Cleft Palate success story

From Hillary Aubin of HBHH, one of our members

During one of our (HBHH) trips to Dilaire I attended a school for malnourished children that is supported by the Catholic priest in that area . The teachers were kind enough to let us visit briefly with the children and take pictures. I noticed one of the children had a cleft palate and determined we would help bring the child to the US for surgery/repair. I contacted Ted Kaplan and he suggested I contact Anne Beckett at Partners in Health (PIH) to see if the surgery could be done in Haiti since that is always the preferable choice.

Fortunately, Operation Smile is working routinely in Haiti doing cleft palate and cleft lip repair. Anne put the child on the list and we waited. It is important to note that before a child is sent to Operation Smile for surgery you will need to make sure the child is well nourished and iron levels are good. We sent iron supplements immediately so the child would get approved for surgery. In the meantime, we found out Operation Smile was not going to make a trip to PIH for a year so Anne directed me to the Smile Train contact person in PAP. Within six months they contacted me and said they were ready to receive the patient. They paid all transportation costs to get the mother and child to Jacmel. Additionally, they coordinated and paid for food and housing while they stayed in Jacmel, where the surgery occurred until the child was able to return to Dilaire.