each mission.

- Dr. Randy Sherman

Neither Snow nor Rain nor Heat nor Gloom of Night…

Neither Snow nor Rain nor Heat nor Gloom of Night (Typhoons or General Strikes included) stays these Courageous Couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.

Only days into the World Journey of Smiles and we have surgically corrected over 1500 children with facial deformities. We are now in our second day of the main segment of the Journey with 37 sites active. Reports are coming in from all locations outlining excellent collaboration between team members, exquisite care of patients and their families and of course, ever increasing numbers of successful surgical procedures. The few difficult surgeries have been handled with excellent outcomes. Significant flooding in Hue, Vietnam temporarily slowed our first day of surgery but now that the waters have subsided a bit, things are back on track. The team performed beautifully during that particular meteorological disturbance, insuring that above all, the patients and their families remained safe at all times. General strikes in Kolkata have caused a bit of concern in one of our India mission sites but to date appears to have only resulted in some transportation rerouting. Cargo concerns in Egypt have put a minor dent in our operating efficiencies there but have not substantially slowed us down. Consistently, our teams in the field are responding positively and in concert with each other and our overall organizational goals, once again demonstrating the extraordinary professionalism of our volunteers and their amazing commitment to do well by each child waiting…..

Dr. Randy Sherman

WJoS Kicks Into High Gear

With all teams in place, set up and ready to go, we have switched up our operational pace into high gear. All Latin America sites have reported in as fully operational. Central Region and Asia are nearly 100% with a few sites waiting on specific items from cargo delays. Any site not fully equipped to our Global Standards at this point will achieve that status by tonight and will do local cases only in the interim. Watch the counter as the pace of healing quickens. Forty fresh faces arrive into our recovery rooms every 120 minutes or so with the promise of the restoration of normalcy and the potential of a full and happy life. The Magees are halfway around the world cementing old relationships and growing new ones. Our Mission Control team in Norfolk is monitoring and assisting each site minute by minute. Nursing education is complete at all sites and has added greatly to our perioperative safety margins. It’s the start of an unprecedented week in our history and should only get better from here.

- Dr. Randy Sherman

Philippines Mission a Resounding Success

While most of our mission sites have just gotten up and running, our volunteers in the Philippines are putting the final touches on a terrific week of reconstructive surgery for nearly 400 children in Makati, Naga and Davao City. All missions were conducted with the highest professional standards and with the safety of each child as our number one priority. In-country volunteers played a critical role in all phases of the operation and have become an increasingly self sustaining force in delivering these most important services to Philippine children. As we go into our post-op phase here, the remainder of our global sites are gearing up and working out all of the kinks to begin surgeries in earnest on Monday. In the meantime, Bill and Kathy Magee, along with Dr. Han Kai, local officials and dignitaries and many of our China volunteers have officially opened a state of the art Operation Smile Care Center in Hangzhou. It heralds the beginning of an new phase for the organization and speaks of great things still to come.

more soon……

Dr. Randy Sherman

Going the Extra Mile - Thousands

Hundreds of thousands of exhausting miles will have been traveled by our volunteers over the course of WJOS, most in the back of airplanes, buses, taxis, with inconvenient connections, long waits and lost baggage. Each volunteer goes the extra mile to get to their mission site where the hard work just then begins. Every so often, events and circumstances conspire to challenge even our best intentions to arrive on time and ready to operate. Here’s the amazing story of just one of our volunteers who exceeded all expectations to go above and beyond, doing everything possible to make it to the mission in Russia. Due to shipping errors, Dr. Arthur Rideout’s visa and passport were not due to arrive to his home until the middle of the mission. By that time and with subsequent travel, his participation would have been impossible. Art was not just a participating surgeon, but also team leader and field medical director. Clearly, his absence would have jeopardized the entire mission. Our staff at Mission Control did everything they could to no avail. Art, single handedly, managed to convince the shipping company to stop the truck driving his passport across Canada. He would then fly across the country to pick up his documents and return to catch his outbound mission flight in order to still arrive to his site only one day late. Art’s amazing efforts exemplify the extraordinary dedication and commitment of all volunteers at OpSmile. With individuals like these giving everything they have, surely we can make the world a much better place. Way to go Art !

- Dr. Randy Sherman

World Journey of Smiles in Full Swing

We are fully mobilized as of today. Nearly all of our team members have begun their travels with many having arrived on site. Our Philippines contingent have screened their patients and have begun operating. As with every visit to our oldest partner country, the need for our services remains high while our partnerships grow stronger each year. While we are watching the weather closely, rains in the Philippines and Vietnam should not affect the safety or conduct of our missions in any way. In the central region, the last cargo snags are being worked out. Full delivery and implementation of all mission site equipment is tracking on schedule. We have had a few volunteer professionals who, for personal reasons, have been forced to stay behind. In nearly every instance, we have found willing and able replacements for those positions allowing us to keep our mission profiles intact. As each day of the mission passes, we remain, above all, totally focused on safe surgery for our children and their families, safe passage for our volunteers and safeguards for each step of the mission process.

More to come soon.

Dr. Randy Sherman

World Journey is Underway!

After 18 months of preparation and thousands of hours of work, over 16oo volunteers have begun to embark on the World Journey of Smiles. Our first teams have arrived in the Philippines and are making their way to Davao, Makati and Naga. Others will follow shortly. Thanks to Jesse Hines and his incredible team, the cargo for our 40 sites has been successfully shipped and received. Our volunteer support and credentialing team has fielded an astounding group of professionals to meet the enormous challenges which we will face over the next 13 days. We are ready to begin the largest endeavor of its kind in modern medical history. I will be providing daily progress reports on the WJOS website to keep all interested parties informed as to our accomplishments. It is nothing short of extraordinary to be a part of such a far reaching and life affirming adventure and I hope, over the next two weeks, to allow all of you to appreciate the profoundly positive effect that the World Journey of Smiles will have on so many children of need.

Dr. Randy Sherman