Biggest Free Surgical Mission in the Philippines 2012 - Operation Smile The Journey Home

Since 1982, through the help of dedicated medical volunteers and generous partners — has provided more than 2 MILLION PATIENT EVALUATIONS and over 200,000 FREE SURGERIES for children and young adults born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities around the world.As one of the most prominent children’s charities in the world with a presence in over 60 countries, they were able to heal children’s smiles and bring hope for a better future.

On NOVEMBER 8 to DECEMBER 2, 2012, Operation Smile will undertake another milestone as it celebrates its 30th year!

Operation Smile will celebrate with a special homecoming mission to the Philippines to give back to the country that gave birth to what is now a global children’s medical charity organization.  It aims to provide free life medical treatments to at least 6,000 Filipino children and young adults in 24 days through 10 dental and cleft surgical missions sites in various parts of the country, namely, Koronadal City, Cavite, Cebu, Cagayan De Oro, General Santos, Silay City, Manila, Naga and Pampanga.

Aside from  international volunteer from 30 countries who will come to the Philippines to do simultaneous surgical missions in 10 mission sites in our country, Operation Smile Philippines is eyeing for two famous Asian stars  to come here in the Philippines to celebrate with us this coming November, for Operation Smile 30th anniversary.

2012 Program Plan

Date	Activity	Minimum Surgical Objective	Area Coverage
Jan 25 – 29	Local Cleft Surgical Mission(Mindoro)	40	Mindoro Island and Batangas
Mar 2 – 10	International Cleft Surgical Mission (Iloilo)	150	Panay Island (Iloilo, Capiz, Antique and Aklan) and Negros Occidental
Mar 16 – 23	International Craniofacial Mission (Davao City)	10	Mindanao
Mar 22-24	NCR Local Cleft Mission(Manila)	50	NCR, Bulacan, Laguna, Batangas, Cavite
May	Local Cleft Surgical Mission (La Union)	100	Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, Pangasinan
Oct 25-31	International Dental and Cleft Surgical Missions (South Cotabato)	5,000 dental 30 cleft	South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat
Nov 8 – 18 (1st Leg) Nov 23-Dec 1 (2nd Leg)	30th Anniversary Simultaneous Missions
	San Fernando, Pampanga	150	Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac
	Manila	150	NCR, Bulacan, Laguna, Rizal
	Cavite	150	Cavite, Batangas, Mindoro, Palawan, Marinduque
	Naga City	150	Quezon and Bicol Region
	Bacolod City	150	Region VI (Western Visayas)
	Cebu City	200	Region VII (Central Visayas) Region VIII (Eastern Visayas)
	Cagayan De Oro City	150	Region IX (Zamboanga Peninsula) Region X (Northern Mindanao) Region XIII (Caraga)
	General Santos City	150	Region XII (Socsargen) Region XI (Davao Region) ARMM
Year-round	Manila Cleft Care Center	50	Luzon
	Mindanao Cleft Center	150	Mindanao
TOTAL TREATMENTS		6,880	15 missions

The Need for Volunteers

Operation Smile Philippines is in need of the following Medical Volunteers! 

Operating Room Nurses

Ward Nurses 

Anesthesiologist, 

Speech Pathologist

Biomed Technician

Plastic Surgeon

Dentist

Medical Photographer

Pediatrician

Medical Records Specialist

From these areas:

Pampanga

Manila

Cavite

Naga

Bacolod

Cebu

Cagayan De Oro

General Santos

South Cotabato

Iloilo

Mindoro

Davao

Benefits of a Medical Volunteers

Qualified / Credentialed Volunteers will be given proper training and receive certification from American Heart Association (AHA) in Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Basic Life Support (BLS). You can't find this training just anywhere and Operation Smile will give it to credentialed medical volunteers for FREE, as Operation Smile Philippines is the first organization recognized as a global and mobile international training organization (ITO) of the American Heart Association.

Travel incentives - Operation Smile Philippines was able to send 31 of its volunteers to 10 countries where international missions are held, (China, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Russia, Thailand, East Timor, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Bolivia, Brazil) 

Calling for Non-Medical Volunteers 

During missions, non-medical volunteers assist in patient mobilization, final screening, patient assistance, physical set-up, photo and video documentation and other non-medical tasks that may be required.  

You can join Chatters Care For Kids Inc. as a non-medical volunteer as our objective is to help in future missions of Operation Smile especially on the 30th anniversary in November, so if you are living in these areas,  Pampanga, Manila, Cavite, Naga, Bacolod, Cebu, Cagayan De Oro, General Santos, South Cotabato, Iloilo, Mindoro and Davao , sign up below

Non-Medical Volunteers can include bloggers who can cover the event, photographers and videographers who can document the event, Filmmakers who can make a video for Operation Smile, Masscom students and graduates who can also help in making videos for Operation Smile, Graphic Artists who can make brochures, flyers, posters that will be mass produced by Operation Smile  and anyone who have the kind heart and has a will to help change a child's life. 

Be a Non-Medical Volunteer 

You can become a non-medical volunteer too. Sign up here

Chatters Care For Kids Inc. is doing a Tinapay at Inumin Campaign where Non-Medical Volunteers can bring bakery products , juices or bottled water that we can give to the parents,patients, and volunteers during a mission..This will help cut down Operation Smile expenses so they can buy more medical supplies and do more surgical operations, instead of using their fund to feed the volunteers.

Non-Medical Volunteers can also bring Coloring books and Crayons and play with the patients so they won't worry about their upcoming surgery.

The simplest way to HELP

If you can't be a volunteer or a sponsor, you can help change a life, by just spreading this news in your blog, into your social networking accounts, and by telling them to your friends,

To learn more about Operation Smile Philippines and Chatters Care for Kids, visit the following links:

http://www.facebook.com/operationsmilephils

http://www.facebook.com/chatterscareforkids